Hello my name is Amber. My dog's name is Janis.
Janis was born August 9, 1999.
I adopted her Sept. 30, 1999 from the Jefferson Co. ASPCA.
She's #C870. Janis is my baby.
Janis was hit by a car in July 2002
(Actually, it was a brown pick-up).

My family was having a yard sale.
The traffic is pretty heavy on my parents' road.
The usual speed limit is 60 mph.
That day, because of the yard sale, the traffic had slowed to probably 40 mph.

I was across the road, talking to the neighbor.
Janis and the other dogs were in a pen out back.
My brother had opened the pen to let his dog out, and Janis darted towards the road. She ran into the front left tire with her right side.

When I heard the noise, it sounded like a boot had just been run over.
I turned around and she was spinning in the middle of the road.
I thought she was dead.

The guy who hit her stopped but left quickly; I think he thought she was dead, too. He said he'd be back the next day, but he never showed.

Janis opened her eyes and was breathing heavy.
She wasn't bleeding anywhere.

My brother rushed us to the vet; Janis never even tried getting up.
We arrived at the vet and they gave her meds for the shock.
They took some x-rays. They said that there's no internal bleeding,
but she does have a concussion and a tiny fracture in her pelvis.

Janis finally wanted to stand up, but she couldn't.
Her right front leg wouldn't work.
They said it might just be temporary.

I was instructed to massage her leg and keep her from dragging it or letting it curl. So about 2 weeks later, her leg was getting more and more stiff. The muscles were atrophied.

I took her back to the vet and they said that she has nerve damage and she will never use the leg again.

They also told me that since Janis holds the leg up, there is no reason to amputate.

About five months later, Janis was outside and was bit by something.
I took her to the vet; they gave me ointment and sent me on my way.

The ointment didn't seem to do anything.
The wound wasn't healing.

I took Janis to another vet for a second opinion.
They told me that Janis would never let it heal because she probably has a phantom itch. So they recommended amputation.

I agreed. They took her in right away.
She had about 100 bright blue stitches in the shape of a Y.
A 1/4 of her hair was shaved off.
Poor Janis; she had some problems the first couple weeks.

She has a partner, Dude, and it was really hard to keep them apart.
It was hard to keep Janis from moving too much.
She had to go back for another week, just to heal a little better.
Finally, my Janis was ready to come home!

Still bald, she was hopping all over the place.
She had 5 months of practice before, but she was great!
She swims, rolls over, shakes hands, she can do whatever you want!
Janis is the smartest and sweetest dog I've ever met.

Janis will turn nine this August.
She still pals around with Dude, too!

Yes, I did take pictures of her right after her operation;
I just haven't scanned them yet. She did have a couple seizures after.
One was about 2 yrs after, and the other was about 1 yr ago.

I was told that it might not have anything to do with the accident;
she could have had low sugar at the time of the seizures.

The first seizure was bad, I thought she was choking,
because her tongue was hanging out and almost blue.

So I called 911 and they gave me the number to the vet;
that really helped. She messed herself and then snapped out of it, but it lasted about 4-5 min.
It was horrible.

The vet we took her to wasn't her new regular vet; it was the old one.
They were closer, and open that day.

When I asked them why she had the seizure, they said,
"If we knew that, we'd be millionaires."

As soon as my regular vet opened, I took her there,
and they gave me half a dozen different reasons as to why.

I don't think they're millionaires,
but I do think they know what they're doing.

As far as swimming goes, Janis will swim anywhere.
She won't jump off a dock; she never has, even with four legs.
We mostly swim in the river. We live on the St. Lawrence River.
She loves to swim.

It's actually kind of crazy sounding, but when I look at Janis'
puppy pictures, the leg she lost is always pointing towards the camera.

When she was a puppy, I put her paw print in wet cement,
and it happened to be the paw that's gone!

Thank you for responding; I have been waiting for three legged dogs
to be recognized for how great they are!

Thank you for taking the time to read our story.

Sincerely yours,

Amber and Janis
Thursday July 24, 2008

Hi there,
My name is Bonita Murphy & I raise Australian Cattle Dogs
to work on our & other's farms, as well as shine in dog sports.

Unfortunately, my 5 month old pup, Allira, who was going to be my show star lost her front right limb 6 days ago - July 25th, 2008.

She was playing in our living room with her 1/2 sister, Tharraa
& misjudged her jump onto the staircase,
breaking her elbow & sustaining severe nerve damage.

I decided that amputation was the best thing I could do for her,
saving her years of arthritis & dragging that front limp due to the nerve damage. It has ended her show career before it has even begun
& I did have really high hopes for her, but now she will be doing other things to make me proud.

Amputation has not slowed her down & as you can see by the photos, she's still my fiesty, happy little girl.

I am planning on training her to now be a therapy dog,
as well as maybe taking her into the obedience ring
or even training her to work ducks for herding trials.

She is still my favourite little girl
& she has even won the hearts of people overseas in Australia..

These people are members of a dog forum that I am on
& have watched as her dam went through pregnancy carrying her
& then they watched as this beautiful little girl grew up before their eyes.

Allira will continue winning people over
& I believe that she will do great work as a therapy dog.
Watch for her name, lol.

I love you Allira, & I am so glad that I did not chose the third option.

Bonita Murphy
Thursday July 31, 2008