Benjamin's Dog Joseph
by Dr. Daryl C. Greene
Illustrated by Mary Elaine Akers-Bell
Joseph was a big, strong, smart, handsome German Shepherd. He had bright eyes, a beautiful thick gray coat and a white belly. His tail was gray with a white plume and he proudly held it high for everyone to see! But what everyone noticed the most was his gray and white Shepherd ears.
His ears were pointy. Most of the time he held them straight up. He could also turn them backwards so that he could hear things behind him. Or, if he was angry, he could fold them back and down. If he was really, really mad, he could press them all the way down flat against his strong neck!
He could also turn his ears out sideways if he wanted to appear friendly, or if he wanted people to pet him between the ears.
Joseph was a very handsome dog. But there was something wrong with him. He was born with a stub front leg. His right front leg wasn't exactly missing, but it had not grown right. At first glance, it looked like it was too short. But on closer inspection, you could see that his right front shoulder was there. His thigh was very short and where his knee should have been, there was his paw. Everyone thought of Joseph as a three-legged dog.
Joseph's short leg didn't hurt him. And, it wasn't painful for him to walk on the other three legs. But, everyone could see that he was different.
* * *
When Joseph was born his mother, Trisha, didn't notice that there was anything wrong with him. He was one of seven puppies born to her that day, and Joseph was the last.
It took Trisha all evening to deliver her pups. As each one emerged, she carefully and lovingly cleaned it off with her tongue. She nuzzled each one to bring the breath of life into their bodies. Then, she inspected each one.
By the time Joseph was born, his mother was so tired that she could hardly move. Sleepily, she licked Joseph's fur clean. Joyfully she muzzled the breath of life into his body. With her eyes half closed, she inspected him. But she was so tired that she never noticed his short leg.
* * *
When Joseph was born, he did not know that there was anything different about him, either. Like all puppies, he was born with his eyes closed, so he could not see his stub leg.
All that he knew was that he was happy to be alive. He loved to feel the warmth of his mother's body. He liked to rest against her chest. He loved to hear her heart-beat.
Joseph was born hungry. And, he loved to taste his mother's warm, sweet milk. He loved the way it felt as it trickled down his throat.
* * *
When Trisha awoke the next morning, Joseph was already nursing. He was the first puppy to come to her.
It felt good to Trisha to feel Joseph's tiny mouth. It made her feel happy to feel how eager he was to eat. Soon, all Joseph's brothers and sisters joined in the feast. But Trisha's heart went out to Joseph the most. She thought to herself, "I'll bet that Joseph will grow up to be big. I'll bet he grows up to be strong. I'll bet he grows up to be handsome like his father." As she closed her eyes to take a nap, she thought, "I will give him a double portion of my love!"
* * *
The sun was high in the sky when Trisha awoke from her nap. As she lay there she thought, "It's time to give my babies a bath. I'll start with Joseph." First, she washed his face, and behind his ears with her tongue. Then she washed his back and tummy. Then, she cleaned under his tail. Finally, she began to wash his legs and feet with her tongue.
As Trisha licked his stub leg she thought to herself, "All puppies have tiny legs. And Joseph has tiny puppy legs. But this right front leg doesn't look the same as the other three. It is too short."
* * *
It worried Trisha to think that there might be something wrong with Joseph. She wondered if his leg would ever grow to a normal size. But she didn't have much time to think about it then, because she still had six other puppies. And, each of them needed a bath too.
But as the sun went down, and she lay down to rest after a very long day of taking care of her new family, Trisha's worries about Joseph returned.
Trisha thought to herself, "Perhaps I should just ignore it. Perhaps his leg will grow. But what if it does not?"
Finally she remembered, "Last night I promised that I would give Joseph a double portion of my love. I will love Joseph no matter what, even if he can only run on three legs instead of four."
* * *
The next day, after Trisha had finished feeding and bathing her puppies, she left the house and went to see the oldest dog in the neighborhood. Old Bo was a huge, black Labrador Retriever. For many years, he had been a champion at the county fair. One time, he had even won a state-wide contest for advanced obedience training! He was a well-respected authority in the neighborhood.
