The Tripawd Times of Nova the Great Dane

Well, we finally got together a small contingent of Michigan Tripawds for a pawty today, in Grand Rapids, MI.  A “Trifecta of Tripawds” gathered to meet and greet…. Rocky, Boo, and the Queen herself, Nova.  It was cool and breezy, but at least it didn’t rain. If it had, diva Nova would have never set foot outside of her private coach. Nova’s quad-pawd sister Emmy was also there.  The Queen does not go anywhere without her seeing eye dog, you know.  Anyway, here are some pictures:

Greetings All Around

As you can see, both Rocky and Boo respectfully followed royal protocol when greeting the Queen.

Rocky

Rocky was very friendly.  With 3 girl dogs to hang out with, he was pretty excited about it all.

Rocky's Lovin' Life

Rocky was ready for belly rubs.  And he looked great in his Ruffwear harness.

Her Majesty Queen Nova

Queen Nova doesn’t get out much to socialize with the “commoners”… lol. I was a little nervous with her being blind and all, but she definitely enjoyed herself and had no problems at all.

Rocky

Rocky is such a handsome, good natured boy!

Most of the Lineup

Getting a Trifecta of Tripawds to line up for a photo is not an easy task. Boo loved to run around the park, so she didn’t make it in this picture. From left to right, quad-pawd Emmy, Nova, Rocky’s Mom, and Rocky.

Rocky

Rocky liked to fold up his front paw.  His Mom said sometimes he tucks it under his body, so he looks like he is missing both front legs.

Glamour Boy

Rocky loved posing for pictures!

Beautiful Boo

Boo is a retired greyhound.  She zips around on 3 legs at lightning speed!  And her gorgeous fur is the same color as Emmy’s.

Boo-eautiful!

Such a pretty girl!  It was very interesting to meet other front-amp dogs. Both Boo and Rocky still had their scapulas.  Nova’s surgeon preferred to remove her scapula, even though her tumor was in her wrist.

Dane Licks and Leans

Emmy and Nova enjoyed dishing out the customary Great Dane licks and leans.

Boo

New Tripawds need to see video of how fast Boo runs.  She is amazing!  I think she can run as fast on 3 legs as she can on 4.

The Mobile Throne

Queen Nova of Tripawds assumes the position on her mobile throne for the 2-hour return trip to her castle.

This last Saturday I had a blast at the big graduation pawty that Mom had for my big brother.  Mom was worried that it might get confusing for me to have so many strangers around the house that day, but it ended up being pawfect.  The only thing was, she moved all the furniture on the patio so that my regular path out to go potty was blocked.  But it was great, because everyone I bumped into was super friendly and ready to pet me or slip me something off their plate.  I gave kisses and leans to everyone I met.  Mom got all teary because she was so happy to see me having so much fun, with my head held up high.  Of course there were lots of people there who had never seen a Tripawd before, and they made the usual “Whoa…. where’d her leg go?” comments.  Dad was not as quick as Tika’s Dad was long ago when he said “A dog this good you can’t eat all at once”.  He could have freaked people out and said that we were running low on hamburger meat or something. HAHA!

Anyway, here are some pictures of me making the rounds:

Queen Nova of Tripawds prepares to meet her subjects

Don’t you love my University of Michigan bandanna?  My brother is the biggest Michigan fan, people were joking that he even has maize and blue dogs.  Emmy wore a maize-colored Michigan bandanna.

A Kiss from the Queen

How many high school graduates do you know out there who are lucky enough to get the Queen to show up at their pawty?

Licks and Leans for All

I was a little nervous at first, so I leaned on Dad.  But you can see that my tail is wagging, it was so exciting to have all these people there at my house.

Kisses for Uncle Bryan

There were lots of people there who hadn’t seen me since before I became a Tripawd.  Everyone was thrilled to hear how good I am at kicking cancer’s butt!

Don't Be Afraid

Some people were afraid of me.  I get that a lot because of my size, for some reason some people think that just because I am big that I will eat them. And sometimes people get scared when they see my leg is missing.  I don’t know what’s up with that, but I try to make them feel comfortable.

