How former Pet of the Week Zeus found his way home

When Connie Scanlan saw this adorable little miniature poodle/shih tzu mix on our Pet of the Week page, she immediately knew it was her dog. Not in the "oh, I can't wait to take him home" type of way, but the "hey, that's definitely my daughter's dog" type of way. And, as it turns out, that was him—that was Zeus.

"We all went to the shelter the next day to fill out the adoption papers," Scanlan says. "He was jumping all over us and we were hugging him, and it was rather an emotional time. They let us take him that day."

But 10-year-old Zeus' story starts long before he appeared on our website—about 10 years ago to be exact. That's when Scanlan's adult daughter, Cindy Grecco, first took Zeus home as a pet, where he remained up until a few months ago. All was going well until Grecco and her husband, Pat, decided to move into a 55-and-over community that did not allow pets.

"They just assumed they could take Zeus, and as it turned out they couldn't," Scanlan says. "From there, all hell broke out."

The Grecco's attempted to have Zeus stay with a friend while they worked out the particulars, but that ultimately fell through. Scanlan, who is stricken with COPD, could not take over guardianship duties because of her patricularly ailing health at the time.

"Nothing seemed to be going right for us," Scanlan says.

A break appeared to arrive in the form of another family friend who adopted Zeus after a short stay at the ASPCA. That deal only worked out for about eight months before Zeus found himself back at the animal shelter, waiting for a new owner to come along.

Then, of course, Zeus made it online. Courtesy of Street Tails Animal Rescue, Zeus got a post about him in our Pet of the Week column late last month. Scanlan ultimately saw the post and started the process of getting Zeus home with her.

"I went on Facebook and couldn't believe it when I saw Zeus," she says. "I knew it was him right away and called Cindy."

Now, after his odyssey, Zeus finds himself at home with the Scanlans. Which, after all, is where he belonged this whole time.