Caira Sue. What a long strange trip it’s been.
So how did we get to this point? How did we get to the point where we plaster cast and painted a mold of our dog’s front left foot?
In May 2002 an adorable brown puppy was born in Colorado. From here the story gets shaky. She’s never really told us the details. Stuff happens and this puppy was found wandering streets in a not-so-great-town and was brought into a clinic where my sister just happened to be working that night. The lady who brought her in said “if you guys don’t take it, I will just put it back on the street where I found it.”
More stuff happens. All the vet staff take turns fostering this little puppy and calling her “Molly” of all things. Then in July 2002 my sister drives down to Ft Defiance, AZ and brings us the most adorable puppy we’d ever seen. We name her Caira Sue. We find “Caira” in an old dictionary to mean “It will go on” and “to charge forth.” That totally describes our girl-then and now. Of course, we did the only proper thing to do in America, we completely change the pronounciation. It kind of evolves into “Kara or Kyra.” The “Sue” is a nod to my hillbilly roots. Love those two names.
At the time I was working as a RN on the reservation. My husband, like most of the husbands there, had nothing to do but hike and explore. From the age of 4 months, Caira Sue has been going on adventures. Her jumping and smiles and all around goofiness has been infectious. You can always hear her shouting “I’M A DOOOOOOOGGG!” as she runs and jumps and digs.
7 years of amazing adventures. Hiking, backpacking, swimming (lots of stuff happening)-many moves later and Caira Sue lives in the east San Francisco Bay.
In July 2009 she was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in her right shoulder blade. At the end of the month it was amputated-shoulder blade, leg, the whole kit and kaboodle. Stuff happens.
We have had many adventures since. Camping, hiking, swimming. Roadtripping across the Southwest. We have met beautiful people with huge hearts through the tripawds group. In NorCal we have met amazing tripawds. We have learned that having 3 legs never really slowed a dog down. In fact, I often thought they were having more fun.
While taking her to UC Davis to treat the OSA, Caira Sue was placed in a Gemzar inhalation chemo study. Because of that, Caira has had an amazing 6.5 months. I am forever grateful that we were able to take part in this study.
Now that this study has been ongoing for awhile and there’s evidence of it working, they are starting to use it on children. Our Caira Sue. Our most amazing, most beautiful, most adventurous, most precious dog…has helped countless children in the future.
And that’s a beautiful thing.
May 2002-Thursday, Jan 21, 2010.
May you always catch the tennis balls and swim in the waves. May you always be heard shouting “I’M A DOOOOOOOGGGGGG!” Charge forth, forever Caira Sue. Charge forth.
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Here’s the purple party pimp hat that Adam made for Cemil’s birthday.
Not sure he was very fond of the gift!!!!
Max came to see us. He came ALLL the way from Southern California! Good thing he brought his coat, because it was COLD here today!
My father-in-law came and brought his neurotic, psychotic dog Sammy. Lucky for everyone, Sammy was on his best behavior. Lucky for you, he photographs well.
Here’s the Shepherds together….Montana and Travis Ray:
And Bob came!!! We were all soooooo happy to finally meet this man in person. I really enjoyed meeting him. As you may have guessed, his presence is as amazing as his online voice. Of course, I didn’t get a picture of his face! Ha! You will have to meet him yourself to see what he REALLY looks like! What I did manage to snap though, was how he surrounded himself with Tripawds! Oh, how they loved Bob. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the bag of treats….
Here’s a snap our beautiful girl. She did amazingly well today. Caira Sue made many friends…some with 3 legs and some with 4 legs. She doesn’t discriminate!
Adam was the dog whisperer today. He had them all hanging out with him.
Here Adam and Karen are hanging out…one Pug each! Adam had Maggie and Karen has Tani.
At the end of the day, Maggie was a pooped out party girl. I think this picture says it all.
Since I started this blog with Tri-pug Fairies, I guess I will end it with Tri-pug Fairies. Or should it be Tri-Fairie Pugs? Your choice.
Since Barney is on a World Tour we decided to take him to Sherman Island. We posted a big part of Barney’s adventure on the killbarney website here:
Silly Barney. You can’t hide from a determined dog. See what happens when you hide?
Caira did spend some time playing with her tennis balls. (see yesterday’s post). I think I heard Barney breathe a sigh of relief as Adam started burying balls on the beach and Caira was distracted enough to dig at them instead of Barney!
Here’s Barney enjoying a few minutes of relaxation.
Ooops…this is what happens when you take a break:
Where oh where will Barney land after this?????
Caira Sue hasn’t been feeling well since Christmas. She’s been on a few short trips about town, but this was the first trip to play in over a week. We went to one of her favorite places, Sherman Island. And like always, we had the place to ourselves. Wahoo!
I like this picture. It makes her look like a cartoon character-all head, with a tiny body!
The other day Caira Sue was at the pet store and begged for a 24″ Bully stick. Caira Sue has never had a 24″Bully stick. She’s never shown interest in 24″ Bully sticks. I personally think she took a look at Nova’s christmas pictures while I was at work one day and got jealous. Oh, if Nova can have a 24″ Bully stick, so can I! So here she is, trying to eat a 24″ Bully stick. Oh, and that’s the rescue kitten Polly on the other end. Polly hero-worships Caira and wishes she were a dog. She’s always copying Caira!
Chicken basted rawhide, Yum.
Polly, Poppa, Caira Sue and the bone.
Rescue kitten, Pirate George. Arrr.
A good cuddle with Poppa.