TEDDY

Pertinent Information
4-5 y. old Brown & White Purebred Shih Tsu
13 lb. Shelter Surrender
Soon to be Neutered, but UTD
Good with children and other dogs, LI, NY
Being Fostered in Nassau County
Adoption Donation $200 + $20 Microchipping

10/18/03 - After working with Teddy for over 4 months, we came to the very difficult decision to put him to rest. As much as we tried, we could not help Teddy any longer. His attitude continued to deteriorate, to the point where he was almost never happy. Something must have really been wrong, as he became almost impossible to handle. He was going backwards, and this was just so difficult to understand. We gave him as much love as we could, but he continued to become more nasty. What a shame, he was just so damn cute, and I wanted to help him so much.

Little Teddy man, you will always have a special place in my heart, and i already miss you terribly. Be at rest, my little man, i am so sorry we could not help you, but I know you are at rest now, and in your forever home, with God.

8/20/03 - Teddy continues to become a more reliable and predictable dog. Last weekend we took Teddy to a behaviorist, who had the opportunity to also evaluate Teddy. After spending some time with Teddy, it was his opinion that Teddy could be put on some medication, which he felt would help Teddy deal with some of the "triggers" which would cause him to become nippy in the past. The analogy he gave, which I could certainly relate to, is when driving a car and being cut off by another. One reaction is to become livid and engage in road rage, or the other more socially acceptable behavior is to just let it pass. He feels that with some small amount of meds, Teddy will let things just "pass". We are going to get a script and try it. When he is not annoyed by something, he can just be the sweetest and cutest boy around.

We have seen over time that Teddy plays much better with smaller dogs then my boxers. The large dogs are just to intimidating for him. He is much more relaxed with the smaller dogs. He is eating very well out of my hand. He is just so cute, with that little "tough guy" look about him.

Come back an see how Teddy does on his meds, which we hope to start next week, as we hope this will be the final piece of progress that will make Teddy an adoptable dog and ready for his forever home. It has been a loooonng journey, but a very worthwhile one.

8/11/03 - Teddy has been at a trainers for evaluation and we have implemented his suggestions and Teddy is a different dog now. I have worked with this boy for 3 weeks and I must say that things have DRAMATICALLY improved. One of the things John told me to do is begin hand feeding Teddy....lots of praise while he is eating, and lots of physical contact while he takes the food from me. I have done that everyday. I have picked him up A LOT, with constant reassurance, and I believe he has gotten somewhat "desensitized" to getting picked up. Only a few times has he even growled when I pick him up, and at this point I can anticipate every time he will, and be ready for it. When I sit on the computer, he know jumps up and puts his paws on my legs to be picked up on my lap. He actually likes it now, and he is trustworthy. He used to get in my lap, then I was afraid to try to take him off in fear he would nip at me as I tried. Not anymore.

6/23/03 - So much has happened with Teddy since his last update, so lets get caught up. For starters, Teddy is in excellent health. The blood in his urine was an infection, and with antibiotics is all cleared up. His ear infections are being treated with medicine also. We have cleaned out his ears, and are applying the medicine. It should be fine soon. It turns out there is nothing wrong with his hind legs. He gets along just fine, even jogs a bit when he gets excited playing with Snoopy. He is clean and smells great, and has no more fleas. He is scheduled for his neuter next week, and then he will be ready to go to his forever home.
Teddy has really come out of his shell and gotten rid of his nervousness. He was quite snippy during his 1st week at the house, but I now attribute that to nerves and also not feeling well. He has turned out to be a super little boy. He has become best buds with his foster brother Snoopy. He gets along great with the other dogs, as long as they don’t try to play too rough with him. He gets a bit scared and gets defensive if they try to play too rough. His buddy Snoopy never gets rough, and they have developed quite a friendship.
It appears that Teddy was paper trained in his previous home. He will go out and do his business, but he will go on some of the pads we leave on the floor also. We have not been crating him much, as he and Teddy have full use of the downstairs, and have shown themselves to be very trustworthy.
This guy is a real kissing bug. He will lick every part of you. While I am downstairs on the computer, I will feel my toes getting licked, then my ankles, then my heal. He is a very sweet boy, and as cute as they come.
So, stay tuned for further update on this little boy we call Teddy Bear.

6/7/03 - I rec'd a call from a N.Y. City shelter I have worked with a lot, to see if I might be interested in helping a sweet little boy out. No, he was not a boxer; this boy was a shih tzu. When you look at his picture....well....you know what my answer was.

Seems that the owner dropped him off there, no reason was given. How could someone drop off a boy like this to a shelter, left there to be put to sleep? You could tell right away that his disposition was sweet. I looked at him thru the crate, and my heart immediately started to melt.

Seems no one wanted little Teddy bear because he is not "perfect". He has a few medical issues, which we will be looking into. For starters, he has an undescended testical, so the neuter will be more costly and surgery more extensive. He has apparent weakness in his hind legs, we don’t know why yet. We will probably do full blood work to see what is going on. He had a corneal ulcer in his right eye that looks like it may have ruptured some time ago, so his right eye is much smaller then the left. Right now he also has blood in his urine, so we are treating him for an infection with baytril. He also has a secondary skin infection, so the baytril is good for that to. He has fleas, with tons of flee dirt on him, but I bathed him tonight and he is much better now, and sooooo soft. I also applied a tube of advantage to him. He has an ear infection in his right ear, so we are going to clean it up and start treating it with medication. He was such a good boy at the vet. He really did not want to walk when he was at the vet. The vet wanted to see him walk so he could better access him, but Teddy just stood there. He has been with me for 6 hours now, and he is now walking in my downstairs room. He seems to be getting around, but he does seem to waddle when he walks.

This guy is tiny. If there was such a thing as a tea cup shih tzu, this guy would be it. He is just 13 lbs, and his head is sooo tiny. His coloring on his head is gray, but the coloring on his body is a reddish brown and white. Very interesting combination and VERY CUTE!!

He ate very nicely, and is drinking fine. He met all the resident dogs, 5 boxers, a pug and shar pei, and had no issues with any of them. He did let out a little bark, and I do mean little, but that is the only sound I have heard from him. He stayed in his crate without a peep, and snuggled up and took a nap.

So, a pretty busy day for Teddy on his 1st day here. We will see the vet during the week to see what testing we will do. In the meantime, if small and cute is what you are looking for, get your app in early on this boy. Go to www.boxerangelsrescue.com and fill out our online adoption app. Just state you are interested in the shih tzu, and get ready for some cuddling with a really cute Teddy bear.