Zviah

On Monday at noontime, we had Zviah put to sleep. We just found out this weekend that she had cancer, and she must have been sick for a while, though she only appeared to be suffering the last few days. It was an incredibly hard decision to make because we knew how much we would miss her, but I'm sure it was the right one because she's much more comfortable now, chasing bunnies in greener pastures.

Zviah was born in Alabama in 2000, and raced in Daytona Beach and Palm Springs, Florida. You can see her pedigree here and her racing history here. Her racing name was ML Bannerville and her training name was Angie. When she was three years old, she retired from racing and was rescued by the Michigan Greyhound Connection. Mike adopted her on December 2nd, 2003 and named her Zviah, which is Hebrew for "deer." When she came to live with him in Ann Arbor, she had never lived in a house (having grown up in the racetrack kennels) and it was the first time she had to confront challenges like stairs and windows and cats. In 2004 they moved to Brooklyn, where she met Emmylou Elbows and spent many happy Saturday mornings running free with her friends in Prospect Park. In 2006 she came with us to Buenos Aires, where she was studying Dog Spanish and advanced napping.

She could most often be found sleeping upside down on her giant bean-bag bed, with all four legs sticking up in the air, eyes open and tongue hanging out. If you rubbed her belly, her teeth would chatter from happiness. She also enjoyed steak dinners, looking fancy, cuddles with Emmylou, eating garbage in bed, sprinting at the park, leaning on strangers, and sleeping in closets. She hated fireworks. Zviah was a great dog and we miss her lots.