How Broken is Zuzu?

 Zuzu might be broken in more ways than previously suspected. The longer we are out of her sight, the more she seems to forget who we are. Even after two months, whenever one of us approaches their room (after being elsewhere for more than 10 or 15 minutes), Zuzu is apt to greet us with growling and barking, and she often jumps out of her chair and runs into other rooms in order to keep us at a distance. Some of Zuzu’s fear transfers to Petal, but Petal usually stays put, and she never (ever) makes a sound. So if Zuzu runs away barking as I approach, I can sit in the chair that’s next to Petal. Zuzu then returns and gets back in her chair next to Petal, now quiet but looking confused and frustrated and scared. I pet Petal first, while Zuzu watches, then Zuzu will let me pet her. She calms down slowly. Oh so slowly.

I usually only pet them on the head, and scratch around their ears and muzzles. They will tense up if you try to pet along their backs. They hate being picked up more than anything. If one of them ever decides to become a lap dog (years from now, no doubt), it will feel like a miracle to us.

Our only “fun time” is when we feed them some chicken baby food, which they love. We try to stretch it out, speaking gently to them the entire time. They might also take one or two training treats, but for the most part, neither one of them seems to be motivated by snacks. Zuzu might show mild interest in tiny bits of bacon or peanut butter, but Petal just gives you a look that says, “That’s not baby food.”

They were raised in a hoarding situation, and it must have been a bad one. Our beloved Pixie had a noticeable wild streak, but these girls are almost what I would call feral in nature. Humans are just a necessary evil to them.

So we are still at the stage where Petal loves to watch DogTV and Zuzu loves to run out the pet door and patrol the back yard (repeatedly, but always quickly, so as to get back to Petal).