Zippy

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Update 03/17/11:

Zippy was returned to MAESSR when his family had a new baby. The family was concerned that Zippy might accidentally hurt the baby. 

Still shy and slow to accept new people, Zippy was started on an inexpensive medication to help with his anxiety issues. It has been a couple of weeks since beginning this regimen, and his foster mom can already see a marked difference in his behavior. Zippy has started playing with the other dogs in the foster home! He seems to enjoy having canine company. 

Zippy’s foster mom is going to give him plenty of time to settle in and relax before determining what would be a good forever home for this handsome boy. With lots of MAESSR love, plenty of sunshine should be heading his way – Zip-a-dee-doo-dah!

Update 8/29/07: 

This brief incident was recounted by Zippy’s foster mom, a reflection of how far he has come and how ready he is for his forever family.

I got a test on Zippy this morning that I could not be more pleased he passed, yet scared he was tested at all. I have been dealing with estimators, contractors, insurance people, and petsitters during my flood on the other side of the house from the dog room. For reasons I can not imagine, and do not remember why, last night my gate to cars was left open. Well, at 5 AM, I do everything by sleep walking. I let my alpha dog out first. Whew, his bark to go first stopped. He went to the open sliding glass door and outside to do his business, then he came in to get food and water in his crate.

I left the STAR out next – Zippy. He went outside and went potty and came in to feed. I gave Zippy his food and water. I let the next dog out and made her food and water so she would have it to come back to. Okay – too many minutes go by. She is not beyond trying to stay out the longest and smell roses and totally ignore the other dogs barking for their turn. But, finally, I decide her five minutes is too much and I go out on the porch to call her. It is then that I notice the gate to the front yard open. Hummmm. She is on a dragging 6 foot leash. I call her. Inside the dogs are all barking. There is no movement of a dog in or out of the yard. Hummm. Zippy by-passed an open gate to freedom and chose to come in to food and water and me. Things have come a long way. YEAH, Zippy is ready to have his forever home to share this bond with.

The roaming female was back in a few minutes after her unexpected morning romp. All this by 6 AM and time for work.

Update 7/7/07: 

Zippy has made some great strides recently. It’s such a pleasure to see his progress.

He is now very crate-trained. Zippy sleeps in his crate and, when he whines in his crate, his foster mom knows that he is telling her he has to go potty. Being able to let her know this is a huge step forward.

With growing confidence Zippy is now running his fenced yard. Calling Zippy, where is your cookie? will bring him running. This will eventually phase into Zippy, come, but for now, he likes to hear the tone of voice that tells him all is OK. He is now wearing a regular buckle collar and a six foot leash for his walks.

Zippy is also at the beginning stages of play-bows with the low ranking dogs in his foster home. When they stand up, Zippy makes himself tall by rolling onto his front tippy toes. When the other dogs lay down, he puts himself in a full play-bow. He enjoys playing tag with these playmates and will run around and around in the yard with them. Wow!!! What a sight!!!

Though Zippy will not get into the baby pool on his own, he can now be led into it and will drink from it. He has begun picking out his favorite toys to carry to his crate and outdoors and where ever he goes. He likes to be brushed anywhere and even allows his toenails to be trimmed. He does draw the line at entering a room when the are clippers going, but that’s quite OK.

Perhaps the most heartening progress of late is that Zippy is accepting all people now. He bonds within a few days and thinks a new person has been there for his whole life! He is slowly growing into the opportunities around him and is surely an increasingly happier boy. Of course, more on Zippy coming.

Update 4/16/07: 

In an extraordinarily patient and supportive foster setting, Zippy is continuing to make progress with his socialization. Though perhaps small by mainstream standards, the steps forward for him are so heartening to witness.

For several weeks now, Zippy has been able to walk outside into the fenced yard by himself, go potty, smell the roses so to speak, and, on his own terms, come back in to eat. He has a trailing leash in case he gets into trouble along the way, as he did once. He became afraid under a picnic table when he bumped his head on the seat part, and, the leash was nice to have on him as his foster mom guided him out.

This week for the first time Zippy took a biscuit from his foster mom’s hand while out in the yard. She had offered it as a reward for going potty outside. Until now he has needed the safety of his crate when accepting a treat from her hand. This is HUGE.