My Fat Sister

Emmy spent the entire party walking from table to table as the walking garbage can.  Here she is about 23 meatballs, 6 hamburgers, 8 hot dogs, 4 bratwursts and 3 vegan burgers heavier.

Bella the Neighbor Rat Dog

Remember Bella, the neighbor “rat dog”? She came to the pawty too to yap at people.  She’s got some major Wyatt Ray Dawg ears going on, dontcha think?

Well, Mom wanted me to add one more thing.  Just today she got her Tripawd pendant in the mail from 4PawsForever in NV.  It is just pawesome, and she put it on right away.  Here’s what it looks like:

Tripawd Pendant

And here’s the back of the pendant:

Engraved with my name

And it even has my name on the back of it!  How cool is that?

Ok, that’s all the latest.  I am hoping that now that Mom is done with all that graduation stuff that she will spend more time keeping up with our Tripawds family.  I will keep on her case!

Licks and Leans to All My Loyal Subjects,

Queen Nova of Tripawds

Pawesome…. I finally got Mom to pay more attention to me and get us back on the blog.  She’s been in school and had final exams, and pretty much glossed right over my 18-month ampuversary because she had her head buried in her books.  Tonight she logged on to Facebook and saw Ampuversary greetings for me on the Tripawds page and gave her head one of those “doofus” smacks and said, ” Girls, we are going for a ride.”  Cherry always told us she celebrated with ice cream, but Emmy and I never really had ice cream before.  So we stopped at the pet supply store to get 2 beef tracheas, then went around the corner to the Dairy Queen (where else would a Queen go for ice cream), where Mom got us soft serve ice cream in a cup, then garnished it with delicious Beef Trachea.  Doesn’t that sound DELICIOUS? 

We’ll Mom made another doofus move and forgot to bring the camera to Dairy Queen, so she has no photo documentation of the pawesome sundae.  There was no way that Emmy and I could wait til we got home to eat our sundaes. So she promised to take us back for another one soon, so she can take a picture.  Sounds good to me!

Mom does have one nice picture of me from my brother’s graduation.  You all know I love to wear hats and tiaras… well check this out:

This Great Dane is Smarter Than Your Honor Student

Wow…. I can’t believe it’s been since late March since Mom let me on the computer.  She is doing homework for school ALL the time.  She is so very busy that I have been dishing out my Drama Queen act any chance I can, just to get a snuggle here and there.  I have decided to give her a break at night though.  If you recall I was waking Mom up all the time at night to go potty, or just to complain about something silly like Emmy stealing my nap spot.  Well, I don’t think Mom liked it when I did that, she would get very grumpy and impatient.

My health has been great.  I am still having a little trouble getting used to being totally blind, but I am still a very happy dog.  I love my family and I love having Mom to take care of me.  Today I de-stuffed my stuffed horsey, which made Mom really happy (kinda strange, huh?) because she hadn’t seen me do “dog things” for awhile.  I know, I am more like a cat than a dog when it comes to destroying my toys, but it just seemed like a good day to de-stuff horsey.  Mom didn’t even get grumpy when she had to clean up the fuzz all over my brother’s bedroom.  We’ve been on some car rides to the vet and to go get flowers for the garden.

I also celebrated my 18-month ampuversary on Tuesday the 11th.  We didn’t have a big pawty that day (I’ll tell you why in a second), but we did a few days later on Mom’s birthday (shhhhh…. don’t tell anypawdy, she’s 43 years old!). Mom brought me a ton of prime rib leftovers from Lucky’s Steakhouse.  And she gave me more than she gave Emmy!  Oh yes, Emmy.  If you remember from my last post, Emmy had a torn ACL.  Well, Mom decided to try going the natural route instead of surgery, and now Emmy is putting weight on her leg again and is walking fine.  Mom is really glad she followed her heart on that one, and I am too because no surgery for Emmy means I won’t be lonely, plus it means more money in Mom’s pocket to buy me more beef trachea!

