How A 3-Legged Dog Inspired The ‘Tripawds’ Community

Jerry, a German shepherd, inspired the Tripawds community after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 2006.

René Agredano

When Amy Shever’s “bouncy” rescue dog Ellie faced leg amputation surgery after cancer treatments back in May of 2023, she and her husband were nervous. Their beloved Papillon was about 15 years old, so they worried about how she’d do in surgery — and afterward on three legs.

So it was a “complete godsend” to find the website Tripawds.com, a free online pet amputation support community that shares resources like a blog, podcast and discussion boards for people whose dogs and cats are facing or who have faced bone cancer and/or limb amputation.

“It was so comforting to hear from them because they’re like, ‘Here’s what you can expect and here’s what happens after surgery,’” Shever said. “They really were very reassuring that dogs typically adjust really, really, well. And that’s what happened with Ellie.”

Part of the little dog’s successful adjustment involved following advice from other Tripawds community members, like using a body harness to help Ellie move for several days after surgery, doing exercises to strengthen her entire body and laying down yoga mats on hard surfaces to help prevent slips and falls.

Ellie thrived on three legs to the ripe old age of 18, which fills Shever with gratitude.

“She was just a super happy dog,” Shever said. “She was incredibly confident and nothing would ever stop her. She just kept going.”

The Start of Tripawds

Ellie is one of tens of thousands of pets helped by Tripawds since its inception in 2006 — though it was created almost by accident.

It all started with a German shepherd named Jerry, who was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer at age 8. René Agredano and her husband, Jim Nelson, agreed to the recommended leg amputation surgery to give him more quality time.

“When we found out Jerry was going to lose a leg to osteosarcoma, we learned that veterinarians call three-legged dogs ‘tripods.’ And we’re like, ‘That’s kind of mean. My dog’s not a piece of furniture.’ So Jim said, ‘I’m going to empower that and put a ‘paw’ in that word in the spelling.’ So he started a little blog called ‘Tripawds’ and it was just to document Jerry’s progress for friends and family.”

But after just a few blog entries, strangers started reaching out with questions when their own dogs were facing leg amputations. The couple realized they didn’t have all the answers, so Nelson installed discussion forums on the blog so that people could share their own experiences and advice with one another.

“It just took off from there,” Agredano said. “People starting finding each other and asking questions instead of asking us. So it became a community within seven or eight months of us starting the blog.”

When Jerry recovered from surgery — and outlasted his 4-6 month life expectancy — the couple sold their home and graphics business, bought an RV and spent two years traveling with Jerry over 30,000 miles across North America. (They chronicled their adventures on the road with Jerry in the memoir Be More Dog: Learning to Live in the Now.)

Jerry’s Tripawds Legacy

Jerry died in 2008, but his legacy lives on. Tripawds continues to grow; there are currently over 25,000 registered members in the community.

“It’s just a very supportive community,” Agredano said. “It’s all about our animals. We don’t get people being judgmental or bring up issues outside of the scope of what we’re about. So there’s no politics, there’s no religion, there’s nothing that divides people in there. We’re all there to help one another, and people tend to know that from the beginning.”

One of the only rules in Tripawds is there’s no personal fundraising allowed, since everyone in the community is facing hefty veterinary bills. So in 2014, Agredano and Nelson — who are based in Colorado — created the nonprofit Tripawds Foundation to offer financial support.

The Tripawds Amputation Surgery Assistance Program offers three grants of up to $1,000 each month to people who need help covering their pet’s amputation surgery. The Tripawds Foundation also reimburses community members — anywhere in the world — up to $300 for a pet’s first rehabilitation therapy evaluation by a credentialed therapist.

In one remarkable instance, a Tripawds community member living in South America posted that he was moving to Germany and didn’t know where to take his dog for rehab therapy. So Agredano shared a guest blog post from a few years prior by a woman living in Germany who mentioned a practitioner there.

“About three months later, I got a message from him saying, ‘We finally moved to Germany and my dog went to that clinic, and here’s my application for the rehab reimbursement fund,’” she said. “So it was full circle. He came to us not knowing anything, and now he’s a full-fledged member of the community.”