Zeus at 11 weeks old
It was a day in mid April that we met Zeus. His breeder, Hazel, agreed to meet us 1/2 way since she lived in Green, NY and that was about a 4 hour drive away from Rochester. We drove to a plaza of shops and met her parked vehicle outside a McDonalds. As soon as we pulled up, I could feel her eyes sizing us up and down. She wanted to make sure that someone special was going to take care of her 'baby'. I knew in my heart that I was the one she was looking for - I was destined to be his owner. We all got out of our vehicles; Steve and I got out of my car and Hazel and her son (his name escapes me now) got out of his SUV. We greeted each other cordially like strangers even though we had spent weeks emailing and talking on the phone... It was awkward, I'll admit. We walked to the back of the SUV and they started opening up the window so we could see the puppy. He was covered with dog feces on his feet, legs and a little on his face. He had thrown up what little food he had in his stomach and he had scratches in random places on his legs, back and ears). He stunk like dog pee and cigarette smoke... and I fell in love. He was beautiful! I knew he'd clean up like a shiny penny. His eyes melted my heart immediately. Steve and I both looked at him like he was our new born baby - a 42 lb. baby, that is! He was enormous for an 11 week old puppy.
I was a little nervous to pick him up so I had Steve scoop him into his arms (which was not easy due to his size) and he carried him into the back seat of my car. I promised Hazel that I would love him and give him everything he needed. I also assured her that we'd be patient with his deafness. She asked that if by any chance we decided not to keep him, that we call her because she would take him back in a heartbeat. I agreed... I paid her $200 for him (his littermates who were all hearing dogs were being sold for $375 - Zeus' defect made him a discount puppy) and then I got into my back seat with my new, very scared little puppy. We sat in the car with him for about 20 minutes just letting him get used to our car, us and the idea of not being with Hazel. Even though we knew he couldn't hear us, we still spoke to him in gentle voices reassuring him that he was ok and that we were going to love him. Eventually he laid down and I inched my body close to his, but not too close. I wanted him to come to me when he was ready. Before the end of the 2 hour ride home, he had fallen asleep some, looked out the window some and put his head on my leg some. I remember crying - tears of happiness, sadness and fear of the unknown. It's been a journey ever since.
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