Anyway, about my ampuversary.  Mom’s dear cousin Ann died and her funeral was that day. Ann was very special to my Mom because she loved animals.  She was a vet tech, and just a year ago had adopted Aretha Franklin’s dog that she had abandoned at the vet after boarding her for over 2 years.  Can you believe that?  Ann took care of Mitzi at the vet for 2 years and begged them to let her take her home to give her a good life.  Mitzi had never really known life outside of a cage, and Ann gave her a pawsome life. Mom was so angry with Aretha for abandoning her dog like that.  After Ann adopted her, Aretha called and said she wanted to give her to somebody, but the vet said not until she paid her 100K+ vet bill!  She never called back.  I think that sucks.  People like that don’t deserve to have pets. Anyway, when Ann died, someone else at the vet adopted Mitzi so that she will have a good home.  Isn’t that pawesome?

Well, I will update more soon.  My brother is graduating in a few weeks, so Mom is buried with stuff, getting ready for his pawty at the house.  I can’t wait, there will be tons of people to sniff and to pet me.  I hope to have some dog friends come to visit that day too.

Licks and Leans,

Nova

My sissy Emmy finally came home late yesterday.  I am sooooo glad she came back! But get this… she was wearing MY Ruffwear harness, and Mom was using MY sling to get Emmy into the house. She was limping terribly, but she still had 4 legs.  Mom was on the phone with Dad and told him that Emmy had “blown out her @$#^!%&* ACL (in her back left leg) and needed @#$#@^*#$ surgery.”  Geeze, I don’t know what all the @#$#%@#$ means, other than Mom was not happy about it.  She seemed so frazzled and upset.  Just getting Emmy out the door to pee was a big project.  Emmy is stubborn, and did not want to walk at all. It’s hard to move a 150-lb dog who does not want to move.  Mom gave me a big kiss, gave Emmy her pain medicine, and then took off to go see her cousin perform at a Comedy Club.  I know that Mom really needed a big-time dose of comedy right then, and probably a couple glasses of vino to calm down.

ACL stands for Anterior Cruciate Ligament, and apparently Emmy damaged this. It has made it so she will not put weight on her left rear leg at all, and that left knee keeps making popping sounds. I hate to admit it, but she is not a very good Tripawd at all. She is not getting the hang of hopping and is giving up very easily. I think I will need to teach her to be more pawsitive.  She will go a couple of steps, then collapse on the floor and totally give up.  It’s made it hard because sometimes she will lay right in my path, and then when I come truckin’ through, my power paw hits her bad leg. Then I wipe out on top of her because I couldn’t see her there. We had a big collision right in front of the food bowl this morning, so my salmon breakfast went flying everywhere. Emmy gobbled it up from her sprawled out position on the floor. Sneaky, huh! Mom says I should not be too hard on her because she is in pain.  But Emmy is not howling in pain at all.  Mom says it’s because Emmy deals with pain differently than I do.

Don’t tell Mom, but Emmy is playing her a little. When Mom left for a few minutes to drive my brother to the bus stop, Emmy made it down the hall and managed to jump up on my brother’s bed. So I think she will get this Tripawd thing figured out.  I am going to teach her some more of my Tripawd techniques today.

Right now Emmy is on Tramadol, which is that awful stuff that I had to take after my amputation. It makes her pant a lot, just like it did me, and it made her whine a lot all night for Mom, which made Mom say a lot more of those #%&@^! words!  She will likely have surgery the week after next (Mom has to do some research and get a second opinion), unless Mom can find a less invasive way to treat it. So Emmy will only be a “Temporary Tripawd”.

Oh man, right now I am just howling in agony.  Mom rushed out of here earlier this morning with my sissy Emmy, and now Emmy is not here and I am VERY unhappy about it.  She is my seeing eye dog, my buddy, my pal, and she’s NOT HERE!   AARWWWWRRROOOOOO!

A couple of hours ago Mom called Emmy into the kitchen for her pills.  Emmy, being the pig that she is, usually jumps right up at the sound of the pill bottle because pills mean cheese, and Emmy loves cheese.  But instead of running to the kitchen Mom heard a big THUD, and came into the hallway to see find Emmy sprawled on the hardwood floor staring up at her.  Emmy just wouldn’t get up, even as Mom dangled a piece of cheese a few feet away from her.  Mom tried and tried to get Emmy to stand, and finally got her to, but her back end was all wobbly and she kept falling on her way out the door.

