Hi...

I am new to this website - and would like to join it if I could.

I adopted a little lemon beagle (which means she is mostly white/Tan-ish) whose age we (the rescuer and me) believe to be somewhere in the range of 10-12 yrs old.

I met Vaughnie quite by accident - you see I was looking for a special needs dog - either deaf and/or blind. I have two (2) German Shepard mix dogs that, knock on wood, are perfectly healthy with the exception of my 7-yr old who is partially blind.

While looking for the special needs dog I happened to come across a website that had Vaughnie's picture -- and I, quite frankly, didn't know if I could handle seeing a 3-legged dog ---- but once I got to "talking" (via e-mail/telephone) with her rescuer Denise --- it wasn't a matter of if the adoption taking place, it was when can we make it happen.

She explained to me that Vaughnie apparently has been 3-legged for quite some time as she gets along very well - with the exception of climbing a lot of stairs or jumping in/out of a car. (We are not sure how she ended up having her leg amputated -- she also has a BB in her back leg (that if our vet thinks it can be removed without endangering Vaughnie's life we will have it operated on to remove it.)

Well, to make a long story short - we adopted Vaughnie as of yesterday - and she is the sweetest little dog -- my little girls (ages 21 mos/14 mos) absolutely adore her -- and my dogs are getting use to having a new sister --- and my husband and I love her -- 3-legged or not.

Nancy Landry

Thursday June 8, 2006

UPDATE:

Vaughnie is doing well within the pack, here.
She enjoys daily hikes into the backwoods
and along the river's edge of the ol Broad.
She loves her less-than-furry dad and follows him wherever he goes.
She especially enjoys helping him mechanic by keeping him company, by laying close by under the shade of the Pampas Grass.
Vaughnie is a sweet girl who savors sleeping in bed with us,
and has NEVER had an 'accident' inside.
She seems to maneuver the stairs just fine,
though we always carry her down in the mornings,
after a long night's sleep,
in case she might be a little stiff.
She holds her own with any pups we have come through here (I am in rescue), on a regular basis.
They seem to respect her privacy and her need to be left alone.
So, all-in-all, I think she's enjoying her life, here.

Denise
Friday March 16, 2007

Kietoe, a spunky Shiba Inu with a curly-cinnamon bun tail, was born Feb 28, 2004.

He was stricken at age 1.5 with a strange auto-immune disease that caused blood clots to form throughout his body. He's lived with us in Brentwood, CA since he was seven weeks old. The veterinarians - and he went to specialists - could not figure out why he was languishing, and when the blood clots were diagnosed, one had advanced too far and required removal of his leg. We were on vacation in Disney World at the time; my heroic sister Rachel managed the veterinarian interaction while we monitored the situation, not wanting to let our 9 year old son know what was going on with his dog till it was time to come home.

We were prepared for a long and miserable recovery, especially because Kietoe can have a bit of a nasty, aggressive streak and it sounded like he was not winning friends in the vet's office. But from the time we picked him up and he knew we were back, he made a marvelously speedy recovery!

Now - not even a year later - he is taking two-mile long walks with me, he can leap up anywhere he wants to be, and he continues to lord it over the much larger and four-legged collie, Candie, who shares our life.

When we first came home, we took consolation in your website. We didn't know what to expect, and because I'd had a bad experience as a child with a cat who lost his leg, and his will to live, I was deeply worried. The steady stories of good tripod lives really helped offset our fears.

Kietoe's adorable; the vets were never able to pinpoint his blood disorder. He'll be on a mild dose of prednisone for life to keep his blood just a bit thinner, but he's just doing great, and he's accumulating quite a large neighborhood fan club! Viva Kietoe and Tripoddogs everywhere!

Rebecca

Monday June 19, 2006