ZIZI TOP

This is the story of our dog Zizi (like ZZ Top).

We were visiting friends near Sunrise Mountain in Las Vegas when she came walking down the road with her head hung. She was skinny and her hair was filthy. Our friend said he'd seen her wandering around for a few days but he hadn't been able to get her to come to him. My heart cried out for her. She looked so sad! I sat down on the ground and we coaxed her over with some water. Bird and I decided we would rescue her and try to find her owners.

That night, we took her to a few pet stores but none of them would groom her w/o proof of shots. So, we took her home and Bird hopped in the shower with her. Not the smartest thing in the world to do with a stray dog but thus far she had been as mellow as could be. He was in the shower with her for over an hour washing her and cutting tar from her fur. The pads on her feet were raw from walking the streets of Las Vegas for who knows how long. She had a slash around the bottom of her neck from a rope or some other sort of restraint. In addition, she had puncture wounds on top of her nose and under her jaw from something sharp. We wonder if she'd been dumped in the desert. We have 2 other dogs and we didn't want to risk passing on any possible diseases/bugs to them so Zizi slept in our back yard. She didn't move from our back door all night. She just layed their w/o moving.

The next morning, Bird took her to our vet and got her updated on all her shots. He found she had a microchip and called her previous owner. He had given her away but didn't have the new owners number anymore. Good story but we're not sure it's true. He said he would take her back if we were going to put her in a shelter but otherwise he had too many dogs already. We feared she may end up back on the streets if we took her back to him so we started looking for a new home for her. Unbeknownst to us she had already found a new home. OURS! That same day, Bird took her to the groomer to have some more pampering and professional grooming done. What a beautiful dog she was and she looked like a puppy. In reality we learned she was about 7 years old. We also learned she didn't know what a chew toy was. She didn't know how to play. She didn't even know what to do with a raw hide. She had been completely neglected by her past owners. She wanted to be under our feet at all times and often didn't even move if you stepped on her by accident. Once she even put her mouth on our hot oven door w/o flinching. I'm not sure if she feels much or if she was so used to pain these things didn't bother her. SO SAD!

Of our 3 dogs she is the best behaved and quietest. She'll do anything for your love and is extremely loyal and protective. She lays in front of Yaya's bedroom when she naps. She lays between me and any door when Bird is gone. She is the first one to notice if someone approaches our front door. Like many things in our life we didn't plan for her. We're sure thankful she wandered into our life though.