My Tripawed Dog

This is my dog. He only has three legs. We started looking for a dog, and we found him at shelter. He had four legs back then. He was there because he had been trained to be a hunting dog, but when he was three he had jumped out of the back of his previous person's truck and gotten hit by a car. His leg rear left was badly broken, and he had to get surgery on his hip. When we first saw him, he had a bad limp. But we took him in, and since my mom didn't like his original name, "Drake" he was re-dubbed "Jake". We trained him, especially to chase tennis balls. We would throw them into ponds and he would swim for them, which made his leg stronger. We took him on walks, too. Eventually, his limp was gone! He loved to chase balls, be petted, and sit under the table during meals in case food fell off of it. We enjoyed playing with him, and he had angelic patience. If ever we didn't see him and stepped on his tail, he would get up and wag it, waiting to be petted. He was always careful around kids and babies. We would go exploring in the woods together. He had a special bark to let us know if he ever found a snake, but he never barked at passing cars or people and he never ever barked inside. He loves to meet new people. Eventually, Jake started limping again. It had been years since he'd done it. He started whining, which he'd never done before. He was clearly in a lot of pain, and the only thing that seemed to help was if we pet him. We had the vet run some tests, and that same leg that had been hit now had cancer. It was going to spread to hit lungs and kill him fast. We had only a few months left with him, tops. The vet advised us to have the leg amputated so that the cancer couldn't spread. It was a really hard decision, but we did it. I wondered why such a good dog had to have such a hard life. In fact, the cancer scan revealed what looked like a bullet in his leg. When we got him back, we thought it would be hard seeing him like that. We had been watching videos of happy three-legged dogs to make ourselves feel better. But right away he had less pain. He had less and less pain until he fully recovered. He was so much happier than he'd been in months. Having only three legs means that it's hard for him to stay balanced on our slippery floors, so he likes to take naps in the grass and sunshine outside and enjoy the view of the yard. He's so peaceful and happy as he watches the kids play and listens to the birds tweet. At first, he got lost a few times because he would go too far away from the house, then become too tired to get back, but now he's adjusted. We adjusted too, and now we can even joke about his condition. The surgery was supposed to give him six more months, but it's been well over a year now, and the vets were amazed. Since he's so old and he's been such a good dog, we pamper him. Fairly recently, we found out that he visits our neighbor's back porch in the mornings, and our neighbor sits out there and drinks his coffee and talks to Jake. I was happy to know that he makes other people's lives better too. Jake has had such a good life, and the good things in his life could never have come without the bad things happening first. But he doesn't know that. He just lives happily day-by-day in his simple doggy way. I'm so thankful for him. In fact, now I'm going to go pet him.