Feel Good Friday: Zero’s Rescue Story
We don’t know about you, but we definitely needed this Feel Good Friday story this week! Times are strange right now, so we love to hear amazing stories like this from our adopters and how their dogs are making their life 100% better. Read on to learn about Zero and his rescue story:
What do you and Devin do for a living?
Madison is a lifestyle photographer and Devin is in home renovations and flips houses in the los Angeles area. We tend to work together on almost all projects both photography and real estate related. We are lucky to have such parallel taste and good communication : )
What are your favorite hobbies and activities?
Madison loves cooking, baking and entertaining as well horseback riding in the Malibu canyons. Devin has been spending a lot of free time at The Motoring Club in Marina del Rey where he is working with some close car buddies on plans to restore another International Scout this year. Together we enjoy going to open houses on Sundays to get design inspiration and keep up with Real Estate trends and possibly finding our next project house. Traveling is really important to us and we never take for granted that we live in southern California where the options of places to go and things to do is endless. We gravitate towards visiting the most unique pet friendly (and sometimes not so friendly) places that we can find. A dream of ours is to open our own glamping hotel so we love to visit other glamping destinations around the country for inspiration. Other than that, we spend our free time making sure our dogs are having the best days ever. Whether thats extra belly rubs or constantly fluffing their beds to make sure they’re cozy.
Why did you choose to live in LA?
Madison is born and raised in LA right here in Venice. She lived in Kauai and New York after photography school in Santa Barbara. We dated long distance after meeting at a dinner party in Los Angeles, and after 9 months or so, she decided to move back to the sunshine coast and the rest is history!
Devin was born in Princeton New Jersey and grew up just outside of Philadelphia. For as long as he could remember he dreamed of a life in California. He moved to Orange CA in 2006 where he attended Chapman University and after moving to Newport Beach and West Hollywood he settled in Venice.
What do you like most about living here?
The community is a big one for us. We are so fortunate to have such wonderful people in our lives and its hard to imagine day to day life without them. Also, we walk, bike, skate (you name it) wherever we want to go! Whether that's a happy hour at a zinque, coffee at blue bottle, dinner at Wallflower, farmers markets, sunset drinks at the ale house…. we have access to everything and more at such close proximity.
Why did you choose to rescue your dogs over going through a breeder?
There’s one majority answer for this question which is the overpopulation issue and so many animals in need of homes without bringing more into this world. Countless animals are sitting in these shelters for months and sometimes years waiting for there forever home which is heartbreaking. Not to mention the animals that are being put down everyday due to overpopulation issues and/or lack of resources to provide proper training making them adoptable. On another note, although there may be some conscious people breeding animals, there are also so many backyard operations inbreeding animals causing painful and life-threatening genetic defects. Not to mention distorting animals for specific physical features and aesthetic demand in todays culture leaving these animals with severe health issues. The whole industry is quite ugly and unnecessary.
Why did you choose wags and walks? Why did you choose Zero?
I actually didn’t “choose” Wags and Walks. A friend of mine was working with Leslie (owner) fostering dogs. At this time (many years ago) Leslie was saving these animals one at a time out of her house, all while raising a family. She’s a super hero right?? This friend of mine asked if I could watch her 6 month old foster puppy because she had to go out of town last minute and of course I said yes! A puppy! Little did I know she was handing me the sweetest, calmest, most handsome little boy in the world. He was sick with mange at the time and was on many meds but you could tell he was a special dog. I was months away from graduating college which seemed crazy at the time to take on the responsibility of an animal like this, but I knew the second she was leaving him with me that he was going to be mine. I applied to adopt him and the rest is history!
Why did you choose Winston? (Answer from Devin)
I had been playing with the idea of getting a dog for awhile and knew nothing about pit-bulls when I found Winston at the shelter. He had Parvo and a URI, he had green snot that ran from his nose to the floor and I just remember seeing him and thinking to myself that this sweet dog needed medical attention, love and a home immediately.
How do your dogs bring joy to your life?
They’re great companions and even better snuggle buddies. They also keep us pretty active, we take as many walks and jogs around town together as we can. Zero makes us laugh just about the entire day, whether he’s smiling at you with a full toothed smile when you come home, or chasing a squirrel around the yard or snoring on his back with his feet straight up in the air, he’s just a character. Winston loves the water. If you are watering the yard, he’s right there with you being a total goof attacking the water that comes out of the hose. He also loves playing with all dogs, we love watching him just be a little social creature especially in his older years.
What would your life be like without them?
There would be more room on the couch for us to lay down, more storage on our phones from less puppy photos and our hearts would also be empty.
Thank you so much Madison and Devin for sharing your adoption story with us (and these STUNNING photos). We are so happy Zero found you guys and Winston.
Xo,
The Wags Team