pepper

all about Pepper

hi, my name is Hilary. I live out in the country with my great family and with just one irritating and very hateful neighbor. i have a Great Pyrenees named Tiny and my cow-dog terrier mix named Pepper. plus four cats and a chihuahua (my mom’s baby). Before my friend gave me Pepper, he lived in a cage with just his sister for company for about three months with very little human contact. We aren’t sure but we think someone might have phsyclly and mentally abused him as well. After he was separated from his sister, he just went nuts. he hated living with my friend even though they had another dog.  after about a week of living with her, my friend came over and brought him and her other puppy over. Right when she would put Pepper down he would run. Also at this time his name was ‘Monroe’. At one point she put him on my bed so he could lay comfortable and kinda feel at ease. i was sitting at the head of the bed and my friend was sitting at the foot. Pepper was in the middle and was to small to jump down. After considering the situation Pepper inched closer and closer to me. I knew right then he would be mine. I begged my parents to let me keep him and after they said yes, i went outside to introduce him to Tiny and Bruiser(the boxer we used to have) Bruiser hesitated with Pepper a little but never tried to attack him. Tiny on the other hand just took him in right away. They were best friends from the start. With Tiny as his teacher, Pepper steadily grew closer to me. I never house or leash trained him. He would watch Tiny and learn from what he did. After a few months Pepper had  trusted me enough to let me pet him and he didn’t try to attack everyone so much. What really got him to trust me was the day Bruiser got killed. Pepper and I had the same look in our eyes. fright and confusion. That day he let me pick him up without running for the first time. ever since then he would jump up on my bed and lick my nose when he wanted to wake me up. He would listen to me when I told him if who ever came up was a friend or foe. He became my protector. Now he is about a year old and up until March 5, 2011, he was almost a normal dog. Pepper loved to roam. he would go play with Zoey, my mammaw’s dog and go to the pond for a little swim all the time. He also liked to go across the road to another pond. We tried a lot of different ways to try to keep him from getting in the road but he would just jump or dig his way out. He had been very lucky until March 5th. He was coming home when he was hit by a car. From what damage he had, they hit his left back side and it made him skid across the road a little. on his left leg and head he had some pretty bad cuts. it was a saturday so my brother called all the vets and vet emergency numbers but no one would pick up. His friend gave us tips on how to take care of him until we could get him to the vet. He wouldn’t eat or drink at first so i was so worried about him. finally on sunday he ate a little food. but still wouldn’t drink. He would also walk to me and just lay his head on my lap and give me such a pitiful look that it would almost make me cry. On monday we got him to the vet. The vet told us that the ligaments holding his knee were completely destroyed. They could have fixed them but he would have a limp and also being so young and frightened he would run on it without the scar tissue healed properly and just tear them again. so we went the route that would cause him less pain. Now he is our little tripawd Pepper. even thought he came home without a leg, he did come home with a bigger heart. I made this account to give Pepper a voice. It’s not fair that people who have a leg or arm amputated get to speak and tell their story and about how the journey to leading a more normal life and dealing with amputation is hard and seems impossible. For the dogs its the same way. Only, they don’t let it bring them down. They don’t see it as a set back. They just see it as living life in a different way. A way that can be just as fun and exciting as being “normal”. I think if every person would just take time to listen, they could learn a lot from animals. Like “normal” doesn’t exist in the animal world. They don’t get judged for their skin color or if they have deformities or if they have any other type of disability. So, my hero isn’t a police officer or a fire fighter. My heros are the animals. They are really something to look up to.

1 Comment »

1. Dakota Dawg Said:

   on March 14, 2011 at 3:58 am   Reply

   I live in the middle of nowhere, too. We have neighbors who are at a distance, and most of us up here have dogs. I’m in the mountains in Colorado. We have Dakota, who lost his leg to a soft tissue cancer in February, and Evelyn, an English bulldog. We have had many other dogs in our lives but never a tripawd.

   Post some pictures of Pepper and Tiny when you can. We’d love to see them.

   Shari

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