On the social media site reddit, there’s a “subreddit” called “aww” – as in, “things that make you go AWW! – like puppies, bunnies, babies, and so on…” And on that subreddit, you’ll find a picture of one local pup, named Zammy, hanging out at the Shops at Wiregrass mall. His photo, titled “Girls loving this huge fluffy sheepadoodle,” has gotten more than a million views and 11,000 “up-votes” on the site.
A “sheepadoodle” is a fairly new breed that is a mix between an Old English sheepdog and an extra large standard poodle. Zammy is just a year old and already weighs 100 pounds.
His owner is Todd Pitner, a resident of K-Bar Ranch off of Cross Creek Blvd. in New Tampa, where he lives with his wife, Yana, and youngest daughter Vlada, who is 13. His other three daughters are adults who live on their own.
Todd says that Zammy is so “visually unique” that he tends to attract a lot of attention. He says he often takes Zammy for walks around the Shops at Wiregrass.
“Everyone goes nuts over him, wanting to pet him,” says Todd. “It takes me a couple of hours to do a loop around Wiregrass.”
During a walk over the Thanksgiving weekend, he snapped the photo that would soon go viral. Two girls at one of the outdoor dining areas asked to pet Zammy. Todd snapped the photo, posted it to his Instagram account, and it took off. “
The photo is just pure joy,” Todd says.
While Zammy had about 600 followers before his photo hit reddit, he now has more than 12,500. “It went from 600 to 1,000 overnight, then 2,000 in a week, then 9,000.”
Todd says he set up the Instagram account @ZammyPup because all of his daughters use Instagram, so he thought it would be a fun and interactive way to share pictures.
In fact, it was because of one of his daughters that Todd has Zammy today. He first came across a sheepadoodle while walking through Manhattan on a trip with his daughter, Alix. He saw someone walking a sheepadoodle and was fascinated. “I asked for breeder information and contacted her,” says Todd. “Turns out Zammy is that dog’s brother, from the same parents.”
Todd says Zammy was born on Dec. 17, 2015, and delivered from that breeder in California on Valentine’s Day. “It seemed like every day he grew a pound.”
Todd wanted a new dog in his family because, at the time, his beloved German shepherd, Rio, was aging and in fact, has recently passed away. So, Zammy’s family now includes a new German shepherd puppy, Zeus, and a 12-year-old schnauzer, Jocko.
Zammy is actually short for “Kazaam,” a nod to Todd’s college years, when he performed as a magician, and eventually nicknamed his older girls “Abby Cadabra” and “Alix Kazaam.” Since it was on the trip with Alix that he was introduced to the sheepadoodle breed, it was her nickname that ended up inspiring the dog’s memorable name.
When asked if he considers himself something of an ambassador for sheepadoodles, he denies he’s trying to make any kind of statement. “I love the breed,” he says. “Zammy’s just a really special dog, with a special personality, and he brings joy to people.”
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