Shelby's blog

It was a year ago that the doctor in Elverta, (Sacramento) removed what was left of my right front leg. I had part of my leg removed in Taiwan but the folks at Homeward Bound finished the job. I don’t remember a whole lot about that day but I remember meeting some really special people, my foster mom and dad, Kathleen and Jim. I’ve talked about them before. They took me to their home in Auburn, Ca. and took really great care of me. They told the chauffeur and the maid I wasn’t any trouble at all. As a matter of fact, they took a picture of me on the couch wrapped up in my favorite blue blanket and my hot pink t-shirt sitting next to Kathleen. Mom and dad got that picture not to long ago. My, I was so cute! Dad’s eyes water when he looks at it.

I look really happy in the picture and why not, I got rid of my bum leg, got a terrific foster home and was starting down the road to rest of my life. I didn’t have cancer like so many of my tripawd friends do, but losing that leg was a pretty big deal and I would like all of you to celebrate with me! You know when I left that leg in doctors office, I left all the bad stuff that happened to me in Taiwan wrapped up in that leg. I hope they buried my leg  really, really deep, like, backhoe deep. It’s think it’s a good thing to bury bad memories.

I talked to everyone’s mom and dad’s and on Thursday, march 11th, 2010, all my tripawd friends will get an extra treat!  And to all of my friends that have crossed the bridge, I miss you… and tomorrow night, I’ll look up to the stars, wag my Farrah Fawcett tail and run like the wind with a big ‘ol grin on my face! 

Shelby, the P.P.

I seem to be getting a bit overheated when we go to the hospital and visit folks. They keep the place pretty warm. I have to laugh, you think I’m hot, I look at the chauffeur and he has sweat running down his face, how gross!!!! So, the maid said, “maybe her harness is making her warm” It does cover a lot of the Petite Princess, so they came to a decision, maybe we should get her a collar to wear while she’s “working”, it might be cooler. Jeesh, do ya think!!!

Well, I’ve looked in the drawer at all the leashes and collars and “I simply can’t find a thing to wear!”  They may work for a Border Collie and a Cocker, but not for the Princess. I think a shopping trip is in order. I have 3 different colored scarves I have been told I have to wear, yellow, pale blue and purple/gold. I don’t think one collar leash ensemble would work. I can’t ask the chauffeur about what color goes with what, I heard him tell the maid, “buy me all black socks, they match everything!” and the maid is out of town.

Plus, we have another school we have to go to, so I have to “set” the fashion bar pretty high.

I’m asking for every one’s help picking out colors, pattern’s, whatever…it just has to look…stunning on me. I simply can’t leave a decision this important to someone who always wears black socks.

This is the first Nor-Cal Tripawd Pawty where my best tripawd friend in the whole world wasn’t there…Mary, Cemils mom, is right, Caira Sue, we missed you.

Shelby.

I took 6 pieces of chicken, 3 pieces of pork loin and 2 small steaks out of the reefer and got them ready to bar-b-que just like Sweetie told me to.

With my loyal bar-b-que helper, Penny, by my side, we were on the back deck getting the coals going and adding a few Jack Daniels coals to the mix, when out of the corner of my eye I spot a light tan front dog leg creep up over the ledge of the counter and snag one of the steaks! I was dumbfounded!!!! A steak thief was loose in our neighbourhood, and what was worse was they were in our house!! I had to get into the house and save Charlie and Shelby from those dirty rotten so and so’s that stole our steak. I got into the house through the master bedroom, crept silently down the hall. As I got closer to the living room I saw the garage door was closed and locked from the inside and so was the front door! I frantically looked for Charlie and Shelby and that’s when I saw the thief or thieves…Charlie was chewing as fast as his little Cocker jaws were able to move and over behind the kitchen island was the dreaded 3 legged steak thief  herself…IT WAS SHELBY, yes that Shelby, the Petite Princess Shelby smacking her lips! 

I can’t express the feelings that I experienced. How could this have happened, where had her mother, AKA  the maid, and I, AKA the chauffeur, had gone so wrong. What had we done to deserve this? And then I remembered…yes, how could I forget, it must have been Charlie that put her up to it. Sure, Charlie is shorter and not quite agile enough to pull it off so he got Shelby to do his dirty work for him!!! I bet you a another steak that Charlie learned these kinds of things when he was doing hard time in the Sonoma County dog jail.  

