--- title: You Will Barely Recognize This Abandoned Dog After His Haircut description: A Long Island shelter shaved four pounds of matted fur from a now 11 pound abandoned dog canonical: https://time.com/3031117/you-will-barely-recognize-this-abandoned-dog-after-his-much-needed-haircut/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-25T13:40:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:32.273Z og:title: You Will Barely Recognize This Abandoned Dog After His Much Needed Haircut og:description: Ziggy the dog's road to recovery og:url: https://time.com/3031117/you-will-barely-recognize-this-abandoned-dog-after-his-much-needed-haircut/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: You Will Barely Recognize This Abandoned Dog After His Much Needed Haircut twitter:description: Ziggy the dog's road to recovery twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # You Will Barely Recognize This Abandoned Dog After His Much Needed Haircut > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=55621f58-85bb-49a9-acae-cb9e0f684a2e&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jul 25, 2014 1:40 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jul 25, 2014 1:40 PM UTC When a clearly neglected Shih Tzu was dropped off at a Long Island animal shelter, rescuers were shocked. More than 25% of his body was covered in thick, matted fur — which inspired his new name: Ziggy.  Suffolk County SPCA “I’ve only seen one worse in my 30 year career,” says Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County SPCA. “Even the fleas could get through the fur, that’s how bad it was.” The 5 or 6-year-old pup could barely walk, and it took rescuers 3.5 hours to shave 4 pounds of hair from the now 11 pound dog. The change is jaw dropping:  Suffolk County SPCA “He will be up for adoption, but not now,” Gross says. “He has a long road to recovery.” Ziggy will have to undergo extensive physical therapy to retrain his walking muscle memory. “There’s also a criminal investigation, and the dog could serve as evidence,” Gross says. “This is another horrible case of animal cruelty.” A $2,000 reward is being offered to anyone who provides information about the dog’s owner if it leads to arrest and conviction. 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