Rosie, a senior Rhodesian Ridgeback, was given a second chance at a loving home by her foster mother, Jennifer Zito.
“I saw Rosie on the ART website and was very interested in her,” Zito said. “I wasn’t sure how many others had looked at her, since she was a senior dog.”
Zito fostered Rosie along with her own four dogs. Zito works as a dog walker/pet sitter so Rosie had a lot of opportunities to socialize and interact with other dogs.
“I have had to nurture Rosie a little more than my other dogs,” Zito said. “I was originally told that she couldn’t be with other dogs or little dogs. It is beautiful to see a dog who wasn’t part of a pack become socialized with other dogs in the household.”
When one of Zito’s dogs passed away, she felt she was ready to adopt Rosie as a permanent part of the family. In the spring of 2011 Rosie had to have surgery after she ate cloth that became lodged in her intestines. Zito was fostering Rosie at the time and ART stepped in to help with the $1200 cost of the surgery.
“Rosie has a ‘garbage gut’,” Zito said with a laugh. “She gets into everything. She will even eat the toilet paper off the roll if someone leaves it out. I have to give her bones to chew on instead of toys.”
Zito noted that Rosie has made great strides in her new environment. She has gotten better at playing with other dogs and at tolerating having dogs near her food bowl.
“Rosie is in her second year of going on the family trip to Connecticut,” Zito said. “She has come a long way. She’s a part of this family and she knows she has a place here.”
To ensure more dogs like Rosie have a bright future, please check out the ART website at https://artanimals.org to find out how you can help an animal in need.