I told Sweetie as soon as she got home what happened, Ha!!! she laughed, I bet you the ex-con put her up to it! Your son, why is he always my son when he does something wrong, your son, had to be the one to put her up to it. She would never do anything like that on her own.

Well, we sat down to eat, minus 1 steak, and as I looked at Shelby, she hopped onto the couch, made herself comfortable, and instead of facing us as she lay there, she rolls over and faces the back of the couch and gives us the “butt!” Couldn’t/Wouldn’t even face us, pretends she’s not feeling well, got a tummy ache, does not even move when we called her, but as soon as she hears there are tiny pieces of steak  being cut, she bounds from the couch and heads for the kitchen doing the “Tripawd Twirl” as she zero’s in on the maid as she cuts the last of the steak. Then, her and Charlie sit like 2 little angles staring at Penny and I as we munch on little, tiny slivers of steak. I’m pretty sure I saw Penny smirk at her little sister as I told Penny what a good dog she was and would she like another piece of steak?

Mom and Dad took Penny, the worlds most beautiful Border Collie, and my favorite big sister, out to lunch for her eleventh birthday! The sun was shining and it was so nice outside.

Penny says they went to Sebastopol, that’s a funky, but a very cool town, not to far from here and had a Foster Freeze hamburger and some french fries. I know that’s true cause when she got home she had berger and fry breath.

Penny has really helped me to become a better dog and I make sure I do everything exactly as my big sister does! Although I can’t and not quite sure I want to piddle the same way she does… That might be more information than you need…

I wish my big sister many more birthdays for a long, long time!

P.S. She’s laying on her favorite chair, she is sooo coool!

Maximutt’s dad John took this of me at our last Pawty! Makes me wanna say, “Howdy!”.  Shelby

Today we visited the VA Hospital in Martinez, we were there for about 2 hours. Every time we turned around someone wanted to spend some time with Shelby. We saw old friends and made some new one’s.

We met 3 vets that susutained injuries in Iraq that are going thru rehab, one of them was a young officer that had sustained a head injury. She zeroed in on Shelby and for the next 10 minutes talked about her dog back home and how much she missed him all the while holding and stroking ‘s Shelby head.

We met a few World War Two Vets that were setting on a couch just passing time, as one of them got up to stretch his legs, Shelby hopped on the couch and made herself at home. It was very sweet to watch as one of war heroes hand move over and petted Shelby’s side.

As we got ready to leave, a nurse came up and asked if we would mind stopping in a room to visit a couple of her favorite patients. She walked us into the room and introduced us and we sat with one of the vets he said he was so thankful someone came in to see him.  We moved to the next bed and this gentleman was soundly sleeping. The nurse woke him up and asked if he would like a visit from a dog? We pulled up a chair and I held Shelby in my lap as he reached out to pet her, the nurse said, “did you see that, did you see that? He’s been here for three months and this is the first time I’ve seen him smile!”  We sat with him for a couple of minutes and as he fell back asleep we got up and went back into the hall. The nurse was waiting for us and just bubbled about what had happened and thanked us again for taking the time to come out today.

Shelby was tired and she was ready to leave. After we got back into the truck, I just looked at her at smiled and gave her a hug. She slept all the way home. 

At times like these I always hear Margie, our trainers words, “Don’t ever underestimate the power of Dog.”

Dad’s going to the Sonoma County Humane Society for a class that teaches him and Charlie, the worlds most handsome Cocker Spaniel, how to help kids learn how to read a little bit better.

Since it’s all about the kid, I’ll pass thank you, but Charlie, he likes kids and dad and mom think this will be something he can do. I mean how hard can it be, Charlie, dad and the kid sit or lie or whatever is most comfortable for the all concerned, and the kid reads his book or lesson to Charlie. Because Charlie will patiently sit or lie, knowing Charlie, it will all be lying down, and listen the kid read, that way they don’t get all nervous like when they have to read in front of the class.  

Here’s the funny part, hopefully dad will be able to help if the kid doesn’t recognize the word or has a bit of a problem with it. Dad says he went to collage in Texas so hopefully the words won’t have more than 4 or 5 letters in them! One more thing, they are gonna take dad’s thumb print because he’ll be working with kids and do some kind of check on him. Dad said he hoped the wanted posters in Texas have all come down and everyone has forgot all those crazy collage shenanigans, I’m sure everything will come out OK. If not, mom will have to “save his bacon” once again.

