Zoe RIP

Learning about life from a street dog

Zoe in the foreground, with Marco, shortly after arriving in Britain

Zoe, the dog lived a long life, over 16 years (that’s 112 years in equivalent human terms) and was put to sleep after she stopped eating and drinking.

This is usually the way that dogs signal they have reached the end. Unlike humans living in places like Britain, there is an option of euthanasia for animals which eliminates an excruciating period of suffering before death.

Zoe was a Hong Kong dog (or Tong Gau) as they are known in Cantonese. In other words a mongrel of medium size who, in other parts of South East Asia, are generally described as street dogs. Like most dogs of her kind she was fantastically resilient, adaptable and quite a looker.

Dog owners can be competitive claiming that their dogs are the most intelligent creatures on the planet, the most loving and so on. Personally I can’t see the point of comparisons because it is entirely irrelevant whether your dog is better than others, what matters is the relationship between the dog and other animals at home.

As a serial dog owner I can however say that Zoe had some unusual characteristics. She was markedly self-contained, never needy, happy to get a bit of attention but, unlike some dogs I could mention, not in need of a lot of attention.

She was, of course, intensely loyal, everyone says that about their dogs. And she was notably uninterested in other dogs. If they came up for a sniff she would almost always ignore them and if another dog barged in while I was having a chat with her (yes, you can have the very best of chats with your dogs, in case you wondered), she would wander off, not interested in competing.

Zoe came from Hong Kong Dog Rescue, run, as all these operations seem to be, by a formidable middle aged woman who mixed compassion with hard-headed practicality because excessive attachment to individual dogs is no way to keep this kind of demanding operation on the road.

Anyway, she arrived home from the compound, found a corner to keep out of the way and slowly but surely emerged to join the other two dogs then in residence with the assortment of humans who were around the place.

I would describe her as being on a perpetual slow burn. She was cautious in establishing relations and cautious when out and about until she became familiar with the surroundings. But once familiarity was established she possessed an impressive sense of direction and, more importantly, a happy relationship with the humans who she deemed to be friends – there were exceptions and I tend to think that they demonstrated a good judge of character.

At the less than tender age of twelve and a half she was loaded into a big cage and endured a very long journey from Hong Kong to London. It was the time of Covid so the flight took longer as it had to stop on the way, ending up in Amsterdam where KLM was not offering onwards transport to London as the holds of the planes going there were too small to accommodate Zoe and traveling companion Marco.

To cut a long story short it turned out the only way of completing the journey was by dog taxi (who knew such a thing even existed). The cost was astronomical, combined with all the other transportation costs but, unless you are a complete bastard, there is no question of abandoning your dog purely on grounds of economy. Zoe and Marco finally got to London, a bit shattered and far from happy. But Tong Gaus have impressive powers of recovery.

Back in Hong Kong Zoe had started to suffer from the intense humidity and the inevitable presence of steep slopes on practically every walk. This limited her outings. Things changed on arrival in Britain where she just loved the temperate climate (I’m being polite here – because as far as I am concerned it is generally too bloody cold). And when she discovered that she was being taken on walks in flat fields and parkland with barely a hill in sight, she frolicked around as if re-born.

So, dog was adapting far better and quicker than her human companions, sometimes called owners but when it comes to control, it’s usually the dog that has the upper hand.

So, I’m really glad that the last years of Zoe’s life were good for her and glad she lasted so long. She was much loved and reciprocated in her doggie kind of way. I kid myself that I will learn from her patience and resilience but then again I kid myself about all sorts of things.

Zoe, RIP