In an incredible display of tenacity, a paraplegic dog is running agility courses like a pro.  Zip, the five-time canine agility championship winner, was hit by a car in 2011 and lost the use of her back legs. But she hasn’t let that slow her down one bit, and now she is an inspiration to anyone with a disability.
After her accident Zip had 9 months of therapy before she was given her custom wheelchair that features all terrain wheels that allowed her to resume her life as she knew it before the accident. Â Her owners brought her back to an agility course and were amazed by her desire to run it. Â “We went to the start line. I turned and looked at Zip and saw the hunger in her eyes as she looked forward; not at me, but at the line of jumps ahead of her,” Â said Zip’s owner, Sue Cohen.
“A friend and my husband decided to put the bars down on the course and I was handed a leash attached to Zip’s wheelchair. They said, ‘Run her.’ I had reservations but Zip was gleefully barking by this time. We ran and she did great. She now practices all the time,” added Cohen.  Even with the bars down, Zip jumps as she runs through the course.
Less than one year after the accident that left her paralyzed, Zip participated in a Glory Run for Retired Agility Dogs.  Says Cohen, “So many have told me that Zip has inspired them, that they were going through a difficult time in their life and that Zip gave them hope, or that she encouraged them to grab a problem by the horns and deal with it.”
