Xena

Xena was a dog who showed up at my office one January day in 1998. It had been storming. Her head popped up over some boxes, her ears perked. My boss took her home that night, fed her hot dogs (!) and brought her back the next day. She hung around our office, and we thought surely this smart dog's owners would be looking for her. We took her picture and made signs and put them up at the intersection. I talked my sister Carla into keeping the dog until we found her owners; I had an apartment and she had a fenced back yard.

Much to my surprise, no one ever claimed her. That was good, because after only a couple of days, Carla had fallen in love. She was named Xena because of her beauty and her fiercely protective nature. The vet estimated her age from 5 - 8 years old.

Xena loved to walk. My husband (then my boyfriend) and I would meet at Carla's after work and walk Xena to the park and back, about 2 miles. In 2000, we moved into a home two doors down from Carla. Then Carla and I walked Xena almost every day. She walked with a hop in her walk and her ears perked. Her ears had a bounce to them that I will always fondly remember. (See how she has them in the picture , right, with Max, her little brother.)

Xena loved to walk, and she was an amazing escape artist. She was able to escape from Carla's for a couple of years, all the while we tried to outsmart her with electric fence wire, reinforced fencing and the like. To no avail. The only thing that could contain her was a wooden privacy fence! She was very smart, following Carla's directions from just a look in her eye. When we walked Xena, children would stop us and say, I like your dog, I like your dog's ears, and pet her. She always behaved like a lady. Several people said she was a "cow dog, " whatever that is! We thought that she was a secret agent (remember, she was so smart) who had retired. Or an Iditarod dog (she had this singular purpose when walking, and she didn't stop to "smell the roses" a lot), who then came to Montgomery by hopping trains.

She wasn't my dog, but I loved her very much. Xena was in our lives for almost 11 years. We often joked, if she was 6 years when she came along, she would be 15 years old! (Insert different numbers)

She was an old lady. Our Xena Bean, our Beanlady. She was a good dog.

Xena left us today, November 25, 2008. I will miss that puppy dog.