A three-legged dog rescued from the streets has experienced love and loss after being adopted by a Louisiana woman with a disabled therapy dog.
Pippa was a 2-year-old mixed breed in need of urgent care when she was first brought to the Southern Animal Foundation in Louisiana back in 2017. “She was found roaming the streets of New Orleans with a broken leg after being hit by a car,” Lydia Crochet told Newsweek. “Her leg and tail were amputated, and after several months of rehabilitation, she was placed for adoption.”
Crochet first learned about Pippa after being contacted directly by the rescue. By that time, she already had a sizable social media presence thanks, in part, to her own rescue dog, Jeanie, who had gone through something similar to Pippa.
“Jeanie was found roaming a rural area just outside our city in 2007, with a crippled foot,” Crochet said. “She was believed to be about six months old. Someone was able to catch her and bring her to a local vet, who removed the leg, spayed her, and placed her for adoption. As soon as I saw her face on their website I knew I had to have her.”
Crochet was in New Orleans for an event when the rescue got in touch asking for her to get the word out about Pippa. Fate had other ideas though. “I went to see her and, like with Jeanie, I knew I had to have her,” Crochet said.
With Jeanie now in her senior years, getting another younger pup to keep her company made perfect sense. After all, a study published in the journal Evolution, Medicine & Public Health highlighted the positive association between routine social interaction between dogs that live together and better health outcomes compared with dogs who experience less socialization.
Even so, building that bond took time. “They got along okay,” Crochet said. “Pippa had some trauma from living on the streets for two years.”
With the help of a dog trainer, and a little patience on the part of Jeanie, Pippa did find a peace and acceptance that had been missing from her life until then. Her days were spent following Jeanie around, learning about her new way of life, while, when the time came, they would happily nap together.
In truth, Jeanie was the perfect pooch to provide this kind of support. An affectionate therapy dog, known for her joyful demeanor and wagging tail, she paid visits to public libraries, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and veterans homes, helping people from every walk of life. These efforts even saw her win the Hero Therapy Dog Award in 2019.
While Crochet and her senior rescue dog played their part, Pippa showed an impressive level of resilience after such a long time on the streets without a home or human friend to speak of.
Now she had something even better than that: a loving owner and a canine companion. Sadly, though, it could never last forever. In November last year, Jeanie passed away, aged 16, from kidney failure.
“It was devastating,” Crochet said. “She was not only my pet, she was my best friend, my business partner, my shadow. We were inseparable. She went everywhere with me, all over the country.”
Jeanie & Pippa
Pippa, too, was left reeling at the loss. “She was sad and experienced a loss of appetite,” Crochet said. That’s not uncommon among dogs. A 2022 Scientific Reports study detailed how the majority of respondents to a survey of 426 adults who had owned at least two dogs, one of whom died while the other was still alive, detailed similar symptoms among their surviving pets.
In time though, Pippa processed her grief. “She’s better now,” Crochet said. “We allowed her to see Jeanie once she passed so she would know, but she did seem to search for her for several weeks.”
The three-legged rescue pup holds on to some memories of her old friend. “She still naps on Jeanie’s blanket,” Crochet said. But Pippa has played a part in helping Crochet through her own grief.
“I miss Jeanie terribly but I’m grateful I have Pippa. She provides constant comic relief,” she said. “Pippa is definitely not the therapy dog Jeanie was. She’s more of a protector. But she does love me and stays by my side.”
While the videos and pictures Crochet used to share of Jeanie showcased a remarkable and caring dog, she believes the clips she posts of Pippa are no less special, just different. To her way of thinking, Pippa’s is a story of “resilience.”
“To see her so happy and healthy, knowing her past struggles, makes my heart smile. It may be my imagination but I believe she is truly grateful for the life she has now,” Crochet said. She just hopes it’s a story that inspires others to adopt and take a chance on a dog like Pippa. “This was a dog no one wanted and now she has thousands of friends all over the world.”
