Abandoned German Shepherd Reunited With Family At Animal Shelter Remains Heartbroken When They Try To Adopt A Different Dog

Picture the scene. You’re two-years-old, plucked from the sanctuary of your home and caged in a strange and alien place where no-one knows your name or where you’re from.

Days pass by in a deadly monotony as the last ragged and frayed vestiges of hope slowly begin to wither and die, and then, one fine morning, out of the blue, you spot not one but three familiar faces.

And they’re not just any old familiar faces, but the faces of the family who you’ve adored and loved since you were a little pup.

Where once there was despair, there is now joy, and as the darkness of the endless night gives way to the light of a new dawn, your tail begins to beat furiously in mounting excitement and every nerve-ending is alive with the sort of pure unbounded glee you thought you’d never experience again.

And all the while a little voice rings in your head with the celebratory chant of, “You’re going home! You’re going home!”

Abandoned German Shepherd sees family but they want a different dog – Daily Mail https://t.co/4ofHHODDk4 #dogs #paws

— AnimalAbusers (@AnimalAbusers) November 30, 2016

Except you’re not.

A gnawing realization that everything is not quite right, suddenly turns into a sledgehammer which hits hard and smashes your fragile glass cocoon of new-found happiness into a million jagged shards.

You’re not going home. The family you thought loved you have chosen to leave you abandoned in this desolate place of bars and barking, in favor of another dog. How could they?

How could they indeed. Yet the above scenario is exactly what happened to one poor German Shepherd in California named Zuzu.

The Daily Mail reports that Zuzu was picked up by shelter staff from Downey Animal Care Centre who believed she was a stray after she escaped from her garden and was found in the yard of a neighboring property.

When her owners visited the animal shelter, the staff and Zulu naturally assumed she was going back to her family, who began to pet and talk to the excited animal through the fence.

Shelter worker Desi Lara took a video of the heartbreaking scene and wrote on Facebook how happy Zuzu looked.

“With her fast wagging tail seeing her owners Zuzu lit up like a Christmas Tree. She looked like the happiest dog. Yeah, she’s going home.”

Yet fickle fate and the wanton whims of the human heart dictated otherwise.

“But no. Talking to her owners they told me they were not here to reclaim her, they were getting another dog.”

Another dog? Can you believe it? We’re not talking about used cars here that can be sent for scrap and traded in for newer and faster models on the turn of a dime. We’re talking dogs! You know, those sweet-natured animals whose fierce loyalty and unconditional devotion have won a well-earned place in our hearts and in our homes for time out of mind.

Yet someone forgot to tell Zuzu’s owners that a dog is for life and not just for Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybfoXCoCHpU

Apparently they told Desi Lara at the animal shelter that sensitive Zuzu had been depressed and crying since her father passed away. She just wasn’t the same happy-go-lucky dog, so they decided to get rid of her.

Lara wrote, “Their solutions for her unhappiness was just leaving her here! And go get another dog.”

Just the tonic hey? That’ll cheer the spirit of a dog who’s just lost a parent and been abandoned by her family.

Needless to say, dog-loving Facebook users were incensed at the actions of Zuzu’s former owners and one commenter snapped, “I sure hope like everyone else is saying that this shelter didn’t adopt out another dog to them as**hole owners, because if they did they are totally irresponsible a**holes too!!! I can’t even watch this video because I will be even more livid and upset…..B*******!!!”

Yet this tale does have a happy ending. The shelter has posted on Facebook that Zuzu will be taken in by a caring rescue group who will find her a home.

And with more and more people expressing an interest to adopt Zuzu, it looks like this is definitely one dog who will have her day, and deservedly so.

[Featured Image By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]