Hops in the Right Direction: Naki'o

Dude.

I can't even begin to tell you how cool Naki'o is, how wonderful the people in his life are, and how happy this story makes me.

Via

Meet Naki'o.  Isn't he a handsome fellow?  His name means "puddles" in Hawaiian--very suitable, given that he lost his paws and parts of his tail, nose, and ear when he fell asleep in a puddle in the cellar of the freezing Nebraska home where his pregnant mama was abandoned.  Mama didn't make it, and without the help of a lot of very special people, Naki'o might not have, either.

You see, the stumps that remained of his legs were uneven, and the bones were sharp and not suited to bearing the weight of a growing puppy.

Enter Christie Pace, who adopted Naki'o from A Puppy's Voice in Nebraska when he was just seven weeks old, knowing the trek they had ahead of them.  Christie raised the money to get a prosthetic for Naki'o's most troublesome leg, but it was OrthoPets, specializing in orthotics and prosthetics for pets, that covered (literally, heh) the last three legs.  Naki'o is the first dog to have prosthetics on all four limbs.

Christie, inspired by her experience with this special dude, founded Nakio's Underdog Rescue, a rescue dedicated to helping other disabled pets get the homes and care they deserve.

What thrills me about this story is not only the happily-ever-after this specific dog and his owner are getting--it's also the attention it's garnering.  The more examples we see of dogs like Naki'o and Rosie, where dogs and their owners overcome great disabilities with love and aplomb, the more we non-superhero-folk might realize we can help in our own small ways as well.

You can read Naki'o and Christie's full story here.

You can donate to Nakio's Underdog Rescue here.



Many thanks to Dianawesome for bringing this wonderful story to my attention.