Valiente at rest
This is Valiente. He lost one of his front legs when he was fairly young – from memory he was the victim of a hit-and-run by a car sometime in September 2006 – typically we never found out what car and who was driving.
Being a front-leg amputee makes getting around a bit harder for Valiente than if he had lost a back leg. He can still show a surprising turn of speed over short distances and can acquit himself well in vigorous play/fights at close quarters, but we no longer send him out for the 7 kilometre runs that most of the big dogs get every day – it is just too much stress on his shoulder joint.
When we are out walking Valiente will usually hang with his fellow amputee, Corazon – Corazon is a back-leg amputee and suffers none of the problems that prevent Valiente from running long distances and runs with the pack every day.
Valiente is a pretty stable character and appears to have suffered no psychological problems because of his disability. He is well-regarded by his peers, gives-and-gets well enough in a stoush and has a fairly level temperament. He loves a pat and a scratch, a good lie down and has taken first dibs on use of the little dog house we got recently – most days he’ll be parked in there with just his nose and eyes peeking out – looking for opportunities and/or trouble.
3 Comments
What a handsome beast. Can we have a photo of Corazon please? How many dogs do you have anyway?
El primer perro – I’m looking for a pix of Corazon – we have one from when he had four legs and was covered in mange…but then he got crunched by a scrub-bull one day and we had to get a leg taken off…
How many dogs?…Do you mean adults and puppies? Or just (male) dogs? Or all of them? When – today? Yesterday? Over the last month?
Let’s see – going from alpha female (it is a matriarchy) – Luna, Sole, Rambo, Bobby, Corazon, Linda, Blacky, Indi, Rosita, Valiente, Mr Clark, Nangaly, Georgie (p/t) Titty (p/t), Boot-boots, Trevor, Blacko, Bobette, Collette, Tiger Lily, Miel, Baa-baa, Silver…thats all for now and subject to change depending who comes through the gate.
BTW – I ran into a bunch of cat-lovers over at Larvatus Prodeo the other day – they seem to be lacking a sense of humor and didn’t appreciate being told that the best cat I’ve seen was…a hat…http://larvatusprodeo.net/2008/10/03/best-cat-evah/
I’ll post my own ‘favourite cat’ pictures…they are usually in a mortal repose post vehicular contact…
Hi there,
both my dogs came from the Aboriginal Community at Port Augusta. Despite dubious heritage(s) they do make good dogs. As you might know, there was a guy who ran Warrawong sanctuary in the Adelaide Hills who did in fact have a cat hat. He also produced bumper stickers proclaiming “cats make good hats” although I never was able to confirm this myself.