This is something that I feel very strongly about. I never really knew how bad some of the dogs in shelters had it until I picked up my sweet puppy a couple of months ago. I went to the animal shelter in town intending on getting a female, yellow lab. They didn't have any at the shelter but they did have this little, shy boy lab. I said I'll just hold him for a little bit... as soon as I picked him up he latched onto me for dear life like he was saying, "please help! don't leave me here!". I looked into his eyes and knew I just couldn't leave him. I'm getting a little teary eyed just thinking about it... must be those darn pregnancy hormones =)

The first night we had Zozo, we tried to crate train him at night. This puppy was four months old and definitely nowhere close to being potty trained. I woke up in the morning to find this poor puppy COVERED in diarhhea... the entire crate was full of it... it was EVERYWHERE... I was thinking oh boy... what did we get ourselves into??

The poor puppy was really sick. Not just the diarhhea... his breathing was severely labored. He was struggling for every breath... it just broke my heart to watch him. I called the vet and they said they wouldn't be able to see him until next week... it was Wednesday that day. I thought OK... that's the best they can do I'll have to wait until next week I guess. He got worse... and it really started to scare me! I didn't want to go to bed at night and leave him by himself in case he didn't wake up =( I called the vet again on Thursday and said there's no way I can wait all weekend can I please come in as soon as possible. They said they would squeeze me in before all of their appointments on Friday morning so they could see Zozo.

I carried Zozo into the vet since he STILL can't walk on a leash... he was terrified to be there and held onto me tight. The vet got to see his poop... poor guy couldn't hold it in and just went right on the table. Turns out that he had a severe upper respiratory infection and hook worm. He was eating like crazy at our house because he wasn't absorbing any of the food. We don't think he would've made it if I didn't bring him home that day... the shelter probably would've just put him down. That really breaks my heart.

By the way, we named him Zozo because it means calm and meek... which he was when we first got him since he was so sick! Now that we've taken good care of him he is a crazy little puppy with the funniest personality. He gets along so well with our other dog, Toby. They have so much fun together! Zozo has gotten so much stronger and tries to keep up with his older brother... I think soon he's going to be bigger than him... Toby better watch out!

If you are thinking about getting a dog... please consider adopting one from a shelter. You could be their last chance!