Passed away at 9 1/2 years of age on September 5th, 2000
ZARA HUTCHINSON
3 February 1991 - 5 September 2000
from Cobham, Surrey, England
by Maggi Hutchinson
Zara came to us in the Summer of 1993. During the first 18 months of her life she'd had a litter of puppies and 4 homes!!
She had been spade the day before she arrived so was, of course, quite weak. She then had to walk into our back garden (yard) to be greeted by two GSD's (one male, one female) and a terrier cross. Naturally she was very nervous. Our male dog, Rocky, took to her instantly but Carly, the female was not too happy. Molly, the terrier cross was fine.
At first, we were only going to keep her temporarily but after some consideration and a couple of dog fights (!), we decided, without doubt, that she would stay with us permanently. We had a lot of room and one more dog wasn't going to make any difference and Zara was desperate for a loving home. Once Carly and her had sorted out who was "governor" then there were no further problems whatsoever and they became good friends.
I quickly nicknamed Zara "Zippy". this seemed to suit her character and personality. She did actually zip around the place and she was so tall (above average height for a female) taking plants and flowers with her as she raced through the house! Zara had NEVER played with a ball or toy. She just didn't know what to do, so we actually had to show her. Having the other dogs obviously helped. In fact she turned-out to be the best ball-catcher of all the dogs. Chasing squirrels was most probably her favourite game of all though. Daisy (the Westie) and her were constantly trying to climb trees to catch one.
Zara was absolutely devoted to the family but was very cautious with strangers and had to be won round. The kitchen was her domain and she severely guarded the microwave, refrigerator, oven and biscuit cupboard and growled if someone other than us walked near them. The spare bedroom was also hers - she adopted the spare bed in preference to her basket. During thunderstorms or high winds she would crawl up onto my bed, between my husband, Graham and myself and put her head on a pillow until the weather had calmed down. Bit of a squeeze with a 5 stone dog!! (Sorry don't know what the weight is in pounds).
She had a toe removed in 1995 and did have a problem with her stomach which she was on medication for. Apart from that, she was wonderful. She had the most beautiful face,. Her eyes looked like she was wearing eyeliner! She was extremely photogenic too - I have many, many photos of her (and of the other dogs too of course).
In 1997 we lost our male GSD and Molly, the terrier, so we bought Daisy, the Westie in November of that year. Zara wasn't too keen at first. We think she saw Daisy as a threat but then realised that Daisy wasn't going to change her life except she would just have a white tornado rushing around after her. Consequently, they became firm friends and played right up until the day Zara died.
I do hope this gives you an insight into what a wonderful, loving, devoted and precious girl she was. She will never be forgotten and we're only grateful that we were able to give her 8 years of love and happiness. She was spoilt rotten and we will continue to spoil our remaining two, Carly and Daisy.
