I've been meaning to post Zeus' story for a while, but never got around to it. So here it is!
My husband and I had just bought our first house about 6 months ago, and we were wanting a large/giant breed dog. When cruising Petfinder one night, I saw an 8 month old "mastiff mix" at the local shelter. The pic just showed the dog's head, and it did look somewhat mastiff-like. The hubby said to check it out. He had a long commute to work, so he unfortunately couldn't go with me.
I went down to the shelter during my lunch break the next day. I looked through all the kennels, but didn't see the dog. I figured that I was too late, and had been adopted. On the way out, I happened to walk by an administrators office, which had a baby gate across the door. There was the dog, laying on the floor!
I went up to the gate and called the dog. He got up and came right up to me. It was obvious at first glance that he wasn't a mastiff. He was also shockingly emaciated; you could see every bone in his body. The administrator (who happened to be his foster mom) said he had been found wandering along the highway, where he had presumably been dumped. She said he wouldn't be adopted until he gained some weight. After a few days of visiting him at the shelter during lunch, I adopted him. He was still pretty emaciated, but his foster family trusted that I would feed him up.
My husband still hadn't actually seen the dog. He didn't meet him until the day I brought our new puppy home. Hubby came home from work and opened the front door. The dog ran joyfully up to him like he had been doing it all his life, sat politely at hubby's feet with a madly waiting tail, and waited for attention. Love at first sight, and hubby named him Zeus right then and there. To this day, while Zeus loves me and understands me, I still think that he has a special something with my hubby.
But Zeus' problems weren't over. He wasn't eating well at all. We had to coax him to eat every bite. And our training attempts with treats weren't working. He's just look at the treat sadly and not even try. We coaxed him to take the treats from our hands, but he needed a lot of encouragement. It's like he didn't think it was for him.
That brought the first vet visit. My vet said that Zeus was, without a doubt, a blackmouth cur. My vet is also the vet to two blackmouth cur breeders and he recognized the breed instantly.The vet suspected Zeus was being trained for hunting since 99% of the blackmouth curs in our area are hunting dogs, and some bad trainers believe that keeping a dog thin makes them a better hunter. Zeus was probably chronically starved since puppyhood, which is why he was such a poor eater; he just wasn't used to eating. He was also probably teased with food on a daily basis, which is why he didn't even try to take treats from us or try to do obedience for them. Zeus was convinced we were just going to snatch the treat from him.
Over time, we overcame those food issues. To this day he does not have a lot of food drive in training, but fortunately he'll do anything to please us and get praise. He also trusts us completely. I'm also now completely in love with the blackmouth cur breed. Zeus is a wonderfully well-behaved dog and has the sweetest temperament. I can't believe somebody just starved him and dumped him. I'm so glad that we rescued him, and he is a great dog.
My husband and I had just bought our first house about 6 months ago, and we were wanting a large/giant breed dog. When cruising Petfinder one night, I saw an 8 month old "mastiff mix" at the local shelter. The pic just showed the dog's head, and it did look somewhat mastiff-like. The hubby said to check it out. He had a long commute to work, so he unfortunately couldn't go with me.
I went down to the shelter during my lunch break the next day. I looked through all the kennels, but didn't see the dog. I figured that I was too late, and had been adopted. On the way out, I happened to walk by an administrators office, which had a baby gate across the door. There was the dog, laying on the floor!
I went up to the gate and called the dog. He got up and came right up to me. It was obvious at first glance that he wasn't a mastiff. He was also shockingly emaciated; you could see every bone in his body. The administrator (who happened to be his foster mom) said he had been found wandering along the highway, where he had presumably been dumped. She said he wouldn't be adopted until he gained some weight. After a few days of visiting him at the shelter during lunch, I adopted him. He was still pretty emaciated, but his foster family trusted that I would feed him up.
My husband still hadn't actually seen the dog. He didn't meet him until the day I brought our new puppy home. Hubby came home from work and opened the front door. The dog ran joyfully up to him like he had been doing it all his life, sat politely at hubby's feet with a madly waiting tail, and waited for attention. Love at first sight, and hubby named him Zeus right then and there. To this day, while Zeus loves me and understands me, I still think that he has a special something with my hubby.
But Zeus' problems weren't over. He wasn't eating well at all. We had to coax him to eat every bite. And our training attempts with treats weren't working. He's just look at the treat sadly and not even try. We coaxed him to take the treats from our hands, but he needed a lot of encouragement. It's like he didn't think it was for him.
That brought the first vet visit. My vet said that Zeus was, without a doubt, a blackmouth cur. My vet is also the vet to two blackmouth cur breeders and he recognized the breed instantly.The vet suspected Zeus was being trained for hunting since 99% of the blackmouth curs in our area are hunting dogs, and some bad trainers believe that keeping a dog thin makes them a better hunter. Zeus was probably chronically starved since puppyhood, which is why he was such a poor eater; he just wasn't used to eating. He was also probably teased with food on a daily basis, which is why he didn't even try to take treats from us or try to do obedience for them. Zeus was convinced we were just going to snatch the treat from him.
Over time, we overcame those food issues. To this day he does not have a lot of food drive in training, but fortunately he'll do anything to please us and get praise. He also trusts us completely. I'm also now completely in love with the blackmouth cur breed. Zeus is a wonderfully well-behaved dog and has the sweetest temperament. I can't believe somebody just starved him and dumped him. I'm so glad that we rescued him, and he is a great dog.
