It was a video of three-legged Moose, that inspired us to proceed with Jerry’s amputation. If it weren’t for this video of Moose the three-legged Great Dane, we may never have realized how well dogs can adjust to life on three legs. Heck, at the time of Jerry’s diagnosis we didn’t even know dogs got cancer!
We sat alone in a motel room near UC Davis where Jerry was getting a scan to determine the extent of the tumor growing in his shoulder. Waiting for news from the vet about whether or not he recommended amputation, we frantically searched the internet for hope.
Neither liked the idea of amputation…They had never met another dog with osteosarcoma. If they could find a few happy stories about these cancer dogs on three legs, amputation might not seem so terrible.
– Be More Dog (Chapter 6)
In 2006, there was not much out there in terms of support for people facing amputation for their dogs. We’re glad we found this video of Moose.
We Owe It All to Three Legged Moose
Chapter six of Be More Dog: Learning to Live in the Now is titled, Cancer Comes Calling. It describes the difficult decisions we faced after Jerry’s osteosarcoma diagnosis.
Then, after an hour of mindlessly scrolling through search engine results, a 43-second video
changed everything.“Get the gopher, Moose, get that gopher!”
A happy male voice cheered a giant Great Dane digging in the dirt with one giant front paw.
We will never forget how that video of three-legged Moose helped us make the most difficult decision. So here it is…
We watched that video over and over again while waiting for the vet’s call. If he believed Jerry was a good candidate for amputation, they would do it that same day. If not, one option was to not wake him up. We weren’t ready for that!
“Hey, you have got to see this!” Rene got up and carried her laptop to the desk where Jim was sitting. She replayed the video again.
“Get the gopher, Moose, get that gopher!”
Jim looked up from her screen, dumbfounded but smiling. “Wow, if he can do that, then why not Jerry?”
That video of three-legged Moose the Wonder Dog inspired Jerry’s amputation, and a dear life-long friendship with his people. We’ve met a number of times over the years, and hope to see them again. Read all our posts about Moose in the Tripawds News blog.