Soooo darn cute! Lots of resting and snuggling is a perfect plan for the weekend!

Will be thinking of you on Monday,
Jackie, Angel Abby's mom

Sorry we are late...it's all Bud's fault, he was "laking" it up.

Anyway, I just wanted to say your kids and dog are more resilient than us moms realize at times.

Use this website.....to help your kids. My two were 5yrs and 8 yrs at the time of the amp but I also took care of boys 2yr & 3yrs at that time. With the lil ones we looked at the photo gallery...counted the dog's legs....figured out "which leg was missing" and found dogs (goldens) that looked like Bud.

Immediately after the amp, I took pics of Bud to show my kids and also text the photos to the other boy's parents and gave them the option of sharing it and discussing it with the kids which they did. Answer questions honestly and if the answer is I don't know, that's okay. When Bud came home it was no big deal, none of them seemed upset about his loss of limb. The hardest part was having to keep him confined away from them.

There is also a PBS special on Jerry and a PBS Clfford cartoon about a tripawd that can do the same things that other dogs do. We watched both.

Shari is absolutely right about the writing. My daughter journaled to help her deal with her emotions. Her class assignment was to write about how you have helped someone. She wrote about how she slept by Bud so he could lick her hand when he needed something. She would come and get me. She also wrote about the care he required.

Later, we would browse the website together and read about the dogs before bed. She began a journal about the "tripawd nation" It was about the community here, how it was started and the story of Jerry.  The first dog she wrote about was Dakota because he was our partner in the amp process. It continued with funny stories about Bernie, MBVP and the pugapaloozas. It also contained writings about other favorite dogs that were being grieved for.... like Chili because he looked so much like Bud, Daisy who happily sported her wheel chair and Gayle who was so pretty and made a special ornament for us. 

I think it helped her understand that our lives are filled with joy and sorrow. It made her see that caring for each other (strangers or friends) and sharing those stories make both joy and sorrow better. HUGE concept if you ask me.

I hope the surgery and recovery go well. I'll be sending healing thoughts to all of you.

Bud's mom