02/14/2020
Happy Tails Tees & Animal Rescue
I understand how exciting it can be to apply for a new puppy and how anxious you can be to know the answer. Some dogs, like Ziti, just need a REALLY special home. Which means we have to vet each application thoroughly and also interview applicants to make sure they are up for a high energy pet. Ziti is also getting in with our behavioral specialist, Wright Way Canine, next week. She is an amazing dog but as all puppies do she has some things she could work on. I loved this post her foster mom made about her today and had to share.
“I’m sitting here with Ziti today thinking about who she is going to end up with forever. I really want to be her forever home, but deep down I know I can’t foster fail.
There have been many people I’ve talked to or seen interested in giving her a home. However, I’ve noticed that a lot of people are just saying she’s cute (which she is, I mean look at her), but there is SO much more to Ziti than what you see in this picture.
Ziti is completely deaf. Completely. She doesn’t know when you’re telling her no, she won’t come when you call for her, and she certainly isn’t going to learn any verbal commands. Ziti is also partially vision impaired. To what extent, I don’t know yet. She could just be sensitive to light, she could be partially blind.
A HUGE part of Ziti that you don’t see is the daily struggles she goes through. Since she can’t hear, she’s startled easily. She nips, especially if you are trying to stop her from doing something she shouldn’t. She guards the things she values with her life. The dogs can’t touch it, and neither can I.
Ziti is still a puppy and she is learning every day, but it will take some time. I don’t know why she has these behaviors. Maybe she had to fight for her food and water when she was still with her siblings. We will never know.
What I do know is Ziti needs someone who completely understands and is patient. As much as I love Ziti, this could have been prevented. Ziti is more than just the cute, fluffy white puppy with blue eyes. I don’t know who her breeder was, but I hope they fixed their dogs.
They knew they couldn’t make a profit off of Ziti because of her impairments. They knew they were going to dump her the entire time. Ziti could have been killed. She could’ve been a bait dog, or dumped on the streets to fend for herself. You should have seen the number of people who wanted her because she was the “cute” one.
“A double merle is created when two merle dogs are bred together. It doesn’t matter what color merle or what breed they are. If two merle dogs are bred together, each puppy in the litter has a 25% chance of being born a double merle. A double merle inherits the merle gene twice. One copy of the merle gene causes a marbling effect on the coat and creates lighter spots throughout the solid color coat. In a double merle, the marbling/lightening effect is doubled and the coat becomes predominantly white. Double merles also have a very high chance of being deaf, blind, or both because they lack pigment where it would normally be.
The pups that do not inherit the gene twice are “normal” dogs. Their coats are normally marked and they are not plagued with hearing or vision problems. These are the pups that a breeder wants, because they can profit from these pups. The double merles are often killed at birth just for being white, when it is still too early to tell if the dog will have any hearing or vision problems. They just assume, and kill them because they know that no one is going to pay big bucks for a “defective” dog, and it also reflects poorly on their breeding program. If they aren’t killed, they are often sold as rare white to unknowing people. These pups generally end up in a shelter or used as bait dogs in dog fighting rings when the buyer finds out they can’t see, hear or both. Once in a shelter, they still face death because no one wants a “defective” dog”
SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS PEOPLE.”