Mom got all panicky and called the vet and said they were on their way in.  WHAAA???  With her superhuman strength she was able to load Emmy’s fat butt into the car, but Dad took the van today so Mom had to put her in the back seat of the Honda so it’s a miracle Mom got her in there. By the time I made it to the door the car was gone.

Now, Mom just came back from the vet without Emmy.  I was NOT happy about that, and I have done my best to voice my opinion loud and clear.  I heard Mom on the phone with Dad saying that Dr. Stewart was going to sedate Emmy and do some x-rays and call her in a couple of hours.  At first Mom thought it was Emmy’s entire back end that wasn’t working, then maybe just her hip, but the exam at the vet narrowed things down to her left back knee, which kept making an awful pop.  Emmy did not cry at all when they moved her leg, she just was unable to put any weight on it whatsoever. At this point no one has a clue what happened.  Just a few hours ago we were outside together and eating our breakfast and Emmy was just fine.

So I ask all of my Tripawd pals to think pawsitive thoughts this afternoon and send some prayers our way.  I don’t know what’s wrong with my sissy, but I hope it is something they can fix because I can’t imagine my life without my best friend.  I am trying not to be sad and howl, but you know me, I am a very VERBAL drama queen.  Mom is trying to comfort me right now, and says everything will be ok, but I just want Emmy back ASAP.

Don't Worry, Mommy, I'm Not Going Anywhere!

HA!  Mom calls ME a drama queen, but I have to say, this past week it is MOM who is the drama queen.  I’m sure a lot of my Tripawd friends out there have been reading Mom’s freak out on the forum these past few days.  Geesh!  Come on, Mom. You are supposed to think PAWSITIVE!

For those of you that don’t know what went on these last few days, let me fill you in.  I haven’t been feeling all that great lately, and last weekend I started to cough. I couldn’t help it, I just felt so icky. Mom was studying for exams on Wednesday and Thursday, and she was reallllllyy stressed.  She jumped to conclusions and made the silly assumption that the nasty cancer that was once in my body decided to move on to my lungs.  COME ON!  Can you believe she would think that?  She decided that once her exams were over on Thursday, she was going to take me to the Doctor to get the chest x-rays that she has been putting off for a long time because she is so afraid that the cancer has spread.  Again, isn’t it ridiculous for her to just assume the worst?  What is with people!?!

I was pretty sure that cancer was not the problem, since in my dreams lately I have met some of my Tripawd friends like Jerry, Caira Sue, and Cherry, Max and Tika (my fellow “November Five” buddies in Heaven) who told me that I will not be joining them any time soon. I have a kingdom to rule, you know.  So I decided to send Mom a sign to make her think for a minute that maybe what was wrong with me was not such a big deal.  When she got home from her last exam, I greeted her with a big green booger dripping from my nose.  I hopped up to her to give her the usual head butt, and wiped it on her pants, and she didn’t even care.  She just went “hmmmmmmm” and went running to her computer to talk to this friend named Google.  Google told her that maybe I just had an infection.  That Google is pretty smart!

Well, you know Mom. She took me to the V-E-T anyway, and found out right away that Google was RIGHT!  All I needed was an antibiotic. Yuck. I hate swallowing pills. But Mom sneaks them into yummy stuff like salmon and buffalo, and I don’t even notice them. Mom did not quite believe the Doctor when he said I just had an infection, so she decided to pay him even more money to take some pictures of my lungs.  Geesh. People just love to throw money away! Well, I really wanted Mom to calm down so I was a big girl and let Dr. Osmun put me up on a table to take a bunch of pictures of my chest. Whatever calms Mom down, you know? Sometimes you just have to humor these people.

I thought that Mom was going to give Dr. Osmun a big kiss when he showed her the pictures of my lungs. I don’t think Dad would have appreciated that! Of course, there was nothing goofy on the pictures, but I knew that already! Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to get these drama queen humans to take a chill pill.

