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Happy Valentine’s Day ❤️🐾

Happy Valentine’s Day from Dottie!

It’s been too long since our last update but we’ve been living life here. Dottie is her old self. She may be bolder and braver and stronger but she is still our sweetest girl. She loves Leo! He’s her newest best friend and he loves to snuggle. ❤️ They now spend time in Dottie’s favorite chair together.

Dottie has been navigating floors without any hesitancy. We still have yoga mats and rugs down for her but, she doesn’t really use them anymore. She’s still doing her exercises and going on walks. She just wants to go and be a dog. We haven’t gone to the beach or many other excursions because it has rained so much recently. This is a real bummer for both dogs who love to spend as much time outside as possible.

The best way I can convey to you how great the Super Dots is doing is by showing you this video. We set up a camera to monitor the pups while we are at work. It was helpful in making sure the two dogs were doing well together and mostly has been entertaining. They are typically sleeping but on this day I came home and found a blanket on the patio. I hadn’t watched all the clips of video from the day yet. I teased Leo that he was just like the last boy dog we had (Clyde❤️) and brought the blanket inside. I told Rick and we laughed and he said “wouldn’t it be hilarious if it was Dottie?”. I decided to see if I could find the guilty party caught on camera. I’ll let you see for yourself. 😂😂😂

Dottie is great! ❤️🐾

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you and your tripawd pups! They make our hearts happy and whole. ❤️

✌🏽❤️🐾,
Tara and Dottie

4 weeks post surgery–Life is good!

Dottie is great! Super Dottie! Fearless. Happy. Hopping.

This week was 4 weeks post accident. I noticed because of the sliver of a moon I saw in the sky which was the same as the night before the accident. The memory took my breath and left an ache in my heart and then I remembered, Dottie and I were out walking 4 weeks later. The moon was the same and Dottie is too, minus a leg (obviously).
Some wise folks here told me to be patient, that Dottie would come back to us and she has. She likes her new brother Leo. He is such a sweet and well-behaved boy and is happy to play on his own for a bit and then take Dottie a bone or a ball (she only likes the bone). He is working on her to get her to snuggle him but she’s not quite ready for that.
Dottie’s signature move has always been to shake and really hold hands. She is doing this again regularly while learning to keep her balance. She is navigating the house and stairs even popping her head in the bathroom to check on her humans.
Dottie is doing everything she did as a four-legged dog. Her walks are a bit shorter but she is enjoying trips to the park and is the most famous dog in the neighborhood. She doesn’t seem to mind the extra attention and neither does Leo.
Life is good!
Until next time!
Tara and Dottie 💙🐾

Dottie Found A New Friend: Leo

We took a visit to the animal shelter on Saturday. We met with an adoption counselor and talked about Dottie and our situation. We felt like Dottie was really missing having another dog in the house but she’s still recovering and in order to bring a new friend home we needed the right match. We met a couple of very adorable but rambunctious pittie boys. They had looked so submissive in their kennels but the hard and strong zoomies started as soon as their feet hit the grass. I was feeling very uncertain. Maybe it just wasn’t time.
The adoption counselor spoke up before I did and said “If you’re open to an older dog, I think I have a great dog to match with your tripawd. We agreed to meet “Lee-oh” who had been adopted but recently returned after a bad introduction to a neighbors cat. He was the only dog we met who calmed enough to interact with us. He sat. He listened. He was super sweet with a seriously scratched up face. We agreed to talk it over and return with Dottie today (which we did).
Dottie LOVED her visit to the animal shelter. So many sniffs and dog noises. So many kids and people wanting to pet a nice tripawd girl. She also had a friendly interaction with Lee-oh who was about as polite as a dog can be on a first introduction.
We drove separate vehicles so I could take Dottie home and my partner could bring home now Leo (that spelling was too silly for me 😂).
We’ve done some navigating around the house and Leo and Dottie have had some brief walks (longer for Leo) and they are now resting comfortably on dog beds. Leo is a perfect gentleman and has been giving Dottie space as instructed.
The best news, Dottie seems more relaxed than she’s been since she came home from the pup hospital! ❤️🐾

We will keep you all posted on the adventures of Dottie and Leo!

