Let’s give a big round of apawlause to Eisen and Calpurnia, who are celebrating their one year ampuversaries this month! Wooo! Hoooo!

Eisen lives in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and Calpurnia resides in Tiny Town, Colorado.

Both tripawds are living awesome lives on three legs, and not letting anything slow them down. Hmmm….must be something in that high altitude air, dontcha think?

Congratulations! You two are an inspawration for all.

And now, a word from my pawrents:

You and I know; every pawstep your beloved Tripawd takes is a remarkable achievement, and one that deserves to be celebrated. So as you embark on your new journey together, be sure to capture these beautiful moments, by making your own custom Tripawds Memory Book on your computer, with free digital scrapbooking software.

It’s easy to do, even for technically challenged humans. These free tutorials can show you how.

Once your design is complete, you can either print individual pages to drop into photo albums, or order custom hard-bound coffee table books printed from your artwork. Page and book sizes range from 8” x 8” to 12” x 12.” The options are endless. Read on to find out more or see how we can design a custom memory book for you!

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This just in …

I made the cover of PlayPup Magazine’s special Tripawds issue!

Many thanks to Sasha for sending this to us.

Troy must have found it under Lalla’s bed.

Personally, I expect to be treated like a King! Yeah, like I haven’t been all my life already. But since this site is all about sharing cancer dog experiences to help others prepare and cope, here goes …

During my recent visit with Dr. Mullins, we got the low down on what to expect now that my lung mets have started to really hinder my breathing:

• With one lung only working at about 10% capacity, I can expect to get really tired, really quick. So long walks and playing hard are out of the question.
• With my new medication, hopefully my appetite will return within a few days. But there are no promises at this point.
• There is no stopping the osteosarcoma metastasis anymore. It got smart and found a way to beat the Cytoxan that worked for months as part of my metronomic protocol therapy.
• I will pant heavily and let out a deep wet cough, more frequently as time goes on.
• With a mass as large as I have growing out of control now, there is a small chance that it could fragment and throw a clot into my bloodstream. This could cause a sudden cardiac arrest at anytime.
• At some point in the not too distant future, my people will need to make some serious quality of life decisions.
• All things considered, this is a pretty classic progression of the disease.

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First off, thanks everyone for your loving thoughts and words that you’ve been sending my way. We are so blown away by your concern. We love you guys!

Today I went to see Dr. Marie Mullins, my oncologist in Denver, at the Animal Hospital Center. I haven’t seen her since we were in Santa Fe last May. She is such a great doc, and it was so reassuring and calming to be around her again now that she’s in Denver. She says that I look really good overall, and that I don’t have that “I’m tired/done/pooped” look that she’s seen before in other cancer dogs nearing their end days.

But as you know, I haven’t been eating much, if anything lately. I’ve just had the “blahs” and have been turning away from the great foods that my pawrents have put in front of me. The last few days, Mom and Dad let me skip my supplements, just hoping to get me to eat something that wasn’t filled with pills or green things I might be sick of eating.

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Join the Tripawd Forum discussion on this post

Hey everyone, we started a new photo gallery just for giant breed tripawds. We think these big dawgs are extra special and super inspawrational, so we’re going to keep updating this gallery with photos of your furry friends. Send them in, and we’ll add your pictures here!

[Show as slideshow]

Hey everyone, guess what? My favorite oncologist, Dr. Marie Mullins, has relocated from Santa Fe’s Veterinary Cancer Care clinic, to the Animal Hospital Center in Denver, Colorado. What a neat coincidence that she’s there now, because my Mom and Dad are worried about my lack of appetite lately, and they think I should see the doc. And Denver is a lot closer to where we are now, so on Saturday, we are packing up and leaving the ranch. My appointment is on Monday afternoon.

I’m gonna be honest with you all, because we’re family here, right? My pawrents started this blog as a way to update friends and family about how I’m doing . . . all the good news, and any bad news too. It’s therapy for us, and we hope, for you as well.

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Call it faith, prayer, dharma, zen, juju or whatever you want; but one thing that my people believe in is the power of positive intention.

When I got sick, movies like The Secret and books like The Power of Now, really got them thinking, and helped them deal with the situation.

They’ve been telling me this daily mantra ever since …

You are a happy healthy dog, living free of pain and discomfort.
You will strive and thrive to survive every day, with us,
for a long time to come.
You attack every day with vigor, vim, vitality and punch.
Never giving up. Only letting go, when you know, the time has come.

My pawrents believe this little incantation is at least partly to thank for why I’ve out-lived the odds for as long as I have. (That and all the chemotherapy, medications and supplements they’ve fed me.) Perhaps your own daily mantra may help you and your tripawd.

Why not share your mantra with us here?

The following post was generously written by Sasha, dog Mom to our dear beloved friend Lalla, who sadly passed away in June.

Yesterday marked a big event in the life of Troy, our new eighteen month old chocolate Labrador; he met Star, our hero Tripawd neighbor.

It was fascinating to watch this hyper-love bundle glue himself to Star’s side as they walked together, and I am sure that Star imparted a lot of information (backed by affectionate “get off, you big lump” growls) in a way that I never could to our new boy.

Troy arrived a week ago, with the healing power of a dynamo powered Mack truck, embracing life with an attitude that Lalla had as well; in fact many people who meet Troy think he’s Lalla’s own son, a legacy I’m sure he bears with pride. He hears her name on a regular basis, and her story is marked in his environment.

I really had no idea when I was going to take a new dog on into my life; I was mourning, and still mourn for Lalla, but her joy and bravery vanquishes nearly every up and coming flood of tears. That’s what it’s like when you’ve had the privilege of living with a hero - you’re inspired.

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I love to swim. And yes, we three legged dogs really can swim! But since we tire easily, we can sometimes take on water.

My people discovered this the hard way, and stopped taking me to the lakes I love so much. That’s why I’m glad they got me a new K-9 Float Coat from Ruff Wear!

Now I can swim farther and longer than ever before. Ruff Wear’s new K-9 Float Coat provides the extra buoyancy your tripawd needs to truly enjoy swimming. Keep reading to read our product review and view the demonstration video we produced, or to order yours today!

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