TOP STORY OF THE DAY: Meet Zeus: A rescue dog on a mission

IVY JACOBS Photo - Zeus 1 - Zeus is a Germain Shepard rescued from a euthanasia list at a kill shelter for being too aggressive to go home. Yet, Zeus recently began service dog training within the past month and helped rescue his new owner when she fell. Zina Hughes is on the mend but has a bruised chin from the fall on March 31.

Zeus is a rescue dog on a special mission Friday, March 31.

It all began when his new owner Zina Hughes took Zeus for a walk on the southwest side of Brazil. Zeus is a new addition to Zina’s life thanks to her friend Theresa Steele.

Steele rescues dogs from shelters with euthanasia lists to give the animals a second chance at life. Zeus was one of those dogs and had recently begun training as a service dog for Hughes.

IVY JACOBS PHOTO - Zina Hughes, Theresa Hughes, and Zeus.

“I had just got him in February,” said Steele, who admits it makes this story much more amazing.

While out for a walk that Friday afternoon, Hughes somehow lost her footing and fell. She could not get to her feet, and when she fell, she dropped her cell phone.

“It just flew away from me,” Hughes said. “I couldn’t see it or even move if I did. I couldn’t move or call for help. Zeus is amazing when I need him.”

After a few minutes, Zeus took action and left the area to find help. He traveled to the northeast side of Brazil to Steele’s home.

“I heard this scratching at my front door,” said Steele, who found Zeus at her front door.

Taking the leash, Steel started walking with Zeus to return him to her friend, yet Zeus led her away from Hughes’s home and straight to where she fell.

“It was completely amazing,” said Hughes as she scratched Zeus’s ears. “I knew we were getting close, but not that close.”

Steele said she is also bonded with Zeus in the short time he has been in the two women’s life.

“It is absolutely amazing the things that animals can do,” said Steele, who admits two of her rescue dogs, Oreo and Peanut, got her safely out of her home when the electricity shorted out in an outlet and was slowly burning in the wall. “Firefights were amazed at how black it was in the wall. Dogs are miraculous creatures.”

Steele is amazed that the dog, considered too mean to stay alive, is now a hero to her and Hughes. She encourages people looking for pets to give a rescue shelter at least a thought.

“Zeus got loose for one reason, to get help for Zina,” said Steele, who admits there are trackers on Zina’s phone and on Zeus’s collar. “Rescue these dogs. All rescues deserve a second chance at life. I found that rescues make the best pets. You might not know what they have been through, but it is well worth the time.”