The Deuce & Tres Story

It takes a village …………….and sometimes that village transcends state lines but two tiny, deformed puppies from Texas have made their way to Colorado and to Evergreen Animal Protection League (EAPL) to be given a chance at life.

This adventure began during a normal day at an office in Texas

when Diana overhead a colleague talking about a puppy born without front legs -- one that he felt he would have to kill.

Diana quickly stepped in and began talking to the man to understand what the circumstances were. She found that, in addition to the puppy without front legs, there was also a puppy missing most of her front left paw:

While continuing conversations with the puppies’ owner, Diana also began reaching out to local rescue groups. None were interested in the deformed puppies but Diana remembered that Evergreen Animal Protective League (EAPL) had been able to assist her with a previous rescue so she contacted them.

EAPL had taken a two-legged puppy about 7 years ago so they contacted the couple who had adopted him, a dog named KanDu.

Ken and Melissa not only adopted Kandu, Ken fabricated a light frame with three wheels that enabled Kandu to be mobile. So mobile, in fact, that he became a therapy dog working in hospitals. Ken and Melissa now have 7 dogs with a total of 17 legs. A little female named Luci also “got her wheels” and began accompanying Melissa to visit patients on her rounds.

When EAPL called about Deuce, Ken and Melissa agreed to adopt the male two-legged puppy but, with their busy schedules, they needed to have someone care for him until he was strong enough to be independent from his sister and able to eat on his own. EAPL in turn reached out to their volunteer foster homes and found a couple, Mary and Mike, who were willing to foster and care for the puppies until they were stable and strong enough to be adopted.

The deal was on! Diana offered to drive the puppies from west Texas to Colorado; Ken and Melissa wanted to meet the little ones; Mary agreed to coordinate the logistics. Since Diana planned to stay at her sister Brenda’s house and Brenda offered to open her home to everyone, the “Colorado team” agreed that it would be easiest for Diana if they all met at Brenda's home.

Diana e-mailed that she also had a “Texas team” coming along with her – her mother who would hold and feed the puppies and her nephew, Andrew, Brenda’s son, who would help with the driving.

Within a day, she let the team know that she would also be bringing two more unwanted puppies that were

scheduled for an air transport to Colorado, but their flight had been cancelled.

The two teams kept in contact via e-mail and photos with an amazingly smooth, constant flow. Diana e-mailed that she had contracted a stomach bug on Friday the day before the scheduled drive was to begin but she rallied and the Texas team was on its way!

Although the puppies were said to be eating canned food, Diana was concerned that, at 4 weeks, they should be supplemented with milk so she stopped and bought milk replacement formula, nursing bottles, Cookie Monster and Elmo fuzzy toys and headed north.

The Texas driving team arrived on schedule and were met by Brenda (far right) and one of Brenda's three rescue dogs. Since Ken’s Mom was celebrating a birthday, Ken and Melissa would be a few miles north of Brenda’s house so the Colorado team agreed to congregate at Brenda’s home between 1:00 – 1:30 pm. When Mary and Mike arrived, everyone was sitting on the front porch in the sun because the puppies had been shivering. Introductions were made and the puppies handed off to the fosters to meet and hold. Mike took the little girl

and Mary took the little boy.

Diana mentioned that she had been calling the little boy, Deuce, so Mike recommended that we call the little girl, Tres (pronounced “Tray”) and the no-name fosters had identities!

Ken and Melissa arrived shortly thereafter and Deuce and Tres were handed to them before they even got to the porch steps.

Ken took tiny Deuce into his hands, Deuce stretched up to give him “the adoption kiss”

and the deal was sealed. If Deuce could survive and thrive in the foster home, he would get his wheels and join KanDu, Luci and the other Rogers' pets to live and to help others.

Mike did the driving and Mary cuddled the puppies until they arrived at their new foster home.

Tres weighed 20 oz and Deuce only 14.5 oz. Mary had consulted with a pet supply store owner who recommended a canned puppy food and goat’s milk so the food supplies were on hand before the duo’s arrival.

EAPL rounded up donated towels, puppy pads and a child’s wading pool (another village worth of supplies) so Deuce and Tres came home to the perfect little nest --

the pool lined with towels on one side, a puppy pad on the other and two little saucers with the edges low enough for the tiny puppies to drink and eat from which they did – ravenously.

While Deuce had been the focus, Tres was the one who would throw back her head and howl several times per day. Worried, Mary contacted EAPL and they arranged for a vet checkup. Both puppies were pronounced reasonably healthy for their age and circumstance and the foster process began to take shape.

Mary added water to the puppies’ diet and, after the milk replacement was gone, poured goat’s milk over the canned food. Both puppies seemed to love that mixture and were even lapping up some water so their initially dry stools began to turn normal and Tres stopped howling.

