A Liz Norris Story This beautiful heart song of mine passed to Rainbow Bridge in 2013 at the age of 15. She was healthy up until the last week of her life. She rebounded, made sure she got all she could into her last week, and went out like she had lived.......a shooting star. some things you never get over, you just have to get past them.......some day perhaps I will........get past........ Zandra Norris This beautiful Australian Shepherd was a breeder placement. Originally purchased for showing by a family, she was returned to the breeder at the age of 15 months. Instead of training her, they put her in the backyard for destructive behavior in the house. She then proceeded to excavate their backyard and formed Zandras Excavation Company. I was teaching obedience classes in Lexington, Kentucky at the time Zandra became available. Her breeder was in my class and we had talked about her dogs several times. I was interested in adding to my furbies and I wanted this breed. Though my primary breed of choice is the Alaskan Malamute, I have never been a, one breed person. When Zandra came home with me, my little man, Shawnee (Alaskan Malamute) was very sick. He had just turned 4 years old and recently diagnosed with bone cancer. I was in the final stage of hospice care for him. I had lost his father the summer before and my prize female a month earlier. Needless to say it had not been a good time frame for me. When Zandra arrived she was a shy little thing and would peek out at the other dogs from behind me. She was very insecure with men and tended to gear more to women. Kids she was not sure about at all. She watched them like one would observe foreign creatures from another planet. Her exposure to different environments and things had been very limited. I began taking her out and about immediately and socializing her to everything I could convince her to get near. A male student of mine told me (years later) that when I introduced Zandra to the class as my next, therapy and class demo dog he told his wife on the way home that I had, lost my mind and, that aussie was a, nut case. Shawnee had been staying in his little doghouse a lot that week and I was pretty sure we were nearing the end of the trail. When she bounced out of the car, he came out to greet her. I was thrilled because it was the most interest he had shown in anything all week. He woowoooed at her and tried to kiss her ears and play. The next day he was still responding to her. That was on a Thursday and by Monday I had to let my little man go. He went quietly at home surrounded by family and love. It was a great loss to me both in heart and soul. I thought about Zandra and how much comfort she had given Shawnee in those few days together and how sweet she was. I decided that if she meant that much to Shawnee she needed to stay with me for her lifetime. She became a beloved member of my family and went on to earn her therapy title, CGC and UKC-CD in quick fashion. Today she works in K-9 & Kid Safety Programs in the local schools, goes to nursing homes and works with the K-9 & Kid READ program. She is full of life, always happy and loves showing of her tricks. It is hard to believe anyone would give this dog up for any reason. She was the perfect combination of beauty and brains with a neat sense of humor.......at least from my perspective. Zandra has brought much joy and happiness to a lot of people, but most of all she has brought more than that to me. Over the past years and some of her best therapy work has been for mom. She is one awesome little lady and a jewel among furbies.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 03:09:51 +0000
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