Don't let his misleadingly cute exterior fool you: Zephyr is a force to be reckoned with. Since my roommate and I first rescued the 9-month-old pup and brought him home to our first college apartment we realized we were in way over our heads. Now, after a year of learning to handle an array of Zephyr-induced mishaps it has become clear that he is probably a sociopath, and I still love him anyway.
The superficial charm Zephyr had in the pictures we had seen prior to taking him home immediately disappeared when it became evident that he despises people. Aside from the few people he encounters in his daily life and is thereby comfortable around, he is utterly terrified of any new person to the point of aggression. As you can imagine, this became increasingly difficult for two small girls to manage as we took him on walks down our heavily populated street and he would lunge and growl at strangers. Any new friend we wanted to have over would have to be calmly and methodically introduced to Zephyr, with treats and positive reinforcement involved. We would make sure people were seated when they met him and that they didn't reach out to touch him until Zephyr became comfortable but in some cases, he just never would. He chooses some people who he distinctly dislikes, and will shamelessly bear his teeth and let those people know that he's not playing around.
Although Zephyr has been to a number of trainers and we've tried everything in the books to stop his fear-based aggression and his perceived incapacity for love, nothing has ever entirely changed him. He has markedly improved over the course of the year we've had him, but continues to have the occasional outburst. His poor behavioral control manifests in other more typical ways too, as he chews everything up (from underwear to my Invisalign), barks incessantly at nothing and occasionally pees in the house because he doesn't like going outside in the rain. Countless people have met my dog and been terrified of him, shaming my roommate and I for not putting him down after he bit me (one time that I tried to take a bagel away from him) and continued to be overtly aggressive towards strangers. Sure, there was the time he got off his leash and I chased him for blocks, literally nauseous at the thought that he might encounter and bite a stranger or another dog. There was the time that he destroyed my linguistics homework fifteen minutes before I had class and I couldn't bring myself to tell the professor my dog ate my homework. There was even the time that my family friend agreed to babysit him when I moved into a new apartment and he bit her tiny chihuahua's head. There have been countless times I've been beyond frustrated with this dog, and over and over we've been told that he's broken and there's something wrong with him. I will not dispute that fact.
What I will dispute is that he does not deserve to be loved despite his innumerable issues. As often as Zephyr has made my life more difficult, he has also made me happier. He's licked my tears off my face during a finals-fueled meltdown and has been my cuddle buddy and best friend for the last year. He is incredibly smart and can be very sweet and affectionate. Zephyr just needs a different kind of love which is not always easy to provide. It's the same sort of love that we learn to give when we have loved ones with mental illnesses, which requires that we stop blaming ourselves for their symptoms and start learning how to be empathetic. While I understand that it's easier to find the value in a person's life because they can communicate about their issues, dogs do not have to ability to explain themselves. With the right kind of care, raising an animal with known social issues is very plausible and possible. Ruling out the possibility of rescuing a dog because it may have some sort of abandonment issues (or may have sociopathic tendencies) might prevent you from saving an animal that could really use some extra love. I've learned to accept that Zephyr is probably never going to be fixed but I'm able to appreciate his good days because I know that they aren't always going to be so good. I don't expect that one day he's gonna wake up and just have gotten over it, because realistically he's always going to be a kinda sucky dog by definition. But he's my sucky dog, and I wouldn't have him any other way.
