Name: Zuzu/3-ish years old
Family Members: Sarah
The rest of her pack consists of my folks (Vicki & Dick) and their dog Lincoln who is about 6 or 7. We don't live with them but spend some time with them weekly.
Location: Grant Park
Nicknames: Zu; and hilariously when I use my voice text and say her name, it always auto-corrects to one of the following so they have become nicknames - Suzy, Susie, Suzie
5 words/phrases that best describe Zuzu:
- Curious
- Timid
- Affectionate
- sense of humor
- playful
What makes Zuzu unique: She hilariously and repeatedly crouches and pounces and sprints around in a circle while in the crouch, when she is really playful. (it's really hard to describe but it is one of the funniest things she does. A year later, I still crack up every time.) She also does sort of the same thing in monkey grass but she jumps in and out of it in a crouch. She eats sticks. If a treat is really special to her she will do everything she can to cover it up and hide it. She worked for at least 30 minutes one night to fold her bed over on top of something I had given her. I finally had to give her a blanket to cover it up, which made her settle down but just for a couple of minutes.
Rescue Story: (As part of volunteering for this project, Sarah reached out to Zuzu's former owner - obtained via the rescue where she adopted Zuzu to get more detail on her history. Prior to this point, Sarah only knew some information about her history but not all the specifics. Sarah shared the email with me from Zuzu's former owner. The following will be a combination of information provided by both Sarah and the previous owner Martha.)
Zuzu was found in the Lakewood area of Atlanta in the fall of 2012 with rubber bands wrapped tightly to her ears. It seems that the former owners were trying the do-it-yourself ear crop method. The blood flow had been stopped, so her ear flesh was rotted and barely hanging on. She was brought into a rescue group, who surgically corrected her ears, resulting in her earless look. They estimated her to be 9-10 months at that time.
Martha and her husband adopted ZuZu after a trial weekend with her, as they had an 18 year old cat and two other dogs. The connection with her was slow at first; she was very independent and a little bit aloof. She showed good judgement with the cat, got a long great with the other two dogs. After a few days, the connection with the humans in the house grew stronger. Everything was great for almost 4 months.
Upon returning from a business trip, Martha was greeted at the door by all 3 dogs. One of the dogs, a 35lb. rat terrier got very excited and Zuzu attacked her. Resulting in serious injuries to the rat terrier. Another attack occurred later that day while the rat terrier was sleeping. The family was terrified and felt they were not equipped to deal with a dog who was prone to fighting, especially when the opposing dog submitted immediately. They had signed an agreement with the rescue group that if they could not keep her they would return her back to the rescue. After contacting the rescue, they asked the family to bring her to the vet with the assumption she would be boarded there for a few days before going back into a foster home. The family was devastated to have to say good-bye to their sweet Zuzu.
A couple months go by and Martha discovered that Zuzu was still being boarded at the vet. Martha asked if she could come by and walk her and the vet agreed. When she got there, she found that Zuzu was being kept in an outdoor pen with very little protection from the elements. The vet stated that she could not be kept near other dogs because she wanted to fight them. She had become very skinny because all she did was pace in the pen. Martha and her husband asked if they could come by and walk her from time to time, the vet office agreed. They walked her 2-4 times a week through the summer and into the fall. After just a few weeks of this the vet staff mentioned she had stopped pacing in her pen.
During the time while they were walking her and giving her the attention she craved, Martha asked the rescue (which had done nothing to try and find her a new home) if she could update her Petfinder page with new photos and information, they agreed. She contacted as many rescue groups and dog-lovers that she knew of, even Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. Then an email she sent at work regarding finding Zuzu a home resulted in a referral to You Lucky Dog Rescue. YLDR agreed to make her a Lucky Dog and after a lot of training and behavior therapy, we now turn the story over to Sarah.
I heard of YLDR through her neighborhoods Next Door site and Zuzu's picture was on their list of adoptables. After a short foster with another dog, YLDR suggested I meet Zuzu, who was in a board and train program with Argos Dog Works (they are incredible). I took my Mom and Lincoln (my parents' dog) over to meet her. She ran around like crazy and seemed fine around Lincoln and that weekend I went to pick her up. Josh, her trainer, did a 2 hour session with us before we went home to teach me about Zuzu's structure and set her up for success in her new home. She settled right in when we got home. Due to her ears, it is hard to read her when you first meet her because you can't use her ears as signals. I had to learn to pay attention to the wrinkles on the top of her head and now I just know her moods. About 6 months later, when she really started to blossom I realized that I may quite possibly be her longest term human.
Zuzu when she was first taken home by Martha.
What are your favorite past times with ZuZu? I'm not sure if this is Zuzu's favorite, but I love taking her for runs. We run most mornings before work and she usually is great; every once and awhile she will get freaked out by something and want to go home. Most times she is happy to trot along beside me and try to find squirrels to torment.
She is not allowed on furniture, but she has one grey blanket and she knows when that blanket goes on the sofa she can lie with me. Sometimes she sits facing the sofa and stares at the blanket like she is willing it to unfold for her.
What is life like since you rescued Zuzu - for both you and her? Life with Zuzu is very full. She is very active, but like most dogs can also be very lazy. She is full of love and is very good at being sneaky and climbing in my lap (my 50 lb lap dog). She brings me joy every day and is a dog that wants to play rough as well as be cuddled. I jokingly say that she is aggressive with her love. She always wants to be close and if she is going to give kisses, she will try to lick your face off. Since she has been passed around so much, it took her about 6 months to know that I was coming back every time I left and that if we got in the car, we were going to come back home too. She is very happy in both my home and in my parents home, where she goes a couple of times a week.
Life with Zuzu is not without challenges though and I think it is great that you still want to highlight her. She can be very anxious. When she gets anxious she either gets very timid (like if a plastic bag unexpectedly blows across the street), or she gets very reactive. She is reactive with some dogs, but not all and is uncomfortable around some people. For this reason, she doesn't have any dog friends besides Lincoln. There are a lot of rules (set by her trainer Josh at Argos), when she meets new people (no eye contact, no petting, essentially a person needs to pretend she doesn't exist). When her rules are followed well, she pretty quickly becomes at ease. I'd like to start socializing her more to see if she can develop at ease relationships with other dogs because she loves to play with Lincoln. I think with the right fur buddies she would start to thrive even more.
Photographers note: Zuzu's journey is such an incredible story and there is so much I want to say about it but I will try and keep my comments brief. First, I know that Zuzu's first Mom had a lot of regret when it came to Zuzu and what happened with her. Her exact quote in her email was " My memories of Zuzu are filled with tears and regret for the horrible time she endured after we abandoned her; and deep, deep love for that crazy, sweet, resilient girl. She will always have a special place in my heart". My opinion is that because of her love for this dog and her own resilience to find her a better life, she brought her to Sarah, where Zuzu thrives. Many people would have given up on her but not these two women; who are wonderful examples of strength and determination, all for the love of a special dog.
Sarah had provided me with "Zuzu's Rules" before I met her. When she came into the room after I was seated, I was struck by her beautiful coloring and her piercing eyes. She warmed up to me pretty quickly (I think the treats may have helped) but even still during the shoot she was very reserved.(I am sure the large camera lense being pointed at her didn't help) That is until Grampa came out to play and then she loosened up a bit, chased the ball, chewed on some sticks. Zuzu is one of those dogs that does not give out affection too easily, you need to earn it with her and prove you are worthy. Once you do earn ZuZu's trust (as seen with Sarah), the rewards are devotion, love and loyalty and they cannot be measured.
Thank you Sarah and Martha, for saving this sweet girl and for sharing her story.