Just because two dogs are the same breed doesn’t mean they’re going to have the same personality traits.
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In fact, when a new one joins the family, the existing one may just look at the wayward behaviour of the new addition as though looking in a mirror, label it an idiot and turn his own behaviour around on the merit of his self-reflection.
That’s what happened in the McField household.
Their “crazy” standard groodle Zanzi has toned down his madness since now seven-month-old Roxi joined the family at 12 weeks old.
Shepparton’s Melissa McCann and Shaun Greenfield (aka The McFields) got Roxi as a friend for Zanzi, who will turn two on New Year’s Eve.
Zanzi had made them fall in love with the breed, but Ms McCann said Roxi was the opposite of him in every way.
“She’s a nutbag, an attention-lover, a hog of all food — any food, anyone or anything’s food,” she said.
“In the car, Zanzi will put his head out the window, Roxi won’t.
“Zanzi stays off the bed, Roxi has gotten on it from the day we got her.
“Zanzi barks, Roxi doesn’t.”
Although, she’s starting to find her voice a little more these days, especially when she’s startled.
Ms McCann said Zanzi would cautiously sniff food before hoeing into it, but Roxi eats first and thinks about potential consequences later.
Roxi is clearly not learning from Zanzi. She has her own personality and her own rules.
Ms McCann said it appeared Roxi’s favourite thing was cuddles, but admitted it was hard to know if she was just after her food.
The McFields regularly take the pair to local dog parks to burn off their seemingly boundless energy and socialise with other dogs.
“Normally I run with them, get them excited, get them to get all their energy out,” Ms McCann said.
Roxi will run “full pelt” at her big brother, but if any other dogs run at her she’ll drop to the ground and make herself small.
She is nervous around people until she’s comfortable, whereas Zanzi wants to be every human’s best friend.
Zanzi was the first dog the McFields owned, after the blended family of six had declared themselves more “cat people”.
Realising the ‘cat’ and ‘dog’ people labels didn’t have to be mutually exclusive, they now consider themselves both.
The cats, however, still haven’t returned to their inside dwellings since hurricane Zanzi blew in almost two years ago.
The force of that hurricane has been downgraded since Roxi’s arrival and Roxi herself isn’t fazed by the cats one way or another.
The cats, however, are still wary of the new canine they have to contend with.
“Zanzi just grew up overnight when we got Roxi,” Ms McCann said.
“But because she’s so keen on attention, we have to make sure Zanzi still gets plenty of attention too.”
Despite their personality divide, the pair of groodles get along really well.
They love playing outside in the dark between dinner and bedtime before both coming in to sleep in Ms McCann and Mr Greenfield’s room in their designated dog beds on the floor, despite Roxi pining for the comfort of the human bed.
For Roxi, the next best thing to stealing their bed is stealing Zanzi’s beanbag, forcing him to sleep in exile on the leftover bed.
Zanzi gives way as though to uphold that old-fashioned chivalrous adage, ‘ladies first’.
So while this ‘clashing couple’ might seem incompatible on the surface, it’s quite the contrary.
Luckily for the McFields, opposites attract.
Senior journalist