A to Z blogger challenge, Z is for Zaza

Well we've reached the end of the A to Z blogger challenge and I've only one last dog for you. She's a little girl who went to Rainbow bridge many, many years ago and it's the perfect example of how our love of our dogs never weakens no matter how long they are gone. I'm going to hand over to my lovely sister in law and mother in law now, as they tell you all about their little girl, Zaza. Enjoy!

Z is for Zaza (aka Zaz). Zaz was a white toy poodle who  graced our family for just short of ten years. We had not long lost our previous pet and went to a local poodle breeder to look for a new puppy. We saw puppies first, then the breeder brought us some older dogs to see. We were sat in a room in the kennels. She then brought in about 5 dogs at the same time and Zaz jumped straight up on my lap. I lost my heart, as far as I was concerned the dog had chosen me.  We went off to 'think about it' (buying bowls etc- we already knew the answer!) we went back to get her the next morning. When I collected her we were told that she could be in pup, as she had been used for breeding all of her life. She had never had a litter larger than two, so to the breeder she was not a viable bitch. When we took her home we let her out in the garden and she was afraid to go on the grass- she'd never seen it before. She was supposed to be white but she was covered in the sawdust bedding that the kennels used  and was apricot in colour. We bathed her and she turned white. She was in good condition when she got to her proper colour! Although she wasn't used to getting up onto furniture and people's laps she soon learnt.

Having lived with us for about a month it became obvious that her belly was growing, and two weeks later she gave birth. The first puppy was apricot, then a black one. We didn't expect any more due to her history, and when she passed what we thought was afterbirth it moved! We had a third puppy who was white and measured 5 inches from the tip of her nose to the tip of the tail. She was tiny. They were named after the characters from the Sooty show, Sooty, Sweep and Sue. Zaz was a brilliant mum and her character came out as she got used to us, the older she got the younger she got. One day we were on the beach and she was running and generally going mad, she was going flat out across the sand but didn't see the puddle in the sand till she landed in it and she was really shocked! She was the best dog we ever had. As she grew older we would take the caravan away at weekends, and despite her angelic features managed to escape the caravan on our first outing with her companion Duchess. We were so embarrassed when we got back to the rally to find them both tethered outside the most prim and proper slightly scary lady's caravan. Oh the shame! In her later years she would happily go for a walk short enough  to do her business and that would be it. She would park her bum and refuse to move, unless that is you turned to go home. If you carried her further away so that Duchess got a good walk Zaza would then be happy to walk the whole way back. She thought that she was Queen of the house. She was a sport, having little choice but to take part in 'show jumping' and obstacles put between the kitchen and the sitting room. One day she had a heart attack which she survived, but became less well over a few months and lost her quality of life. We made the decision and she was put to sleep in my arms. The vet buried her in his little pet cemetery, underneath a large oak tree.

By Jean and Lisa a compilation of both of our favourite memories. (Mother and daughter)

if you want to know more about Zaza's breed watch the video below.