Sunday morning. Beautiful day to take The Oreo for a hike by the pond. Jared is with us, so Oreo is excited already. There are lots of dogs at the pond but, Oreo b-lines it up the hill – hitting the trail without a moment’s hesitation. Usually on uphills, Oreo needs to take a break every 10 meters or so. Not so today! No break until she was nearly 1/2 way up the trail (200 meters or so), then she ran all the way back to the jeep without stopping (another 350 meters)! Having spent herself on this amazing feat, I thought she’d be toast for the rest of the afternoon. No, no. Not today. Oreo ran around the yard chasing us, or chasing hummingbirds when we tired. She only rested once for about an hour, was very playful late into the evening, (and was very hungry!) What a fantastic day!! Wish you could see the smile on her face but, I could not catch up with her to take a picture. I hope all of you get (or had) a day with your tripawd like the one we had today!

Oreo: Yay! We’re going for a ride…and then the pond…and then a hike….and….. wait a minute!
We drove past the pond. Where are we? Hey! I know this place! It has the really cold floor and they poke and prod me there! [Starts shaking]. But, there are really nice girls there that rub my ears and tell me how pretty I am. OK! Let’s go! Hurry up, Tiff. Open the door!… Open this other door! Wait! OK, we can leave now. I changed my mind! Oh, there’s that nice girl… I guess it is OK if I go with her. Why are those other dogs crying? Oh, they are in a kennel. Wait! Do I have to go in the kennel!!! No?!!! Whew. Oh, I get to sit on the nice girl’s lap while the other girl coddles me? OK, I’m good. Brrrrrrrr, that’s cold going into my leg! Oh, thanks for the blanket! Pet my ears again, and again, and again. Rub my belly…… no, don’t stop! Oh, time to go home? Darn. Wait! Time to go home?!!! Yipeee!!! There’s Tiff! Hey Tiff, get me outta here. It’s been fun but gotta go, things to do. See you nice girls around the pond? Quick Tiff, lift me into the jeep. Hey, there are some nice flowers back here. I’ll just sniff these on the way home. HOME!!! I think I’ll just hang out and watch Dog TV for a few…wait, you’re going down to your office? Oh, me too! I need to be right next to you today. I love it when you’re home. Thanks for the treat! I should always get a treat when I go for a ride; that would be swell!

Oreo adopted the deck bed as hers today. She jumped right up. Who could deny her….

I am fortunate to be able to work at home 2 days/week. This translates into more fun at the pond/on the trails. Oreo decided to forgo the stroller….

Oreo enjoys going to the pond and did not have to take a break on the way to the shore today (150 meters).  Her hiking stamina is improving.

She also had a great time hiking until she got tired, then more fun riding in the HoundAbout, even if I jog too slow for her liking….

The weather was a little hot for me and Oreo drank half the pond, but the scenery was beautiful.

Oreo and Cookie loved going to the “dog pond” to cool off after a hike up the hills. Cookie would swim while Oreo would splash in the shallows. I think, due to her deep chest, swimming has been more difficult for Oreo. Last year we got them both life jackets and they both would swim, as long as I threw treats in for them to retrieve. They never did have any interest in tennis balls or any type of retrieving toys.

Today, many dogs were swimming. I put on Oreo’s vest and she hopped right in the shallows, turning to me for the expected treat. I threw the treats out far enough to get her up to her shoulders. She seemed to have a great time but, was tired after about 5 minutes. As I was preparing to load her into the HoundAbout stroller, some ladies at the pond asked me if the stroller was for my dog. I shyly admitted it was and they exclaimed, to my surprise, what a good “doggy mom” I was. (Reactions previously had ranged from eye rolling to scoffing, concerning the ‘dog stroller.’) Oreo has always loved to go fast. She and my husband (on his roller blades) would pass cars driving on the street on many previous occasions. Now, she can lope (lope? can you call it that type of gait in a tripawd?) along until she fatigues, then get in the stroller for some more speed (if I hook it up to my bike as a trailer), or at least some more fresh air/sights/smells if I jog behind. I am so glad I got the HoundAbout. I will post pictures shortly.

Oreo’s scar still has some crusty scabs so I gently pulled them off this evening as I was doing some scar mobilizations. Now her incision site seems much smoother. I had a doggy-parenting moment when she tried to eat the scabs (eeewwwww! gross!) but, got them to the garbage before she could ingest them. In her more senior years she has become better at “drop it” or “leave it” commands. 🙂

Amputation/surgery day. [Seconds thoughts. Are we doing the right thing? Of course we know we are, but this just plain sucks!….]

Oreo wonders why Cookie gets breakfast and she does not. Cookie doesn’t feel like eating anyway and wonders why we are leaving her home alone.

Originally, the veterinarian said we would pick Oreo up around 5:00pm. They also said they would call about noon and tell us how she was doing. At 2:00pm, I still had not heard from them so I called. Oreo was doing great but, they wanted to keep her over night due to the pain drip. My husband and I went to visit her at the clinic and bring her a blanket and her giraffe. This giraffe is her favorite toy, surprisingly because it had been missing its squeaker for about a year. Still, she will search the pile of toys until she finds her beloved giraffe. We hope it will provide her some comfort tonight, her only night away from us AND Cookie….ever.

She let out a high-pitched yelp when we saw her. My husband, whom I have known for 19 years and have never seen him cry, began to cry when he heard her yelp in pain. We have never heard her yelp before. The veterinarian sent her lymph nodes in that limb out for biopsy. The surgery had gone well and Oreo was doing fine. She would not pee for the staff – but, I told them this is not unusual for her. When we go camping, she will often ‘hold it’ until we return home. Funny dog.

It was difficult to leave her to the clinic’s care, even though I knew they would take good care of her.

Hi! I want to introduce you to my dog, Oreo.

She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma near her right elbow on June 10th, 2013 and had her amputation on June 17th (right front limb, shoulder dis-articulation). This is a story of our journey with this wonderful tripawd…