Breed: Chinese Crested
DOB: 2001
Sex: Neutered male
Weight:  11 pounds
Foster home: Lorna
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Zippy is a funny, very active and very affectionate Hairless Chinese Crested dog.  He was a serious neglect case and when he got to APB, his skin was full of staph infection and his whole body surface was a solid mass of blackheads, cracks and sores.  He has responded well to antibiotics and 2-3 yogurt and honey treatments per week though, and his skin has cleared up nicely.

Zippy's ideal home would be a very active, all adult and preferably female(s) human household with possibly another somewhat submissive dog or two.  Preference will be given to applicants that have previous Hairless Chinese Crested experience.   

There MANY wonderful things about this silly boy, but also some "issues" that potential adopters should consider before applying for him. 

• Zippy is thoroughly housebroken, but on rare occasions will get very excited or scared and experience submissive urination—be warned, he can shoot a surprising distance and volume when he rolls on his back as a greeting!.  

 

• Zippy can be a yapper and I can hear him all the way out to my car when I leave for work so he may not be a good choice for condo or apartment dwellers. He will also stand in the backyard and yap his little head off until I come outside, and I'm having a heck of a time getting him to knock it off.

 

• Zippy had a pair of mild seizures over a 3 week period.  His diet has been changed to a preservative free food (Solid Gold) and he is given a Taurine supplement once a day and has not had another seizure since these changes have been made for him.

 

• Zippy would do best in a home with NO YOUNG CHILDREN as he can be a nipper if he feels threatened or if he's out in an unfamiliar environment and approached too quickly.  His snapiness mostly appears to be him "protecting" me from others that approach when I'm holding him in my arms or on my lap and when he's telling the other dogs "back off, this is MY lap!"

 

• He clearly prefers women and seems a little fearful of men at first but i think that can be worked with. On the ground, he just retreats or hides behind me. At home, he'll hang back for a few minutes but will run over and get to know visitors within about 5 minutes-ESPECIALLY if the other attention hogs are getting all the love.
  
   
• Zippy has typical HCC skin issues and imagine my surprise (I normally groom poodle coats) when I found out his grooming was actually more time consuming than my poodles'!!  People that know the breed know that the dog must have a gentle bath every 3-4 days followed by a thorough rubdown with moisturizing oil or cream.  I've had great success beginning his baths with a 4-5 minute mask of plain yogurt mixed with honey, followed by apricot facial scrub, followed by gentle shampoo then a good rubdown with virgin cocoanut oil.

 

All that being considered, this little guy is one AWSOME little dog and if I could keep him myself I would.  Zippy is a major heat-seaking lap magnet.   He sleeps in my bed under covers at night to stay warm (he's naked you know) and will wake me up if he can't get under them.  

He's a complete clown and very playful and silly.  I suspect he could be an AMAZING agility or fly ball dog if his new home had a mind to do it, but he'll need introductory obedience classes first (he knows sit so far).

This bouncy little speed demon LOVES to chase balls and squeaky toys and will even toss them around and "play fetch" with himself if he can't get me to do it.   The Zipster also likes to sit and squeak his toys for extended periods (quite annoying but pretty funny) when he's bored. 

He does tolerate other dogs (although he's more interested in my company) and would eventually be playful with another if gets to be the "the boss".   His favorite toy,  a LOUD squeaky Kong "Wubba," elicits a little OCD from him and Zippy can get pretty ugly with any dog that tries to take it away from him. 

Zippy is crate trained and he will crate up reluctantly and I had trouble keeping the little Houdini INSIDE a crate until I started crating him in "the suite" with my 2 toy poodles when I leave for work.   Serve him his meals there though and he'll be in his crate waiting for you before you can even get there. E-mail dogisluv@yahoo.com for more info.