Hello!
My name is Lauren Theuerkauf and I would like to join your tripod dog club. My tripod dog's name is Penny. She was discovered as a stray in California and immediately taken to a high kill shelter.

Penny is a very unique looking dog. She has extra large ears, a very long tail...and a deformed front paw. The paw is shorter than the rest of her legs and looks like a "stump" with two "toes." One toe is long and the other is short. It appears to be similar to the lobster claw paw. This deformity had made Penny a tripod dog. Because of her looks, no one wanted to adopt her.

However, Second Chance Dog Rescue in Springfield, IL partnered with Flying B Animal Transportation to have her driven from California to Illinois. I discovered Penny while looking on Petfinder.com and fell in love.

Penny loves living life with her 5 fur siblings and lets nothing stand in her way. She even jumps over our 4 foot pet gate! Penny's spirit is truly inspirational. Plus, she is a total love bug and warms up to new people very quickly.

I am so blessed to have her in my life. Penny has two toes on her shortened (stump) leg. One of the toes is long and unable to be bent and the other is short and, for a lack of a better word, floppy. She actually cannot move either of the toes. But, she does wave her stump when she gets excited. It's quite adorable to watch.

We lovingly call her front right paw the "super paw." It is visibly larger than her back paws because she puts most of her weight on it to counter balance the stump. You can feel how large her paw is by giving it a gentle squeeze. She does love to be tickled, but, she doesn't like for us to play with the stump. However, she lets our 21 pound Min Pin (Cole) bite on it as much as he wants. They are such a funny pair!

Unfortunately, she cannot use the deformed paw. We have seen her try to hold down a toy with it, but, to no avail. I did recently write a children's book about Penny. I am hoping to spread the word about the importance of adopting shelter animals as well as showcasing Penny's talents and unique looks. I created a Website. The book is currently being promoted by a literary agency.

Thank you very much for your consideration!

Sincerely,
Lauren & Penny
Friday December 6, 2013

Hello,
My name is Jen, first off...
I am so thrilled to see that this is a website, and I am so exited to share mine and my girl's story. This is Blue!

I work as a Veterinarian Assistant. At the time, I was working at a 24hr Emergency clinic. One night working a slow shift, an older couple rushes in the door holding this precious puppy named Lola at the time...they said she had fallen over on her leg and it broke.

We brought Lola to the back to have her leg x-rayed and she had a broken tibia and fibula. The Dr. explained to them they had a few options: They could splint and cast the leg hoping it heals on its own; they could go into surgery and repair the leg, or they could amputate the leg.

The owners were extremely unsure. They considered casting, but didn't want to put forth the effort into coming back every week or so to change the bandage. After being in the exam room for well over 2 hours, they decided they wanted to euthanize this beautiful little 17 week old puppy.

At the clinic I was working at, we had a rule that if an animal is being euthanized for an unfair reason we were allowed to adopt the pet, instead of euthanizing. I immediately asked the owners if the clinic could adopt her and find her a home instead, and they agreed and that was the day Lola, became my Blue.

For about 6 weeks we casted her leg, but Blue is so energetic and hyper that I couldn't keep her calm 24 hrs a day to let her leg heal, after about 7 weeks we X-rayed her leg again and realized it just wasn't healing, so I had a decision to make; repair it in surgery or...amputate.

I was terrified, she was so tiny and I felt like I failed her by having to amputate her leg, but after talking to....about every Dr. that I worked with, we decided that amputating is the better decision, and today, I could not be happier I did.

Working in the field gave me an upper hand on things because I understood more, and I knew how to take care of her after her surgery. It has been about 2 months since Blue's surgery, and she could not be happier. She is happy and crazy and she loves everyone.... and loves to chew all of her brothers and sisters toys, haha!!!

Thank you for taking the time to read our story - if anyone does read it, that is. Bless all of you guys who have taken in a tripod puppy!!

Jen Canning
Saturday December 7, 2013