Now, I’d have to say that this really worked out to my advantage here.  You know how I love to work it. Mom made me a great buffalo dinner last night, and I got some beef trachea. Plus, lots of lovin’ and kisses and attention. You know how I love that! Nothing like a little drama to bring on the treats and attention. You guys have gotta try this on your pawrents.  It really works!

It IS pretty cool that I continue to beat that stupid cancer beast.  It’s been over 16 months since I told cancer to take a hike, and it HAS!  I am living proof that big dogs CAN survive this.  I hope I am here on this earth for a long time, so that I can show other Tripawds that there is hope.

Gotta run now, Mom just grilled some cheeseburgers tonight and my brother doesn’t want his, so it looks like she is going to give it to ME!!

Queen Nova of Tripawds, Cancer Butt-Kicker

I Want My Mommy!

Hey Tripawd friends!  Don’t tell my Mom, but I have been a little sneaky with her these days. Since I know Mom will do anything to keep me hoppy and healthy (she is my “Lady-in-Waiting” you know), I have to admit that I’ve been kinda working it a little more than usual. I’ve always been a drama queen, very outspoken and opinionated.  Mom tells me that I even talk like a person sometimes when I am trying to communicate (I don’t think I do, I think that Mom just understands my language).  Well, in the past few months I have been waking Mom up a couple times during the night by whining.  When she hears me whine, she jumps right up because she thinks I might be sick, or in pain. (Hee, hee)  I really have to try hard to stifle a tail wag when I do this.

At first, I was doing it because I really needed something. Like to go outside, or maybe I needed my water dish filled.  Well, once I realized that I could get Mom to jump up and come to me any time during the night when I did the drama queen bit, I started to whine for other reasons. Like maybe I couldn’t find my favorite stuffy, or maybe Emmy stole my bed and I was irritated. I think those are legitimate reasons to wake up Mom at 3:30 a.m., don’t you?

Well, my plan kept working so I decided to keep pushing it even more. Now I’ve got Mom right where I want her.  Lately I’ve been waking her up, sometimes several times a night, and I don’t have to go outside, my water dish is full, and I have my favorite stuffy. But I stand there and pant a little (and keep my butt away from her so she can’t see my tail wagging), and Mom gets impatient and decides to come and join me on the sectional couch here in her office. PERFECT. This is exactly what I am after.  Mom will go in there and fall sleep on the couch, and I will get on the other end and rest my head on her feet, and all is well again.  I don’t need to pee, drink, eat, etc. I just need to snuggle with Mom.

Before Mom and Dad got married in 2007, Emmy and I got to sleep in the king-size bed every night with Mom. Back then, every night was a “two-dog” night!  The good ol’ days! But then once our new Dad came on the scene, Emmy and I were relegated to our dog beds (or the couch). Can you imagine? That is no place for the Queen! I think two adults and 2 Great Danes would have fit just fine in a King size bed, don’t you? Dad didn’t think so. So I get lonely for  Mom sometimes because I miss the old days when we could snuggle up together at night.

I think she might be catching on to my plan though.  The past few nights I haven’t been able to control my wagging tail when I wake her up.  I’m just so excited!  But she still seems to be falling for it, because she is so tired, so I am going to work it as long as I can.  You know, it can’t hurt to throw a little drama out there every once and awhile to keep the love, treats, etc. coming. About a week ago I had a high white count in a blood test at the vet that I was really able to cash in on. (Hee hee) Mom got all snuggly with me, and just poured on the treats and love. So Tripawd pals, let’s just make it our little secret….  if you need a little lovin’ just get a little drama going and you will have your pawrent wrapped around your finger! Believe me, you’ve got to try this!

(Drama) Queen Nova of Tripawds

Today Mom brought some rat-looking thing into our house.

Ok, so it wasn’t a rat, I am told it is a DOG, although I am having a hard time believing it.  Wow, I didn’t think dogs came in this size.  I don’t even think I was this small when I was a newborn puppy.  No, don’t worry, Mom didn’t get a new puppy, it is our neighbor’s dog.  They had to go to a funeral today, so they asked Mom to take care of her while they were gone.  They know Mom is a world-class dog spoiler. 

