There is a wide range of factors that contribute to individuals giving up their pets and bringing them to shelters for animals. And naturally, the majority of them have valid justifications for parting ways with their cherished animals. Either they are unable to provide the necessary care for the animal or they are unable to take their pets with them when they move to a new location and are unable to take them with them. These explanations are entirely comprehensible. But alas, there are other individuals who have even more ridiculous explanations. When people give up their cherished animals in order to get a “better” dog, it breaks my heart to see them do it.
A terrible family had abandoned their dog in a shelter, and then they went back to the same shelter to adopt another dog as the first dog stood there and watched helplessly.
At the age of two, Zuzu the German shepherd was given up by her owners and brought to the Downey Animal Care Center in Los Angeles. Even though she was loved and cared for by the employees and volunteers at the shelter, she continued to be upset and could not be consoled.
A worker at the Downey Animal Care Center named Desi Lara told The Dodo about one of the shelter’s residents, “She is a lovely girl, but I detected despair and bewilderment.” “The majority of dogs run quickly around the yard. She moved carefully since she was anxious to have a look around.
One day, a group of people came to the animal shelter with the hopes of adopting a canine companion. Surprisingly, despite having a miserable time for many days, Zuzu unexpectedly cheered up when she saw her family. It turns out that they had been her previous owners all along. She instantly recognized them, and she sprang with excitement up to the fence to say hello to them. She was moving so fast that it seemed like a helicopter was following her around the yard.
A trainer at Shelter Me named Lara described how all of a sudden the dog became very enthusiastic and started to speed around. “When she saw her folks, a joyful personality emerged,” the narrator said.
The previous tenants stroked her head through the fence. She had the natural assumption that they had returned to bring her home, but to her disappointment, they had really come to acquire another puppy. They said that the loss of her father caused her to spiral into depression, and they refused to take her back since she had a history of running away.
According to trainer Janey Chapin, who spoke to The Dodo about the incident, “We inquired if the family was present to recover her and they said no, they didn’t want her.”
The employees at the shelter couldn’t believe the residents could be so callous. They made the decision to get rid of Zuzu altogether and get a “better” dog rather than attempt to help Zuzu through her melancholy in any way.
People were both upset and angry with the family after hearing about the incident, which quickly went viral. Janey said that it was a “heart-wrenching narrative of a puppy who was rejected.”
The good news is that a number of individuals have volunteered to provide Zuzu with a permanent home where she will be loved. In the end, Russ and Judith Gallo decided to take Zuzu into their family. The couple had just experienced the loss of one of their dogs, and they were on the market for a new pet when they came across Zuzu’s tragic backstory.