Zammy Spreads His Joy At The Shriners Hospital!

Although I had never encountered a sheepadoodle until January of this year, when New Tampa resident Todd Pitner brought his sweet, then-year-old, 100-lb. sheepadoodle named Zammy into our office for a story in our January 13 issue — after a photo of Zammy, taken at the Shops at Wiregrass mall, went viral (more than a million hits) on Reddit.

And, my life hasn’t been the same since.

Although I currently live in an apartment, if I ever do move into a house, I’m going to buy a sheepadoodle (old English sheepdog and standard poodle) because I have never seen a better disposition on an animal of any size or breed, much less on a giant stuffed animal come to life.

Since that first story, Zammy has appeared on WCNT-tv, replacing yours truly on set with my co-anchor Susanna Martinez, and I promised Todd that if he ever wanted us to do a follow-up, all we needed was someplace to go where I could see — and chronicle — Zammy’s instant rapport with literally everyone he meets.

So, when Todd asked me and WCNT-tv production assistant Gavin Olsen (who starred as the voice of Zammy in that WCNT-tv segment) to tag along and watch this gentle giant work his magic with the children in the Shriners Hospital on the Tampa campus of USF, we were both thrilled to tag along.

And of course, Zammy didn’t disappoint. Whether the kids were wheelchair bound or walking, teenagers or toddlers, or even Shriners Hospital staff, Zammy gave everyone a few happy minutes of his time and I didn’t see one kid, parent or hospital staffer leave him without a smile on their faces.

I thank Shriners Hospital Tampa’s public relations manager Lisa Buie for not only letting us accompany Zammy on his mission of goodwill, but also for getting everyone in these pictures to sign a release so we could show them.

Look for more Zammy exploits in future issues — and on future episodes of WCNT-tv.

The Shriners Hospitals for Children-Tampa is a 60-bed nonprofit specialty care facility that has served 60,000 patients since it was established in 1985.

For more information, visit ShrinersHospitalforChildren.org. To keep up with Zammy, check him out on Instagram @ZammyPup.

Shazzam! A Pic Of Zammy The Sheepadoodle Goes Viral!

This pic of Zammy went viral after it was posted on reddit, and Todd Pitner says it has been viewed more than a million times.

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.”