Sheila and her husband Ralph, recent adopters from One Love Animal Rescue had been talking about getting a puppy for some time.  They had initially talked about getting a pedigree puppy from a breeder but then decided that they would embrace the idea of stewardship and look at a dog that needed a second chance.  They went to visit the animal control shelter on Sallie Mood Dr.  They looked at the three dogs near the entrance, all of which were adorable, and one towards the back all by himself.  Two of the dogs were extremely vocal and since Ralph is a realtor with Keller Williams and on the phone most of the time, and Sheila works in the financial services industry, and on conference calls most of the day from her home office, they decided that unfortunately the two very vocal dogs were not a good match.  So they decided to look at Pickles a cute little female dog.  The volunteer took her to the pen and she was absolutely adorable.

After Pickles was put back in her cage, Sheila and Ralph talked about her and decided she would have no problem getting adopted (and she has since been adopted).  Sheila heard noise in the back of the shelter and went towards it to find a large dog all the way in the back by himself.  He was very excited to see her and wagging his tail like crazy and appeared friendly, but Sheila hesitated to put her hands near the dog because he was a little intimidating to look at, but the volunteer said Bruno was just a big excitable bear and offered to put Bruno in the pen so Sheila and Ralph could visit with him.  The couple reluctantly agreed.  While in the pen Bruno ran and jumped around like crazy, and although appeared very friendly was extremely hyper.  Sheila and Ralph decided to pass him up because they though him unmanageable, plus he had heartworms which they did not know much about…but assumed it was not a good thing.

Sheila and Ralph left that day and continued the search elsewhere.  Sheila continued the search online looking at all the local rescue websites and kept stopping at the picture of a very handsome yet sad looking dog.  She contacted One Love Animal Rescue (http://www.oneloveanimalrescue.com) to schedule a visit and learned that the dog was Bruno that she and her husband had visited already, and passed up.   She also inquired as to why Bruno was labeled “urgent” on the website, and learned that he had been at the shelter for over five weeks, and because he was large, heartworm positive, and hyper, had gotten passed up and was due to be euthanized as he was beginning to break down mentally and physically cooped up all day in the stressful shelter environment.

Sheila could not get the dog out of her mind and after much back and forth with her husband, a second hyper visit with Bruno, and numerous conversations with the very patient Karrie and Dana of One Love, hesitantly decided to give Bruno a chance.  Karrie and Dana explained that Bruno was just a sweet boy and sent a picture of him hugging Karrie one very cold day at the shelter in December.  The picture melted Sheila’s and Ralph’s hearts and they adopted Bruno on Valentine’s Day.

As it turns out that same picture had been submitted to a WSAV photo contest by James Williams on 12/24/13 with the caption “Taken at the Savannah Animal Control, all they want is a little love.” (http://www.wsav.com/story/24591887/whats-brewing-in-your-hometown-photo-contest)… and the photo won.Karrie and Bruno

When the couple picked up Bruno on Valentine’s Day he knew he was going home.  The couple were so nervous about putting him in the car and him going crazy on the drive home they we actually shaking.  But Bruno, although obviously not familiar with cars, loved the car and sat in the back seat with his safety belt on like a proper gentleman.  The couple had done some research on how to integrate a rescue dog into a new home and the information on One Love’s site and animal control’s site was very helpful.  They took him for a walk before bringing him inside.  They established what areas of the house he was allowed into and established leadership authority using positive reinforcement (which includes lots of treats).  Karrie had also pointed out that many animals calm down when they go to a home and that is exactly what happened.

Sheila and Ralph had a large crate all ready for Bruno with some toys and a large bone.  He grabbed the bone and carried it around for five hours straight.  He tried to eat his dinner with the bone in his mouth and finally dropped it to gobble up his food.  He was so happy and calm except for wagging his tail nonstop from once he came home until he went into his crate that night.  Sheila and Ralph decided to call him Zeus after the Greek god of sky and Olympian gods, because although intimidating to look at (the couple learned the dog is most likely a Pit Bull and Mastiff mix) Zeus was gentle and loving.

Zeus learned potty training in two days, sit, stay and numerous other commands in no time at all.  They are working on training him not to get overexcited when walking on a leash, and he is doing much better.

Zeus started his heartworm treatment on March 1st and is doing very well.  Sheila and Ralph can’t imagine their lives without him and can’t believe they almost passed him up.

Sheila and Ralph want to thank animal control for rescuing Zeus off the street and want to thank One Love Animal Rescue for working with Animal Control to get Zeus adopted.  Sheila and Ralph were shocked by the number of dogs and cats abandoned every day and commend animal control and One Love for doing what they can with the limited resources they have to try to find homes for these animals.

Zeus has turned out to be an amazing, well behaved, kind, calm and loving dog.  The caption on James’s winning photo is so true and appropriate;”…all they want is a little love”.  Sheila and Ralph adore Zeus and he adores them back a million times over.