There are not enough adequate words to describe one- the- greatest- of -all -time- Pack -dogs, Zelda. We love them all so much. we spend the better part of our days with all these precious souls. They become like our own. And then there was Zelda.
Zelda’s owners came to many years ago for a Behavior Modification because, quite honestly, she was an Alpha girl who liked to make her own rules with all the dogs who crossed her path and sometimes her rules got her in trouble.
We worked hard and she started to soften some- allowing other women ( myself included) to sometimes take charge
She began pack walks with Happy Hound/Cause and Effect and I had the supreme pleasure of daily trail adventures with this old soul.
She loved sticks, so much so that if another weaker dog got near- she would resolutely tell them “No Fuc$%^&* way are you getting MY STICK”
She loved treats and every time I called another dog’s name for recall to come back, Zelda expected and insisted she deserved just as much, simply for standing there and looking cute.
She loved dead deer carcasses. At least 10 times over the last many years of our hike adventures, she would oh so quietly disappear and I or her other pack leader would get very worried. it is always stressful when a dog goes missing. We would always find her, deep in brush or down a small ravine, gnawing on an old deer bone determined to get every ounce of flesh off it. So every time she went missing going forward, we would just have to listen to the quiet chewing/gnawing in the brush and there she would be, very satisfied with herself.
She loved sitting up front with me. I think that is where Madeline and hers friendship began. Sometimes Zelda could not be in the back with the other dog, because of her alpha bitch ways 🙂 so she had the pleasure of sitting up with Madeline, Patrick, Abbey , Lucille or some combination of. Madeline was so Zen, she accepted anyone in her space. I think if Zelda could talk , when she first met Madeline, she would have said ” This chick is so cool, I gotta take notes.”. So in the years to come, when Zelda would continue to prefer young cute boys over female dogs- she always always deferred to My Madeline. Madeline enjoyed many perks in her senior years. One was that she always wanted to get out of the truck at almost every house I went to pick up a pack dog- either to roll in their front lawn or hunt around for cat poop. At Zelda’s- for some reason she wanted to come in. and I eventually let her while I would leash Zelda up. Madeline would come up the stairs and walk right into her house and walk resolutely to her food bowl and eat a kibble or two before I could get to her. and what did Zelda do- smile, wiggle and just be so darn happy that her alpha bitch leader dog had arrived. For the next several years, this became our custom- Madeline expected it and Zelda expected it.
Madeline and Zelda were soul mates, They walked like each other, They ruled the pack like one another. They were equally and defiantly as stubborn as the other.
and they left this earth like each other. I got to say Good Bye to my Zelda last night- and her eyes made me cry and shiver with the memory of Madeline’s last day with me. They were the eyes of supreme wisdom, grace, and the deepest knowing that they had done a job well done on this earth. I love you Zelda. I love you Madeline. Until we meet again, hold down the heavens for us!