The session’s with the kids takes place in the local public library so that should be a little more relaxed than a school type setting. Dad says this is something new we haven’t tried before…I really hope it works for Charlie, he’s a pretty cool big brother. Maybe I can fill in for Charlie some days if he doesn’t want to go…Penny doesn’t really like kids. So Charlie will carry the torch on this one.

Wish Chuckie, that’s Charlie’s nickname, and dad luck, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Signed, Shelby, the wet, mud stained, but oh so happy, Petite Princess.

Hi everyone, it’s was a chilly day but we were to busy having such a great time we didn’t notice.

Here’s a link to the photo’s we took yesterday, thanks again for a great time.

http://jan92009norcaltripawdpawty.shutterfly.com

Our family has had a wonderful 2009. We are both still working, we have each other and our 3 wonderful dogs and 2 great cats.

We are Christians and we believe God has a plan for our lives. When we thought about adopting another dog, we thought of a collie and submitted an application for a rescue dog. The collie rescue people told us our application was rejected. So we said, OK, and that same day we found Homeward Bound Golden Retiever Rescue.  

We submitted our application and were visited by 2 ladies who wanted to make sure we could and would provide a safe home for one of their dogs. We passed the test. One of the ladies who came to the house told us about the sweetest little golden 3 legged dog from Taiwan that she had picked up at SFO and took her to Homeward Bound.

 Sherry, now Shelby, had her surgery on March 11th and was doing well enough that her foster mom and dad brought her down from Auburn to grant a few interviews. We locked eyes with Sherry and guess what? we were smitten. We left with our new dog about 2 1/2 hours later and started a friendship with Shelby’s foster mom and dad, Kathleen and Jim and with another of the volunteers, Jana.  

 On the way home we stopped at Petsmart to see about some obedience classes. Guess what, a beginners class started that Tuesday night. Our instructor Margie took a special interest in helping Shelby and I do the best we could so we could move to the intermediate class which started 3 days after we graduated from the beginners class. Margie is the person who suggested that we go to the VA Hospital with Shelby. 

In order to visit a hospital we had to attend a certain school to become certified. Guess what, Margie was a volunteer at that school and told us a social/therapy team class was starting 2 weeks after we graduated from the intermediate class. With her help, we got all the paperwork and stuff done so we could attend the August class. The next class was not until November.

 Our instructor at the new school, Nancy, was so moved by Shelby and her courage, she went out of her way to make sure Shelby and I and also Cindi and Penny had all the help we needed to make through the class. It was a hard class for Shelby and I.  Shelby worked so  hard that even Nancy teared up once. 

All of us passed the certification exam! I can’t begin to explain how very proud of Shelby I was. We let Nancy know we wanted to work at Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa and one of the VA hospitals and guess what! Nancy is the lady whose job it was to help make those things happen.

I contacted Memorial and guess what, there was in introduction class for volunteers in a week and there was an opening! We made 2 of the required 3 visits with our mentor to the hospital and she told us no need for the 3rd visit, you guys are ready to go. Shelby and I got our ID cards, with pictures our made and started visiting  Memorial  the next week.

 About 10 days later Nancy called and let us know that the VA Hospital in Martinez would be happy to have us visit and since we were only going to come one a month, we could cut the paperwork by 75%.

We have met an made wonderful friends from this website. It’s not an easy thing for me to talk to folks I don’t know. If I want to help Shelby do the work she does so well, I need to be able to walk into a hospital room and ask a stranger if they would like to visit with a dog. It’s been tough, but I’m getting used to it. Shelby has forced me out of my comfort zone so I can grow as a person.

Penny has taken her roll as the big sister to heart and has shown amazing patience with Shelby. Charlie has gotten a couple years younger with his new baby sister around. The cats have finally accepted her and she stays out of their way!

 We have introduced Shelby to hundreds of people and only twice have I seen folks reject her. One was a nurse, the other was a fellow at the VA Hospital. You can’t win them all. Just last week we walked into the critical care waiting room and saw three peoples mood change immediately! Their mood and body language changed from worry and concern to a huge smile! Even if it’s only for a few minutes, it just doesn’t get much better than that!

 It is impossible for all those circumstances and people to come together without some help from God. Shelby traveled half way around the world to come and live with us and teach the lessons that only a tripawd can. Seeing people react to her only reinforces what Margie told us, “Don’t ever underestimate the power of dog!”

We are so happy and blessed, thanks to those who have been supportive of our learning to live with a tripawd!