Deuce, however, over several days became strong enough to pull himself around on the kitchen floor and, when he got stuck under a cabinet edge, he took up howling where Tres had left off. Amazing that a tiny puppy weighing less than a pound can howl loudly enough to be heard (and rescued) throughout an entire house!

Mary and Mike noticed that both puppies would huddle up and fall asleep on the fluffy little toys so Mary began to make adjustments.

First she added a soft, cuddly blanket that she clipped to the sides of the pool so it would fold over like a clam shell. Both puppies began to crawl deep into the clam shell , where it was soft and warm, when they were tired. They immediately recognized the clamshell as “home” and have never fouled their warm, little nest.

Mary also searched for and found a thick, soft, fuzzy bath rug that serves as both a floor to the clamshell as well as the perfect floor or lap rug where Deuce can get enough traction to move himself forward. (Prior to the bath rug, Deuce’s efforts tended to propel him sideways or in circles on the smooth tile.)

Mike and Mary’s neighbor, Madison, has always come over to help socialize fosters and she showed up the day these little ones arrived. She took the deformities in stride but it must have been dismaying for her to see a puppy missing two legs. On Maddy’s second visit, Mary put the bath rug on her lap so Deuce could crawl up and into Maddy’s lap and she later showed Maddy the video clip of Kandu and Luci. Maddy brightened immediately when she realized that Deuce had a family waiting and his “wheels” were already lined up!

Deuce and Tres grow each day, have learned to play and have begun to explore far outside their wading pool. Tres was the first to be able to get out but she quickly showed Deuce that there was a brave, new world out there!

Deuce and Tres have been joined by a "swimmer" puppy whose name is Ariel but they haven't been allowed to meet. All of the dogs, family and fosters, get some special play time with Mike and Mary.

Deuce has learned to "run" and shows off with his chew toy.

Although Mike and Mary try to keep Deuce on soft surfaces to pad his little stumps and give him better traction, Deuce is now able to climb out AND back in to the pool. In fact, he doesn't "climb" into the pool, he vaults over the side!

Mary was in her office yesterday

when she heard an unusual thumping sound -- both Tres and Deuce had escaped the wading the pool, made it through the kitchen gate and were heading down the hall towards her office! Tres leading as usual and Deuce not far behind.

In fact, Deuce has become so mobile that he's beginning to develop a sore on his left stump.

Mary called Ken for advice and he said he keeps his dogs in sleeves when they're not on their wheels so..............

Here is B.J. Bond......Bond, James Bond (aka Deuce)..........in his stylish black knit turtleneck. (Shhh.....don't tell him it's one of my socks.)

Deuce will be joining the Rogers soon and the perfect Yin-Yang will be separated.

Tres is trying to be pretty chill about it

but she wants to let everyone know that she's looking for her forever family, too!

If you are interested in Tres or any of EAPL's rescues, go to:

http://www.eapl.com/db/edit_adopter.php

Deuce went home with Ken and Melissa to meet his new family. A week later, Ken sent this video to show us how Deuce had integrated with his canine brothers AND how quickly he had learned a new skill:

FOOTNOTES: While I was e-mailing and talking with Diana about the trip and the puppies, I learned many things about her and consider her a hometown heroine! When I met her to pickup the puppies, she took me aside and told me that I shouldn't be too quick to judge the man whose dog gave birth to these puppies. She told me that, when she overheard the conversation and talked to him about the puppies, he confessed that he didn't want to kill the one without front legs but didn't know what else to do. He was relieved when she asked him to just wait until she had some time to work on the problem.

When I told everyone that I would e-mail updates, she e-mailed to ask me to add his e-mail to my list. Since that time she has been working with him to spay and neuter his two dogs to prevent further problems.

She also told me that she had worked with others in her area to convince the county to correct the conditions and treatment of animals at the local shelter. As with any animal lover, while I was meeting Deuce and Tres, she was showing me another dog at the shelter with a deformed paw that was marked for euthanasia. I told her I would check with area rescues and asked if the shelter would hold a dog if we could guarantee a home. She proudly said, "Yes, now we have a shelter manager who works with us!" (When she contacted the shelter that dog had also been adopted.)

When I told her I thought of her as a hometown heroine, she wrote, "I am not a rescue. I do not foster because I simply don't have the room....What I do is follow the rescue pages on Facebook and help in whatever ways I can....If I can afford to donate towards a vet bill I will...If I am able to give a dog or a cat a ride somewhere I will....Usually not more than an hour or so from home, but I make exceptions when it comes to Denver because Mom always wants a chance to go see her other great grandbabies :)

I e-mailed back: "Try telling Deuce and Tres that you're "not a rescue".............."

Also as a result of agreeing to foster a "swimmer puppy", I met a transport that brought that puppy in from Texas as well. That rescue group: http://www.rescuedpetsmovement.org Is very well organized, ensures that animals selected for transfer get their shots, puts animals to be transported in foster homes for observation and re-checks the animals prior to transport.