Respectfully, Trisha addressed him. "Bo, I have a problem and I need your advice. I just had my first litter of pups. I had seven altogether. But one was born with a short leg. What should I do?"
Bo had arthritis. He hurt all over that day. His joints were stiff as he slowly rose to his feet. But the words that came out of his mouth were even more grouchy than Trisha had expected.
He snorted, "Don't feed him. Push him away. Let him die! It would be better for him to let him die than to live with only three legs in a world of four legged dogs!"
Trisha gasped. "You mean old dog! How can you say such a thing! Don't feed him? Push him away? Let him die? I wish I never had come to see you!"
* * *
Growling, she continued to confront him, staring him in the eyes, the hair standing up on the back of her neck. "My pup is happy to be alive. He loves to eat. And, last night I promised myself that I would give him a double portion of my love. I will not let this pup die. And, I will never come to see you again!"
Old Bo turned his head away, as if he didn't care. But in spite of himself, his tail went down between his legs. He snorted, "Well, I did not know that you felt so strongly about this pup! You know that if you feed this pup, and let him live, you will not have an easy time. He will need extra care. He will need to learn how to walk on three legs. Dogs and people will make fun of him." Bo turned to face her, looking Trisha square in the eyes. "Are you really ready for all this?"
"Of course!" she snarled. "I will do whatever it takes!"
Old Bo sighed. "Well, I can give you the name of an English Setter, Kato, who raised a three-legged pup. When your son gets ready to walk, you may want to go and see her to get some practical advice."
Abruptly, Trisha turned and walked away, with her nose lifted high in the air.
* * *
With each passing day, Joseph grew bigger and stronger. And with each passing day he became more and more active. He started to squirm around. Soon his squirm became a creep, and then his creep became a crawl. But he had not yet tried to stand up.
When Joseph was about six days old, his eyes began to open. So, after breakfast and his morning bath, he decided that it was time to stand up. He got his hind feet tucked under him. He put his front paws firmly on the ground and gave a big push. To his surprise, instead of standing up, he toppled over on his side.
Joseph decided to try again. He got all his paws in the right position. He pushed his hind legs up, so his behind was sticking up in the air. Then he pushed with his front legs. His good leg began to straighten out just as he expected. But his short leg came up off the floor. Again, he toppled over.
Joseph tried and tried to stand up. But each time the same thing happened. Finally, he burst into tears,
"Mom! What is wrong with me?"
* * *
It was the moment Joseph's mother had been dreading! Acting like she did not know what was wrong, Trisha said calmly, "Well, let's see. Show me what you are doing."
Joseph tried to stand up again. Again, he fell over. "See Mom! It keeps happening! Every time I try to stand up, I fall right over. What is wrong with me?"
"Well," she said, as she sniffed around his paws "I don't see anything that's really wrong. But you do have one front leg that is shorter than the other. You just have to try and stand up on the other three legs."
"What do you mean, my leg is too short?" Joseph wailed. "What do you mean, stand up on only three legs? How can I do that?" He began to cry. "What do you mean, there's nothing wrong with me?"
* * *
The next day a large skinny dog with a white coat with black spots appeared at the front door. "I am Kato! I heard that you have a three-legged pup. Can I see him?"
Kato inspected Joseph. Then she turned to Trisha. "You are lucky! My son lost his right leg when he was three months old. He got hit by a car and was lucky to live. But he had to learn how to walk all over again. At least Joseph will learn how to walk on his three good legs from the beginning."
Kato looked at Joseph, who was lying on his side pouting. "I think for the time being, you will have to do exercises with him lying on his back until he gains enough strength to stand up on his three good legs."
She walked over to Joseph and deftly flipped him over onto his back. "Let's play a little game. Let's see how strong you are Joseph. Keep your leg straight and push against my paw!"
Kato put her paw against Joseph's left front paw and gently pressed it down toward Joseph's nose. "Push, push! Fight back, don't let me win!"
"Now, don't let me bend your knee!" Kato said as she put her paw on Joseph's hind leg and pressed down. "Come on Joseph, push back, push back!"
Kato went through the same knee bending exercise with Joseph's other hind leg, saying to Trisha, "Do this three times a day. Make it a game. Joseph will be on his feet in no time."
