New Family Members

Meet Zuzu (on the left) and Petal. Both are female, about six years old, maybe a little older. Each weighs eight or nine pounds, so they are the smallest dogs we have ever had.

They lived most of their lives in a hoarding situation and recently suffered through two failed adoptions (one with kids, and the other with people who admitted to having had “unrealistic expectations”), not to mention their multiple stays in shelters. They are the most scared and timid dogs we have ever encountered, but Zuzu is protective of Petal (so we're already thinking of Petal as "Zuzu’s Petal"). These are brand-new names, by the way.

We have only had them for two days, but we are already seeing some good signs (such as Petal’s willingness to occasionally stand up under her own power, to eat or go to the potty papers—she was basically shut down when we got her). Zuzu is curious, and ventures several feet from their crate until she sees you looking at her, then she darts back into it. These are only small signs, but Pixie took about two years to recover from her "bad year" (before we got her), so we will not rush them.

They don’t know it yet (or even understand what it means), but they now have a real home, and we want them to have “a wonderful life” from this point on. ("It's a Wonderful Life" is the beloved 1946 movie from which we took the names Zuzu and Petal.)

Petal will be groomed eventually, but not soon. These girls are just too traumatized.

We were planning to wait a few more days before announcing the adoptions, but Zuzu wanted to show off her Halloween underbite.