What a beautiful boy, how could you not love that face. I think that Yoda helped to bring you two together. You have so much love to give and Gerry needs to be loved, a match made in heaven.

Jo Ann & Tasha

Lucky, handsome boy!  I'm sure it was Yoda.  Look at all the stories of dogs sent by other dogs.  They all have the same "flying sidewalk" feeling.

I love this story.  Can't wait to hear more!

Mary

Gosh - I'm just speechless with happy tears of ...."wow what an amazing and heartful story".

What a gift from Yoda to Gerry through you. The universe is amazing in how it works and we should never ever second guess the bigger picture...the grander plan and how much our spirit fur kids have to play in it.

As Shanna said, you are my hero.

I, too, am marking Dec 16th on my calendar !!! What a significant day.

Tons of love,

Heather

Dang it, now I'm tearing up from all your comments…

Thanks for the reassurance on the bandage issue, those of you who chimed in on that.

I remembered a little bit ago the last little push by the Universe that finally outweighed my anxiety over whether it was really wise to take Gerry on as a foster. It was that the shelter worker/vet tech estimated his surgery cost (not sure if it was the knee surgery or amputation) as $2800. 28 is my lucky number ' class='wp-smiley' />

This comes a little bit out of order, I will be doing retro-updates on how things have been going since I brought Gerry home, but Gerry and I just had a mini-adventure that I wanted to share. I had gone to the pet store (I think Gerry and I are both getting over colds, so to be safe I wanted to toss the rawhide bone he has been working on as well as one of Yoda's old stuffed squeaky bones that he likes to carry around – like a leaf! I got him new, clean bones of both kinds). I don't take Gerry with me yet, unfortunately, because he still hates car rides so much, though we've been working on making the car a happy place. On my way back I saw an old yellow lab wandering off by himself in the neighborhood. I swear I see a dog loose in my neighborhood at least once bi-monthly. Seems like every other house in my neighborhood has a dog, so I think it's just a statistical inevitability. Anyway, I probably could have pulled over right then and led the dog back, but you never know, some are wary about approaching strangers and my gut was telling me to go get Gerry. I may not have been necessary, but it didn't do any harm either. Almost as soon as I walked in, he went and picked up his leash. This is not a usual behavior for him. It was probably because it was in reach and I had tossed his stuffed bone, which is what he'll usually pick up to greet people with. But whatever, I took it as a sign. I'm big into signs these days, and so I put on his leash (even though we had just gone for a walk before I'd gone to the pet store) and led him back to where I'd seen the old lab, and Gerry picked up the scent! He was just around the corner from where I'd seen him last. He and Gerry played while I tried to get a look at the lab's tags – not an easy task. But eventually I was able to get a hold of the tag that had his info on it and gave the phone number a call. I left a message on their machine. Whether they got it or not, as Gerry and I led him back towards our house, the old Lab's dad came walking up the street. And that was that. I really don't doubt the dog would have been found just fine without our help. He was a smart guy, sticking to the sidewalk, probably his usual walking route. But Gerry and I congratulated ourselves on being heroes anyway.

GerrysFosterMom,

Emily was a rear leg amputation.  The vet said that rear leg amputations are easier for the dogs because they (the dogs not the vets)  carry 60% of their weight on their front two legs.  We did not have a bandage and had no seeping that others have talked about.  I don't know if that was because it was back leg or we were just lucky.  She had staples and all we did to keep her from chewing it was we put a blanket on her when we were home and made her wear her e-collar when she was alone.  My husband took one day off work.  Day two and after she stayed home alone.  I came home at lunch to check on her.  The wild puppy was in a kennel but we did not separate her from the other dog.  Other than not doing well on tramadol she sailed through it.  Like I said I don't know if that means rear leg amputations are easier or not.  It is just Emily's experience.

You won't have the same questions with Gerry that you had with Yoda and thankfully not the same fears either since cancer is not in the picture.  (Yes!)   You might still want reassurances from Team Tripawd (I don't know if Susan made that up but I love it.) and we will be here for you as you are here for others as YodasMom. With all my heart I am excited for you.

Debra & Angel Em

LOVE the lab rescue story...I am welcoming all the smiles I can get right now and this one surely brings one to my face

GOOD JOB GERRY AND MOM!!! (note that I left off the "foster" )

Love

Heather

What a great story about Gerry. I truly think it is fate that Gerry and you were meant to be together as well. Gerry is very luck to have you. I will have you both in my thoughts and prayers on December 16th too, that the surgery goes well. My

and Bowser's (my B&T Coonhound's) will be crossed that everything goes great. In the meantime I'm sending and your way. I love the photos of Gerry, what a cutie pie. Angus loved car rides, but Bowser hates the car rides too. He's getting a lot better though. It seems like as long as he is able to look out the window, because we have a big conversion van (with the pull down shades). When he is in the van, the shades always go up for him so he can see out of the windows, and we open a couple of the windows for air for him, and he is fine and never gets sick or panicky.

God Bless,

Mary & My Guardian Angel Angus