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This is a story about
my first "southern" rescue girl. I live in
southeastern OH and do private, independent rescue of Siberian
huskies and Belgian breeds, as well as others, on occasion.
I heard from a friend in KY that there was a Siberian husky and
her mixed puppies on death row in a
rural shelter in western KY. This shelter, like many others,
just don't have the resources to keep a mother dog and her puppies
until the puppies are weaned. Many rural shelters also have
a strong prejudice against Siberian huskies because so many of
them run loose and kill livestock, run
deer, etc and other dreadful sins in the eyes of the "animals
as stock" community. This is also an area where dog
confinement laws are nonexistent or un-enforced, so huskies are
especially likely to find themselves straying and/or homeless.
Zena was
originally known as Maya, and with great luck, cunning and/or
fortitude, survived being a stray and having 5 babies. Miraculously,
she survived running wild (wasn't shot or poisoned), survived the
whelping and made it to the shelter. (Life #1 survived) The
shelter staff couldn't keep her alive, though, as they had no one
interested in adopting Siberians and any in the area were seen as
troublemakers. They were trying desperately in her 3 days
there to try to find a place for her to go and finish raising her
puppies. I offered to help foster her, although I am 11 hrs
away. There just didn't seem any other solution to keep her
alive...so, she survived again...life #2.
We started
setting up a transport, and involved 2 rescues along the way, in
central KY. One of these fell in love with the pups and
decided to keep them and place them all there. I had no
problem with that, of course, until I heard within a couple of
weeks that all the pups, at 6 weeks of age, had reportedly been
"placed in good homes" and Maya, who was chasing the
cats at the rescuer's home, had been moved to a remote rural
location and tied to a junked car. I contacted the rescuer
immediately and reminded her that Maya had been released to me by
the shelter and she really needed to come on up to me. In
the next week as I made continued phone calls to this rescuer to
try to set up transport to get Maya further toward me, I found out
that she had gotten loose and was running loose in town, and was
last seen climbing on TOP of a person's house! Lives 3 and
maybe 4 were used up as she continued to roam but again was not
harmed or killed.
The rescuer also then
informed me that Maya had severe mange and might not be worth my
taking to adopt her out, although she had been initially treated.
Life #5 survived, as I offered to pay whatever I had to to
keep up with the treatment, etc.
Life #6 was spent when,
after 2 weeks of pleading with everyone I knew between here and
there in KY (she was still 8 hrs away), I still could not find
anyone willing to transport a dog with demodectic mange, even
though I pointed out that this kind was NOT necessarily
contagious, was present in all dogs, but likely had just taken
over her because she was in such horrible condition (and
conditions).
Finally I found a
caring and enlightened soul willing to bring her part way to me
and I drove 8 hrs round trip to get her, having to beg, borrow and
almost steal my neighbor's car since mine was not running (the
reason I couldn't just get her from her original destination in
the first place). On the way there to get her, I mused about
her relentless survival in spite of all the hardship. She
was nothing special...a black and white Sibe girl, probably
purebred but not registered. She had pretty blue eyes, but
was not especially young, at 3 yrs old. This IS young for
most dogs but she had been around the block (and over the river
and through the woods) several times and, after running loose,
being confined in other unknown ways when she was (her teeth were
horribly worn, although the vet asserted that her age could NOT be
more than 4 and was probably around 3) she was wise beyond her
years and showed it with her dry sense of humor and her regal
bearing.
The song by Jody Messina came
on the radio as I was driving: "I'm All Right", I
think is the name of it . . . "I've been singing for my rent
and singin' for my supper, I'm above the below and below the
upper; I'm caught in the middle where the money gets tight but I
guess I'm doing all right. I'm all . . I'm all . . . I'm all
right. Got my good old friends here with me tonight and I
guess I'm doing all right." It just seemed to fit Maya
to a tee. I couldn't call her Maya because, ironically, I
already had a black and white wooly rescue with that name. I
thought of "Jody" but have a friend by that name so
passed on that, too. Then I thought "Messina" but
that didn't do it either. That evolved to "Miss Sina"
and then it clicked! One of my favorite movies when I was a child
was Thomasina. It was so touching how that cat survived hell
and high water (literally) to return to comfort her sick young
owner. OK, so then it was "Sina" because like
Thomasina, this Sibe girl had survived amazing odds and was
especially cat like with her survival, climbing and endearing
habits... as well as her regal bearing. By the time I got to
the meeting place where I picked her up, I had decided on
something like "Sina" but knew it would be pronounced
"sy nah", not "see nah".
As soon as I met her, I had
my answer though. That ultra strong bearing, that black coat
and those piercing blue eyes, as well as her extreme toughness and
athletic ability and strong will but good heart just screamed,
"XENA, WARRIOR PRINCESS". I was not especially a
fan of the show, had only seen it once or twice and I didn't want
to be so blatant as to name her after a superhero, but I did only
change it marginally to....Zena. She was indeed SUCH a
warrior and SUCH a princess! Fortunately, the mange hadn't
really affected her coat at all. The rescuer who had her did
have an assistant who was quite intelligent and motivated,
although very poor, so she had actually been adequately well cared
for.
Zena lived here for about 6
months before being spotted on the Siberian husky rescue site by a
family looking for a companion for their present girl. I
advised against Zena, fearing she may be too dominant for another
female, but they traveled 4 hrs one way with their Sibe girl and
their young twin children to be sure things were a good match.
Their application had been approved with flying colors and
they were experienced husky owners. It was a wonderful match
and they adopted Zena. I would like to say they lived
happily ever after, but they continued to have the same problems I
had here . . . Zena, like many starved dogs who had to struggle to
eat and survive, had a bad habit of guarding food. All day
long. I solved the problem here by always putting some food
in a bowl just for her in the top of a dog house/condo in the
yard. Then she could sleep there and guard her food to her
heart's content. Fortunately, she never showed any
aggression to people who took her food . . . only other dogs.
She is now happily living with her new family and has been
there for over 8 months now.
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Sandy in OH
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