Three legs

I headed out early yesterday.  With news of a Tsunami on it's way I wanted to see if I could get some photographs.  I considered that we might not get anything more than our normal waves but being that I was headed to the beach, that's never a waste of time.  The traffic was really light, "was it that I was just early?"    I arrived in Laguna Beach  at 8:30, I had heard it was to arrive at 8:30 am.  I got my camera and other gear and headed towards the beach.  As I walked down the path along the cliffs up above the ocean it looked pretty normal to me, except that there were a lot of people looking at the ocean with cameras. 

Well; we got nothing, even less waves than when I usually go down to shoot waves.  But on the way down I did spot these guys above.  Two gorgeous dogs, a Doberman and a Shepherd that were walking strange.  They were heading straight towards me when it hit me, they both were missing a leg.  I had to stop and ask.   Both dogs were rescues and both had three legs for different reasons.   The Doberman named Lefty, was born with a defective left front leg which was useless and amputated.  The other dog who's name I cannot remember so...... Dad of these dogs, if you are reading this please email me his name.  Anyhow, this gorgeous buff looking boy had his legged injured by a car backing over him.  It was purely an accident, but he had to have his leg was removed.

I talked to these handsome boy's Dad about the problems of having only three legs.   I asked what the biggest issue to deal with is.  "Their energy," he told me.  They are ages 3 and 4 and very much normal energetic rambunctious boys.  They can run like the wind and only a whippet can outrun the Shepherd.  The Doberman easily clears a four foot fence, amazing right?  Both of these boys were so sweet (I even got a kiss from Lefty) and seemed to be managing just fine.  Their Dad obviously has done an amazing job with them.  They were both extremely muscular, something very important if you have to hop around on three legs.

He had  adopted Lefty the Doberman first after having many Dobermans in his life.  We discussed how wonderful the breed is and how we both really liked this breed.  After having Lefty in his life he heard about the Shepherd and thought that they might be a perfect match.  "A fair fight," as he put it.  And it makes good sense I think. 

This gorgeous boy is also a three legger.  I photographed him a while back for my Rescue Greyhound book.  And he too was as sweet as they come.

I was thoroughly impressed and thought that my meeting with these boys and their Dad was way better than any big waves.  It made my day and the trip to the beach very worthwhile.