DENVER (KDVR) — What could have turned deadly very quickly turned into a story of two abandoned puppies finding their fur-ever homes.
In January, while FOX31 was on a ride-along with the Denver Animal Protection to make sure animals were safe in freezing temperatures, crews got word of two fluffy, white puppies abandoned and stuck in a Montbello ditch. After a difficult and slick rescue, the two Great Pyrenees puppies were safe and sound.
The puppies were put on hold for a few days until a possible owner came to claim them. No one came forward. Since then, FOX31 has received many questions about what happened to those puppies and how new owners could adopt them.
“My wife and I had a Pyrenees who was 12 years old, and we had to put him down on November 25, and it was pretty rough…so we decided not to get any more dogs for a while. She sent me your story, and she said, ‘Take a look at this.’ It angered me quite a bit, but I told her right away, we’ve got to go get those dogs,” said Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Wayne Pennington. “They have to hold the dog for five days in case someone lost them… So, we didn’t think that was going to be the case for the dogs to be out in a drainage pipe in zero-degree weather.”
Pennington and his wife were first in line at the Denver Animal Shelter, also in zero-degree weather, the day the puppies were available. The couple was able to adopt the male puppy, eventually naming him Zeus.
“You can’t move in the house without him getting up and following you around,” said Pennington.
Third in line that morning were Toni Martin and her daughter, who were behind people not going for the puppies.
“There were several people that were there for the Pyrenees that day,” said Martin, who also saw the original story. “They brought her in, and my daughter and I were sitting there, and she just went back and forth, both of us, just back and forth and could tell she was just a really loving dog. I had history with Pyrenees, my dad and I used to raise them when I was younger.”
Martin and her daughter adopted the female puppy, now named Lyra. Both puppies have new mythical names, but also both have similar traumas.
“She’s scared of a lot of things. Noise, any noise, the trash truck, anything,” said Martin. “Same thing. I’m sure he has PTSD pretty badly. I don’t know what happened in those four months, but I don’t think it was very good. It’s a daily struggle,” added Pennington.
Then, on a much warmer July day, and a few pounds heavier, the pair got to reunite for a reunion with their new families.
“We were super excited to see her and see how it would go. We weren’t sure how he would respond and quite honestly, I’m not sure he remembers her that well. I think she seems to remember him more than he does her,” said Pennington.
“We were very excited too, and I think, kind of concerned to see how they were going to react to each other. I didn’t know if she would pay attention to him, but she seems to recognize him and know that she’s been there before with him,” said Martin.
The families reflected on their new lives with the puppies who may have never made it out alive.
“I’m an animal lover, and it’s very sad to know that animals are having to go through that. I was glad they were rescued and now can have a good life. That’s the goal for animals, and my thing is to give them a good life,” said Martin.
“I know whatever life they had, that they have a great life now,” said Pennington.