How Nora came into our lives and stole our hearts

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions. Me and my husband received a panicked phonecall the last weekend of June. A friend of mine, who runs the organization ‘Beagle Freedom Project’ had worked with another rescue organization to get an injured dog from Iran to the US for treatment and adoption. The dog had just arrived, and the woman who had been approved to foster her, was backing out. The dog had nowhere to go! Being a former rescuer myself, I knew all too well how frustrating such a situation is, and since we had just moved into our new house last year we had plenty of space. We volunteered to step in as emergency fosters for the dog.

The dog, Nora, is a young Spitz mix who was found bleeding by the side of the road in northern Iran with half her right front leg missing. A good Samaritan brought her to the closest thing to a vet you can find in that rural area. The cut was so clean that they suspected it had been sawn off with a chain saw or other power tool – something the vets here in New York thought as well when they first examined her. Nora was kept at that ‘vet’s office’ for 40 days, but no real medical help was given. They pulled her skin over the exposed bone and stitched it up!!! She then went to live with a foster family in the area, until the organization who had gotten involved could get her to the US.
A few days after she arrived at our house, I took her to The Animal Medical Center, where she was scheduled for free treatment through AMC’s ‘AMC To The Rescue’ program. In addition to her leg stump wound being raw, she had a severe bone infection in what was left of her leg. There was no point in keeping the stump there, as it was just dead weight for her – and the decision to amputate at the scapula was made. She had surgery the very next day.

During her hospitalization, me and my husband realized there was no way we could let this sweet dog go. We had planned on getting a new dog at some point, but no time soon. Our rescued Great Dane passed away of old age (age 11) back in 2008, and we had really missed having a dog in our lives. Not that the 2 cats we had adopted after he passed didn’t give us plenty of love and companionship – they surely did – but it still felt like something was missing.
Nora was also great with our cats, and they liked her as well – almost instantly. The decision to adopt Nora was an easy one to make.

Nora is now back home with us, recovering after surgery. She is so incredibly sweet and trusting, in spite of all the pain she’s been through. Even though Nora is not the first tripod animal I’ve encountered, I soon realized a tripod dog is quite different than a tripod cat. We did a lot of research and found several helpful tools to help make Nora’s life easier – harnesses, no slip socks to use indoors on wooden floors and tiles etc. – but we still have plenty to learn. I was so thrilled to find the Tripawds community and look forward to sharing an learning from others.

Everything happens for a reason, and we are so grateful to have gotten a chance to be part of Nora’s journey. We will make sure it’s one filled with nothing but love and happiness going forward