Third Time’s A Charm! – Dear Ziggy,

by John Flores

This is the first time I’m writing a letter to a former foster for the 2^nd time. The first letter I wrote to Ziggy never felt right and for good reason. Anyways, Ziggy has found his forever home and I can assure you he’s not coming back. Here’s my redo letter…

Dear Ziggy,

The first time I adopted you out, I was walking one way and your new family was walking the opposite way. You started to walk towards my direction. It kind of made me doublethink my decision on your new family. 18 hours later you were brought back. This was the first time I’ve had someone return one of my fosters in the short amount of time I’ve been doing this. I totally took this personally. I felt like I let you down. Of course, I took you back in. There was no way I was letting you stay anywhere else with your heart condition.

It was back to the drawing board. In a very short amount of time, I found another family interested in you. They were awesome. They’re actually part of the pittie crew! We had agreed on letting you stay at their house to see how it would work out with their dog. When they came to pick you up you were following behind them and you stopped in your tracks and looked back at me. Again, I ignored it and assured you this family would have more patience and be more accepting of you than the last one. And they were but there just wasn’t that “connection” that we had found with all my other fosters and their families.

So back to my house you went. I was really starting to think if this was a sign that you were meant to be here but they always say the third time is a charm and that’s exactly what happened. The same family that adopted one of my other fosters named, Lucy , fell in love with you. In fact, it was Emily who fell in love. She’s the same girl who fell in love with Lucy but her mom ended up loving Lucy just as much so she ended up staying with her. She asked to take you for a week to see how you would get along with her senior shih tzu, Izzy. Of course, I agreed, and off you went. The funny thing is, you didn’t look back this time. It was almost as if you couldn’t get out of here fast enough to leave with her. I kept my fingers crossed but I had a good feeling about this one.

Of course, you got along with Izzy. And I bet you didn’t know that Izzy pretty much doesn’t care for other dogs….well, until you came along! Everything seemed almost too perfect. Only thing is, her apartment complex didn’t allow “pit bulls” unless you were registered as an emotional support dog or therapy dog of some sort. Things weren’t looking good. Not only did you need to be registered but Emily needed a note from her doctor saying she actually needed an emotional support dog. She brought you back to my house to figure things out. And when she dropped you off, you had a different look on your face. You looked sad and confused. And that’s when you chewed up my remote control and started peeing in my closet. It was obvious you had found your home and it wasn’t mine. I could tell you were stressed out and you were not the same dog that left my house a week earlier. I was receiving messages from Emily saying how much she missed you and I was getting pictures of you and Izzy. It was obvious that was where you belonged.

But it’s funny how things work out. Just when it seemed like we were going to have to find you another family, Emily had to go to her doctor. She had hurt her back and her doctor said that part of her injury was from stress. Her best friend was with her and she just kept saying, “Ziggy! Ziggy!” Long story short, Emily explained the situation and prescribed a dose of Ziggy as part of her treatment! You were finally going home!! But I need you to know, she fought for you. She fought for you like nobody in your life ever has. She beat BSL at their own game and she never blinked twice at your heart condition or your scarred up body.

And when she picked you up, it happened in the same fashion as Kurtis, Amber, Lucy, Fairfield, Charlie, Jude, Shadow and every other foster I’ve adopted out. You never looked back. No more being tied up to a tree. No more being burned. No more being covered in ticks. No more open gashes on your face. And best of all, no more being homeless.

Happy tails, Ziggy. I promise this is your last stop. You will have the best rest of your life you could ever ask for. We all know you’ve earned it!

John Flores

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