Until next time! ✌🏽❤️🐾
Tara and Dottie

Dottie’s doctor visit

Dottie had a milestone day–Suture removal! She walked into the animal hospital, greeted by friendly faces. She received a clean bill of health and was told to gain some weight and ordered to not come back except for a friendly visit. Dottie’s trauma team and surgeon are big fans. They even wrote on her discharge paperwork that they adore her. 😍

We are transferring Dottie’s care back to her regular doctor who had only met her once before the accident. We swung by for a visit and to talk about any pup rehab she might need to get strong and prevent future injury. They appeared busy and I asked if they had time to see Dottie. The whole place including her doc came out to give treats and kisses. Dottie isn’t so sure why she’s so popular right now but she sure likes cookies and kisses.

We thought Dottie might be wiped out from her excursions but we arrived home and she insisted we try the stairs. She’s been trying to go up them for 3 days now and she absolutely heard the doctor say she was cleared to try them! “Ok” I said as I grabbed her harness. She looked back and sighed. I let go and stood next to her as she went up one stair at a time,occasionally resting. She made it to the top and immediately went to her dog bed sat and waited to be invited onto the BIG (people) bed. My partner built a platform over the weekend to lower our bed. Dottie needed a lift this time but she was thrilled to have a nap with her people.

We are feeling so lucky. We still miss Clyde who made us laugh daily with his doggie stand up routines. Still, we feel fortunate. We have a healthy three-legged dog who has shown us what surviving and thriving looks like. Dottie is taking this tripawd adventure hour by hour, day by day and we are following her example.

We also want to say THANK YOU to the tripawd community for all your support over the past couple of weeks. The blogs, forums and website have been a great resource and source of support for all of us. Thanks for keeping us sane. I hope to be able to return the favor some day.

✌🏽❤️,
Tara and Dottie 💙🐾

Here are some pictures from Dottie’s big day

Dottie: 1st week as a tripawd

Dottie had her amputation surgery the day after she was hit by a car. Wednesday December 12, 2018. It was a long day. Dottie had blood transfusions. She had a total amputation of her rear left leg, a surgical repaired artery, stitches over her eye. She was bruised and scraped up, a scratch on her eye. She stayed in the hospital until Friday afternoon. We brought her home and have been working to nurse her back to health ever since.

She was relieved to be outside. Her nose was happy. The first day she spent some time sitting in the yard. She walked a bit. We thought this was going to be a breeze. They told us to start her on some Tramdol, that we should get ahead of the pain. She also had a fentanyl patch. I was familiar with these mediations from my late Jazz’s cruciate repair surgery. I was prepared because Jazz reacted poorly to Tramadol by howling for a full night.

The first few days and nights were restless, worrisome. I called the vet at least once a day. She was having lots of accidents on her potty pads. She didn’t appear to be in pain but she was getting lethargic and stopped eating. Her incision was seeping. She was fighting taking her pills. She didn’t want to get up.

I called the vet. She ordered an appetite stimulant and told us to stop the Tramadol. I picked up the Entyce and it provided immediate results! Massive salivation and she gobbled up some food. She started to wake up as she came off the Tramdol. Things were looking up again!

But the next couple of days were less rough but still rough. Dottie was eating better but was not comfortable. We called the vet and got some Metacam (NSAID) for her discomfort. It seemed to help a bit but the incision site was bothering her. We did warm compresses, some ice therapy to try to take down some of the inflammation. We talked to vet, emailed pictures and were told that everything was normal. We had no sign of infection, we just needed to be patient with Dottie’s recovery. Remember, Dottie survived being hit by an SUV.

Fast forward to today. Dottie has a small hole near her incision. Her vet says this is a naturally forming drain to release the fluid (I know, and it’s gross). She’s still eating well but is still weak and sore. She’s resting more comfortably, having doggie dreams. She’s wagging her tail Everytime I talk to her. We aren’t having potty accidents. She’s not getting up on her own yet but does adjust her sleeping position and is concentrating on her balancing and taking some steps during her potty breaks.

Each day things get a little bit better. We are getting our Dottie back. ❤️

Dottie sits in the grass on her first full day at home.
Dottie does some resting outside.
Car ride home from the hospital