Some see broken things and think that they cannot be repaired.
But anything can be made better with some love.
Zelus was in pretty bad shape when Amanda and Tanner found him at the pound.
But they knew that he deserved a second chance at life and a chance to be loved, so they decided to foster him.
“He was scheduled to be euthanized that day. ‘I’m not going to let him die, so let’s get him,'” Tanner recalls telling Amanda.
When they got to the shelter, Zelus was skin and bones and extremely aggressive.
Lots of people wouldn’t want to be bothered with trying to rehabilitate a pit bull like that but Amanda knew he just needed some TLC.
“You could tell he had been fighting to eat and live for so long ” Amanda said. “He was just so happy to be on something soft. We got a bag of food on the way home, he was just being really aggressive and was just guarding that bag of food.”
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Tanner admitted that Zelus was a very intimidating dog.
But they didn’t let him know that.
They called him a good boy and loved him like he was a sweet puppy.
But it took a lot of patience to work with Zelus as he was snappy at first and hadn’t learned how to be gentle.
“He was actually my first foster, honestly it kind of scared us at first,” Amanda says.
Still, Amanda and Tanner showed fortitude in their quest to transform Zelus into a love bug.
“We were like, ‘We can’t risk him ever being put down because of something that triggers him that someone doesn’t understand and someone doesn’t want to work through with him,” Amanda said.
It wasn’t long before Zelus started to turn around. He was fed a high-protein diet along with goat’s milk to fatten him up.
He gained 15 pounds in about two weeks.
Zelus also made a lot of friends.
“We have other dogs coming in and out of the house for training. They were like a safety blanket for him. I think once he found out that he’s gonna get fed, he has someone who cares about him, then he opened up.”
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Amanda and Tanner made sure to take Zelus everywhere they went.
This way he could feel safe and know that he wouldn’t be abandoned.
It wasn’t long before Zelus was an official love bug.
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“Not only did he change how we see things, but he also made out relationship a ball of fun,” said Tanner. “When he crawled into my lap, that was him basically being like all right my guard’s down and I trust you.”
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Now that Zelus has fully bloomed he is super affectionate, likes to be lazy, and has tons of personality.
He and Tanner are BFFs. When it was time to put Zelus up for adoption, it didn’t exactly go as planned.
“We promised we weren’t going to foster fail our first foster and then we did,” said Amanda. ” He’s officially adopted. He ours. We couldn’t watch him go.”
Now Zelus has a permanent forever home with Amanda and Tanner and they are one big happy family.
“They all come with a little big of baggage. It comes down to love,” Tanner said.
Learn more about Zelus in the video below.
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