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Many long-time Tripawders may be familiar with Calpurnia, the world famous three legged musher dog and three year bone cancer survivor.

Today, we’re hoppy to announce that at the spry age of 15 years old, Cali has embarked on a sled dog’s dream: spending winter in Alaska.

Cali sent us this report from the great white north a couple of weeks ago.

Read on to hear about her amazing adventure into the frozen tundra. . .

Dear Tripawds Friends,

Greetings from the Great Frozen North! We have finally made it to Alaska for the winter, and I thought I would take some time to update you.

“We” includes me (Calpurnia), mom, dad, and my pack of 19 other sleddogs. We thought it would be a great adventure to drive the 3500 miles from our home in Colorado to spend the winter in an un-finished cabin in the woods of Alaska so that my team could run on the historical trails that our ancestors have been pulling sleds across for centuries.

So far it has been quite an experience!

I’m not going to lie, that was one loooonnng drive in the car to get here. Seven solid days of 14 hours driving.

The road wasn’t all that great – some stretches were really bumpy from the frost that heaves it up. Sometimes the road was icy and really slippery too.

Us dogs didn’t really like the long days of sitting in the truck bouncing along, but mom and dad said that the scenery was amazing and loved seeing all the vast wilderness out the window.

I did see the caribou crossing the road and thought that was pretty neat, but the rest of it I would have rather sniffed around and explored with my nose than my eyes.

But we are here now, and mom and dad are working to get our yard set up and to figure out the trail system around here.

There is another house dog, Ozzy that I have to share things with. He is a Golden Retriever, 2 years old, and a general pest. He has to chew everything and thinks that the whole world wants to play with him.

Not me – I am determined to teach that pup some manners!

Mom and dad thought that I might like to have a yard to run around in all for myself, so they built a nice fence around a birch tree just for me.

Too bad they didn’t ask first… I would have told them I would rather be in the yard with the pack! The gate isn’t finished yet, so dad strapped a piece of wood across the opening to keep me in figuring I wouldn’t be able to jump over it since I am an old lady.

Well, I got tired of waiting for my chance to explore the trails and decided to set off to see them myself. Dad was running errands and mom was busy working on the big yard kennel and scooping poop, so I just let myself out rather than bothering her about it.


I took a nice long walk in the woods, following trails all around the Alaskan wilderness. I smelled all the other teams that had run past, and looked for moose.

When I got tired, I came home. I saw mom in the yard and knew she had been looking for me. To show her how agile I was feeling, I put on the speed and sprinted away from her.

It was funny to see her scramble and trip on the ice chasing after me. I sort of felt bad about leaving without letting her know, so I waited for her by the door to the cabin.

She gave me a big hug and took me inside. She looks terrible, but I feel great after my run!

Warm kisses and a cold nose,

Love, Calpurnia

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Making the decision to amputate a senior dog’s leg is difficult. Most people doubt that old dogs can get along on three legs.

But Calpurnia, a three legged sled dog in Colorado, is proof that even older working dogs can lead great lives as Tripawds.

Calpurnia just celebrated her two year ampuversary. She and her Mom TC wrote this guest post to celebreate this milestone, and hopefully assist others who are faced with the decision to amputate on their own senior dog.

“It hardly seems like it has been 2 years since my humans made the decision to amputate my right front leg following a diagnosis of a grade 2 soft tissue sarcoma growing in my elbow joint. That was back when I was 12 years old, and still running as the main lead dog on my sled dog team.

My people were very worried about my future at the time, but figured we should at least try amputation to see how I would do. Boy did I surprise them! Mom thought it might be a good idea to update everyone on what I have been up to now that I am 2 years post-op.

I am now 14 years old (although I tell everyone I am still 13). I sometimes have some sore places on cold days, and mom thinks my hearing isn’t what it used to be. But my mind is still sharp, and I keep myself busy. I have had a fantastic few years running with my team, visiting school kids and teaching them that I can still do all the things I did before, training puppies, and enjoying my status as senior girl in the house. I have a soft bed near the wood stove where I keep my aging joints toasty and dream of my great racing days.

Like many athletes, my role with the team has sort of shifted from “star lead dog” to “coach” over the past few years. My humans joke that Dog really is their Co-Pilot now when we go on training runs. I still go, but I have a soft dog bed on the back of the ATV (or in the sled when the snow gets deep enough) where I ride. I can watch my team from my perch, and I give them pointers and howl encouragement at them the whole run. On the steeper or bumpy sections, I lean on my person so that I don’t bounce off the back.

Sometimes, if I am feeling frisky, mom hooks me in the line so I can show the new puppies a thing or two. I am a good coach, and after a run I make sure to sniff each team member to tell them how well they did.

I have had my share of medical issues, but they are mostly related to my getting older. One of the hardest things was a year ago when my humans learned that I could not breathe right due to something called laryngeal paralysis – or paralyzed vocal chords. I couldn’t move my vocal chords out of the way when I was breathing hard, and it made it very hard for me to breathe when running. I had throat surgery to fix that, and now I have to be very careful that I don’t choke on food or water, since I can no longer protect my airway the way I am supposed to.

I also have had some pain related to pinched nerves, so mom has to make sure I stay active and keeps my weight down to a trim 33 lbs. She tried doing massage and chiropractic work on me, but I really prefer not to be handled like that and will stretch myself when I want to.

I hope that those of you senior dogs out there keep me in mind when considering amputation. I was a healthy older girl going into this, and am doing really well still. None of us will live forever, but these last few years have been good for me, and I hope to continue living life to the fullest and not let my people worry about the “what ifs” that may be down the road.

Right now, life is good. My team had a good run today, I even ran a little bit with them, our water buckets are clean and full, we will get meat tonight for dinner, and the sun is shining making nice sunny places on the snowy ground for me to lie in.

My heart is filled with love, and my mind is content. I really could not ask for more.

Lots of love,

Calpurnia

Here’s a favorite movie of ours, when Calpurnia and Jerry met back in May, 2008:

Click here to view the embedded video.