* * *
From that time on, with great determination, Trisha exercised Joseph three times a day. She tried to make it a game. And even though she could have easily pinned Joseph to the floor, sometimes she pretended that Joseph was so strong that he could win.
At first, Joseph enjoyed the game and the extra attention he was getting from his mother. But he was jealous that his other brothers and sisters could already walk. To make matters worse, they ran off to play, leaving him behind, saying, "Let the little runt play with his mommy! Nobody wants to play with a three-legged dog anyway!"
The more they teased Joseph, the angrier he got. And the angrier he got, the harder he pushed back against his mother's paw when she exercised him. Day by day he was getting stronger... but he still could not stand up on his three good legs.
* * *
One morning Joseph refused to turn over onto his back to do his exercises. "Look, mom!" he whimpered, "I'm never going to be able to walk and run like other dogs. What's the use? Doing my exercises only makes me feel like a total failure."
Trisha tried to console him. "Oh, come now. You are making progress every day. You are doing fine! You'll be walking in no time!"
But Joseph continued to pout. "No, no, I'm not going to do those stupid exercises. Go away!"
Fear crossed Trisha's face as she thought, "If he doesn't do his exercises he will never walk!"
Then Trisha's fear turned to anger. "I'm not going to let you lie around the house all day feeling sorry for yourself. Either stand up right now, or do your exercises!"
She swatted him on his rump. Joseph yelped, but he did not move.
Roughly she flipped him over on his back and began trying to exercise him. "Come on Joseph, you are making me mad! Push! Push! You can do better than that!"
It was no use. Joseph refused to cooperate. "Oh," Trisha growled, "I could be talking to a stuffed dog! I give up. If you want to quit, you can just lay there until you die!"
As Trisha walked away, she felt the full horror of her words.
But Joseph refused to do his exercises after lunch and also after supper. Trisha was heart broken.
* * *
The next day, after feeding her pups their breakfast, Trisha went to see old Sheba, the Border Collie next door. Sheba had raised nine litters of pups. Even though her eyes had grown dim with age, every mother came to her when she needed advice about how to raise her pups.
After sniffing her visitor, Sheba said in a soothing voice, "Come in Trisha. What is troubling you, my child?"
"It's my little pup, Joseph." Tears came to her eyes as she said, "He is my favorite pup of the litter, but he was born with a stub leg. Kato stopped by to show me some exercises he could do to strengthen his three good legs. He was making great progress, but now he is refusing to do them. What should I do?"
"Three things are clear." Sheba said wisely. "You cannot do his exercises for him. Neither can you make him do them. Joseph will have to decide that he wants to do them for his own good."
"I know, but what should I do?"
"Which of your pups is first to come to breakfast?" Sheba asked, smiling warmly.
"Joseph is!"
"Then feed him. Clean him. Love him. If he was not eager to live, he would not be the first one to eat. When he is tired of feeling sorry for himself, he will be ready to do whatever it takes to be able to walk and run."
* * *
Reassured by Sheba's wise words, Trisha returned home and followed her advice.
In the days that followed, Joseph sometimes agreed when Trisha asked him if he wanted to do his exercises. But he only did them half-heartedly. At other times, Joseph continued to refuse to do them at all. Instead of getting stronger, he was getting weaker.
* * *
One day Trisha picked Joseph up by the scruff of the neck and carried him out to the front porch. He fell asleep in the sunshine, breathing the fresh Spring air.
Suddenly he awoke with a start. "I want to run!" he howled.
"Mom, I had a dream. And in the dream, I was running. I was running on my three good legs. My nose was to the ground. My ears were back flat against my neck. My tail was pointing straight out behind me. And, I was winning the race! I want to run!"
From that moment on Joseph was determined to do his exercises, even if his brothers and sisters teased him.
* * *
After breakfast the next day, before his mother came to do exercises with him, Joseph got his three good legs in position. He lifted his chest off the floor by extending his left front leg. Then he did a push up with his hind legs. He was standing! He was a little wobbly, but he was standing!
When Trisha came around the corner and saw him, she was overjoyed. "Oh, Joseph! You did it! And you did it all by yourself!"
