Hello Citizens of Cyberspace!

The first thing everyone asks when they see me hopping around is "What's her name?" I think that people expect a name like "Tripod", which is cute, but my people chose to call me "Gidget", after the spunky young girl in those old surf movies. Like her, I am eager to try new challenges and I don't let anything hold me back from enjoying life.

The second question is "What happened to her?" Well, my front right leg was broken in an accident and I was surrendered to Animal Friends, a no-kill shelter in Pittsburgh. The nice people at Animal Friends took me to a specialist at Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialists and he decided that the because of my age (just 11 weeks old at the time) and the damage to the leg, the best thing to do would be to amputate my leg at the shoulder. So, one day I went to sleep with four legs and woke up short one "armleg".

When I was discharged from the hospital, I went to live with a nice man and lady with another cocker spaniel named Simon. This nice family was providing a foster home while I recovered from surgery. My foster parents fell in love with me immediately. I can't say that Simon felt the same way. He's quite elderly and was not prepared for a young puppy with so much energy. But he slowly succumbed to my charms.

For several weeks after the amputation life was good. Then one day my foster dad took me back to Animal Friends. I don't remember much about that day except that I was very sad and lonely, and apparently I must have broken something else because another doctor "fixed" me that day. I'm not sure what he did but at least this time when I woke up I still had all my legs!

The next day life turned around for me again. My foster parents came back to the shelter and said they were taking me home. But first we had to make a stop a place called the Adoption Desk where Mommy and Daddy signed lots of papers and a nice lady named Beth put some extra tags on my collar. Then Beth made an announcement over the loudspeaker and told everyone in the building the I'd found my "forever home". I officially had a family again!

So, it cost me an armleg (Get it? hahaha) to get here, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Check back soon. I lead an exciting life and now that the boring details are out of the way I can start blogging about Racing Through Life on Three Paws!

I'll be writing more about my adventures, Animal Friends, www.thinkingoutsidethecage.org, and Oldies But Goodies Cocker Spaniel Rescue, www.cockerspanielrescue.com, a non-profit breed rescue organization where my adopted brother Simon came from.