Adventures of a little Munchkin

Part 1-Triley riles Abby:

Part 2: Playing ball, and faking out Triley:

Abby went on her second camping trip last weekend. We went to the desert, and camped in the same little trailer we used for her first trip. She loves that trailer. It was parked in front of my house, and after we finished cleaning it, we were walking back into the house, and Abby just sat in front of the it. I called her, and instead of coming, she laid down.

The best part of the trip was meeting another tripawd! We stopped at one camp, looking for friends, and someone told me they’d seen another tripawd the night before.

We found our camp, and one of our campmates pointed at a truck a quarter of a mile away and told me there was a tripawd there.

So I walked over with Abby when I saw him running around. Met the couple who owned him, and heard their story of how Triley lost his leg (a truck).  Yes, his name was Triley. It had been Riley before he became a ‘pawd. The two dogs played rambunctiously until they were both exhausted. Wait. Make that ’til Abby was exhausted. Triley didn’t seem to get tired at all.

I invited them to come by later for a play session with the dogs, but didn’t think they’d take me up on it. The next morning, we were in the trailer with the door open, Abby on the bed. She started growling and jumped off the bed. I got her back up on the bed in a down stay, while I peeked out the door to see what was up. When I peeked around the corner, I encountered Triley, at the door as if to say, ‘Hello, Mrs. Abby’smom, can Abby come out to play?’

Triley really brought out the feistiness in Abby. She was a little hellion with him. It was truly a joy to see.

Later that day we all piled into Lisa’s truck to go to the hot springs. These springs are warm at best, not hot. It had been so hot that I wanted to get Abby into the water. She was not on board with this idea, but tolerated it well.

As soon as her body was submerged, instinct took over and her front paw started slapping the water, back legs paddling. We never let go of her, but let her paddle back and forth between us. When I let her go the direction she wanted, she headed straight for the edge of the pond. Then she’d alternately tear around like a crazy dog, roll crazily and tongue-lollingly in what little grass there was, then hunker down in the grass and just watch.

Then another terrier/dachshund mix showed up, a little brindle guy with big ears, named Elbow. Their eyes locked across the body of a man, sleeping on his back. They both stepped on the man with their front legs to touch noses. Then Abby followed him around like an obnoxious little kid, “Hey! Hey! Whatcha doin’? What’syername? I’m Abby!!!! Look at me!”  He had the demeanor of an embarrassed teenage brother who’s being tailed by his pesky kid brother. She made two new very good friends, got to spend most of the weekend on either her mommy’s or her Mike’s lap. I think probably the highlight, though, was that she got to sleep on the bed with her peeps. Overall, I think she was unsure about some of it, didn’t like some of it, but for the most part had a great time. And it was more worry for me, having her there, keeping her hydrated and cool, but it was such a pleasure to have her there.

I am so happy to have found this whole world about tripawds!

Meet my tripawd, Abby. She’s roughly a year old, and while the shelter thought she was Dachshund/Chihuahua mix, and the rescue thought she was Dachshund/Rat Terrier, I suspect some Jack Russell in there. She’s about a year old, with plenty of puppy energy, but she can mellow out at a moment’s notice.

Her pure, unbridled joy at life is a wonderful thing to be around. Every day she makes me smile and laugh. When she’s super excited, she can jump about 3-4 feet. She loves to chase birds and squirrels, and she loves her brother, my black cat, Harley. When he climbs on my lap, she licks his ears.

I adopted her in December, shortly after she had her right front leg amputated. I’m not sure what happened to the leg, but it was non-functional, with no nerve response. The vet couldn’t figure it out either, so the rescue opted to have it amputated. Since she hadn’t been using it for who knows how long, she was already used walking with out it, although her gait improved after it was removed, because she wasn’t hopping as much to avoid dragging it.

We’re both so glad to be here, and to make the acquaintance of other tripawds and their pawrents!