On the funny side, one recent night when his foster mom let him out, it was nice weather and Zippy took his time in the yard. The next morning, it was raining and the porch was wet. When he walked onto the porch, his feet got wet. He shook a wet paw off, sat down, and turned his head with a look at his foster mom as if to say, What did you do this for? When she laughed at him, he continued on down the stairs to do his business. 

More mini-chapters to come on Zippy as he braves a bigger world.

Update 2/24/07: 

Zippy has been back in foster care for a little over a month and has become very comfortable with his foster mom. She is working daily to help him overcome his fears and to draw out his personality. For his part, Zippy is trying so hard to cope with all that is new and scary. Following are some of her observations as she has gained his trust.

With most fosters, leash work includes training a dog not to pull on the line. When his foster mom takes Zippy out on a 6 foot leash, he is almost pulling to go where he wants. He still won’t pull against a long line, a tie line, or even a flexileash. He is very good about coming back into the house after having been out in his fenced area. Once inside, sometimes he heads under a table or a desk. He will come out to visit with his foster mom if left there for a half hour or more. Other times he is hungry, heads straight to his crate and bumps his bowl to remind his foster mom that she needs to put something in there.

Since Zippy is doing well on a 6 foot leash, his foster mom has been introducing him to different parts of her yard. He is still shaky about her opening and closing doors to the front and side yards but has no problem with the steps to either area or with walking around the new spaces.

There are both resident dogs and another foster in Zippy’s home. He is taking more and more interest in playing with one of the resident females. He actually spun around to see her run past him a couple of times. He gets very jealous when his foster mom feeds and plays with the other dogs in the same nice voice that she uses with him. He has taken to an almost puppy-high pitched bark to show his displeasure when she walks past him with the other foster, but he has not growled at him.

There are 2 other patient, dog-savy people who greet and play with Zippy every other day or so. It takes him 5 minutes to warm up to them each time. He will walk with the one man, a K-9 trainer, and only sits to be petted by the other man. There is no aggressive behavior in Zippy, just an absolute fear to overcome.

Zippy is still afraid of rolling tennis balls, toys that move, and tossed biscuits, but he does not climb through baby gates anymore. He has discovered that Kongs with peanut butter are very good. He is very well crate trained. Zippy is also house-broken as long as a puppy schedule is observed at this time. He has no idea how to ask to go outside. When the weather warms, Zippy will get another bath, but not until then as using a blow dryer to finish him would be way too scary.

The flash from a camera is another thing that scares Zippy. It’s confusing to him when his foster mom is trying to take his picture instead of touching him. He is really good to stand for her to pet him on the porch by the hour. He surely must find this much more comforting than being in front of the Kodak.

For Zippy, every little step forward counts as a success. The time devoted to bringing him along is huge but he is well worth all the effort. Keep fingers crosses for Zippy!

Update 1/14/07: 

A big sigh of relief and a Yahooooooooo!!!! With the help of MAESSR’s “extended family,” Zippy is back in his foster home. His foster mom received a call from an animal control facility, reporting that the staff had sighted and trapped Zippy. When found, he was about 25 miles from his foster home and, despite his travels, looks really good . Zippy is still one scared little dog but is surely thankful, as is everyone else, that he is in safe hands once again. More on Zippy soon…………

Original:

Zippy came into MAESSR’s care through the efforts of an intermediate rescuer who removes dogs from puppy mills in Pennsylvania. These are dogs that would otherwise be put down because they are older and no longer producing or simply one of too many puppies at any given time. This rescuer then transfers the springers to MAESSR as foster homes can be found.

With lots of patience and lots of TLC, these dogs can overcome the lack of human contact that is typical of their past. Getting them started in a foster home often means that establishing their trust in people is as vital as housetraining, etc. 

In Zippy’s case, he was extremely scared of everything and everyone. He would cower in the back of his run while with the initial rescuer. He had cherry eye and may not have felt too well physically either. A short time after arriving at his foster home, Zippy jumped the fence in his big backyard and he just kept going. Every effort to find him was launched, but no one in the community has even spotted him. His foster family is heartbroken. The effort toward his return continues and in this season of miracles, MAESSR is hoping for one with Zippy………….