150 lbs of Great Dane meets 5 lbs of rat, I mean Chihuahua.  Oh yeah, the rat has a name.  It’s “Bella”.  I am so glad to hear that she is not staying forever.  Not that there was anything wrong with her, she wasn’t mean to us at all. I just don’t like her stealing Mom’s attention. All afternoon Mom has been snuggling and petting and sweet-talking this little rat.  Walking around like Paris Hilton and her little Fifi dogs. HRRMMMPPPHH!  Can you believe the NERVE?  I thought I was her little snugglebunny.  She is even letting Bella sit on her LAP, of all places.  That’s MY spot!!!  ARGH!!!

Check this out.  I could squash this thing with my Power Paw.  But of course I would never do anything like that.

She wasn’t even scared of me even though I am so huge.  But how could ANYONE be scared of a face as lovely as mine!?

Bella and I got along great.

Emmy was a little more intimidated.

Thanks for a fun day, Bella!  I can’t wait to get Mom all to myself tonight.  I sure hope her pawrents get here soon!

I’m sure every day most of us get forwarded dog-related emails that have been forwarded over and over.  Some we’ve seen before, some are new to us. The one about Faith the 2-legged dog always brings a smile to my face no matter how many times people forward it to me.  Tonight, I came home from late-night classes, weary, achy, and tired from driving in drifting snow, and stressed from slippery roads.  I sat down to my computer and found this forwarded email from a friend, the mom of Nova’s mastiff friend Annie.  I thought it was worth sharing.  My apologies to those who have seen it before, I never have.

(cut and paste)

“Just A Dog”

From time to time, people tell me, “lighten up, it’s just a dog,” or, “that’s a lot of money for just a dog.”

They don’t understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for “just a dog.”

Some of my proudest moments have come about with “just a dog.”

Many hours have passed and my only company was “just a dog,”  but I did not once
feel slighted.

Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by “just a dog,” and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of  “just a dog” gave me comfort and reason
to overcome the day.

If you, too, think it’s “just a dog,” then you will probably understand phrases like
“just a friend,” “just a sunrise,” or “just a promise.”

“Just a dog” brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust,  and pure
unbridled joy.

“Just a dog” brings out the compassion and patience that make me a better person.

Because of “just a dog”, I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future.

So for me and folks like me, it’s not “just a dog” but an embodiment of all the hopes
and dreams of the future,  the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment.

“Just a dog” brings out what’s good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself
and the worries of the day.

I hope that someday they can understand that it’s not “just a dog”, but the thing
that gives me humanity and keeps me from being “just a man or just as woman.”

So the next time you hear the phrase “just a dog” just smile…  because they
“just don’t understand.”

 (end cut and paste)

Each one of us Tripawd pawrents have at some point in our journey come across people with this “just a dog” attitude. Over the course of Nova’s 15-month journey (thus far…. wow…. I can’t believe tomorrow is her 15-month ampuversary already) I have come across many people who are incredulous at the lengths I go to to love, nurture, and protect my dogs. More than one person has told me that in their next life they want to come back as one of my dogs. It’s funny, sure, and yes it’s a complement, but it makes me a little sad that there are plenty of dog owners out there with that “Just a Dog” attitude.  Every dog deserves a pawrent like us. 

That is what makes coming to Tripawds so special. It’s my refuge. Every pawrent in this entire community “gets” the fact that it’s not “Just a Dog”.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for all being here.

As I walked into the house tonight at 10:30 pm, my entire family was asleep.  But my precious dogs got up from their comatose, couch-potato state (as they always do without fail) to greet me.  We went out for a few moments to jump in the snow.  As sedentary as Nova is, she was dancing around the yard, like she was celebrating the fact that Mommy was finally home. Now I guarantee you, I will never see my husband or my sons celebrating my arrival in this manner! As I write this, my big goofy Nova is burying her big ‘ol head in my lap demanding ear scratches and licking the tears of joy from my face.  She knows how loved she is.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Happy 15-month ampuversary, my sweet Nova.  You will never be “Just a Dog” to me.