Celebrating Three Years With Our Tripod Dog Dewey!!!

Three years ago this month, I met Dewey for the first time at the animal shelter where I used to work in Washington. I had just returned from vacation and was settling back into my office when a coworker asked if I had seen the little dog that looked “just like Greta.” At this point, we had no intention of adopting a second dog, but of course my curiosity was peaked. I asked another colleague in the admissions department if we had recently received a Dachshund and she replied “Oh…you mean the one with three legs?” Well, you can probably imagine the look of surprise and interest that crossed my face! After learning that Dewey was a tripod, I knew I had to meet him.

The picture above is from the day I first saw him. The poor little guy was in really rough shape. He wasn’t neutered and had a bad case of fleas, terribly overgrown toenails, bald patches on his ears, and a mouth full of rotten teeth. All that was known about him was that he was picked up as a stray in Spokane with a collar reading “Duke.” From the look of things, he had been fending for himself for quite a while.

Many people believe that animals choose us, and it was most definitely true in this case. As soon as I cracked open the kennel door, Dewey jumped right into my arms and clung on for all he was worth. All of my resolve melted and I was instantly smitten! Several days later he came home as our foster dog…

It didn’t take long for us to realize that the name Duke just didn’t fit our new pooch, and plus, I didn’t want to continue any associations with his sad past. So in the course of just a few days, Duke became Dewey, Greta gained a brother, and we discovered the amazing world of tripod dogs!