Suzie

Suzie is our very first dog. We learned everything from her. We got her from a New York shelter when she was a year old, a stray dog. We believe she is a Samoyed mix. She loves the cold and hates the heat.

Suzie is dog aggressive, which makes her very challenging. She needs to have her own space. She also taught us all about separation anxiety, escape artistry, landscaping the yard, and dog proofing the car and home. We took her to a Fiesty Fido class for dog-aggressive dogs, and she was expelled before the second class even began -- the trainer said to "never bring her back here again." Four different trainers there recommended that she be euthanized.

But I had waited, for thirty-odd years, to get a dog...after living with my parents, and in a string of apartments in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and time in the Army. FINALLY we had a house and there was time and room for a dog. So there was no way I was giving up on her.

Suzie has had many adventures over the past 7 years. She's gone to work with me, has been to West Point and numerous other military bases, went camping with us in Illinois, and drove with us across Canada to Alaska, camping along the way (in November temps...the mattress froze!) Suzie has lived in the bush in a cabin; her job was hauling wood on the dogsled. She knows all the mushing commands perfectly, but can't be with another dog!

Suzie has mellowed with time, and is more ladylike now. But she is still as tough as nails. I recently took her to the vet to have a broken tooth removed; she was awake and standing 2 minutes after they reversed the sedative! No one at the hospital had EVER seen a dog do that before.