When my mom Renee Lardieri read LifeZette’s story Give Me Shelter about abandoned dogs in the United States, she knew she had to act.

Zoe2“I wanted company for my first dog, and the kids wanted a little puppy. When you told me it was Adopt-a-Shelter Dog month, I went on Petfinder.com and saw all the faces. I was hooked,” my mom told me.

She found Zoe, a big-eyed, 8-week-old shepherd and labrador retriever mix.

Zoe, originally called Star when she lived in the shelter, has had quite the adventure in her short life. She was found abandoned in a cemetery in Kentucky, where she had been dumped with the rest of her litter mates.

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A foster family with children helped take care of the puppies, adopted one, and took the rest to a shelter so they could be adopted by people who would give them a permanent home. Then the shelter, Kindness for Homeless Paws, took her sweet mug and put it up on Petfinder.com — and the rest is history.

There is no doubt Zoe will receive more than enough love in my family’s home in New Jersey. She’ll soon travel to the town of Parsippany, about 30 minutes from our house, where we will pick her up and bring her home. Ours is a loud and hectic home with two young children and a rambunctious resident dog, all of whom keep my parents on their toes.

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“My friend said I may be filling a void after my two oldest daughters moved away,” Mom said. “When I read how many dogs they kill a year, I wanted to save an animal to fill it.”

Zoe will join our family on Halloween, providing the whole family with a perfect way to end trick-or-treating — coming home to a new best friend who will give us much more than candy.

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