Her words filled Joseph with a new sense of pride.
* * *
The news spread quickly. Soon Kato appeared at the door . AI heard that your three legged pup finally stood up. I stopped by to show him some new exercises he can do to strengthen his good legs. If he does them, he'll be running in no time!"
Kato demonstrated. "Joseph, sit on your haunches and do push ups with your good front leg. Then rest your chest on the floor, and do push-ups with your hind legs. You will also need to do balance exercises. The best balance exercises for a three-legged dog is walking on train tracks. If you do these exercises, you will be able to run with your brothers and sisters in no time!"
* * *
Joseph took to his new exercise routine with great zeal. Soon he could out-run his brothers and sisters. He loved to play tag, and to nip at their heels.
Another favorite game was to chase cats and squirrels. Joseph also liked to amuse himself by running down the train tracks behind the house. His balance was perfect. He didn't miss a step.
Soon Joseph was the biggest and strongest pup. He loved to wrestle, and pin his brothers and sisters down with his strong paws.
* * *
One day a man and his son came to the house to look at the puppies. The little boy began picking up each pup. When he saw Joseph come around the corner, he said, "Hey dad, look at that three-legged dog. Who would want a dog like that!"
Joseph was stung by his words. Jealously, he watched as the boy petted and played with two of his sisters. Then the boy carried the larger sister out of the house, saying, "I'll take this one!"
Feeling rejected herself, his other sister sneered, "Nobody is ever going to pick you, Joseph. You just look too weird!"
* * *
The next day a mother and her daughter stopped by the house. The little girl said, "I'll take the biggest one!"
Eagerly, Joseph came up and licked her face. She began to pet him until she saw his short leg. Without a word she pushed him away and picked one of Joseph's smaller brothers.
Joseph fought back his tears, "Nobody will ever pick me, Mom," he whined.
* * *
Within the rest of the week, all Joseph's brothers and sisters had been adopted. Joseph moped around the house, his tail between his legs.
His mother tried to comfort him saying, "I'm glad nobody picked you. You are my favorite son. I hate the thought of losing you!"
"All I want is for just one boy or girl to love me! Why was I born this way? It's not fair!" Joseph let out a long, drawn-out howl.
* * *
Days, weeks, and months passed by. Joseph grew fast and strong and weighed almost 90 pounds. Still, no one adopted Joseph.
He spent his days alone, running through the woods tracking the rabbits, deer and other wild animals that lived there. Whenever he got hot and thirsty, he would make his way to a nearby river and take a long drink of the cool water. Sometimes he would even dive in and go for a swim. But Joseph was lonely.
* * *
Sometimes he would come home from his daily run after dark. As he silently passed through the shadows of the forest he thought, "It would have been better if had been born blind in one eye. Because if I had been born blind in one eye, no one would have noticed. I would be able to act like any other dog in the neighborhood. I would have been adopted by now."
"It would have been better if I had been born with a stub tail. People don't really care about how long the tails of dogs are. They know that every tail is unique and different, Some dogs are born with beautiful long tails. Some are born with medium long tails. Others have short stub tails. I would have a family if I had been born with a stub tail."
Then he would stop, sit down on his haunches, point his nose toward the moon and howl, "Why did I have to be born with a stub leg??"
* * *
One hot summer day, Joseph went down to the river to get a drink of water. He noticed a man and his son in a canoe. The water was high, and running fast. Suddenly, the canoe crashed into a rock. The canoe tipped over, tossing the man and his son into the cold water.
Joseph watched as the man struggled to catch the canoe which was floating down the river.
"Help!" the little boy gasped. Then his head went under water as he was swept downstream by the strong current.
Instantly, Joseph sprang into the water. With powerful strokes, the three-legged dog reached the boy in a flash. He grabbed the back of the boy's shirt between his teeth and swiftly dragged him to the river bank.
* * *
Joseph stood over the boy. He was not breathing. Joseph licked his face. Suddenly, the boy coughed. He spit up some water. As he recovered his breath, he put his arms around Joseph's neck and hugged him. "Oh! Thank you! Thank you!"
The boy continued to pet and stroke him, saying, "What a big, handsome dog you are. I wish I had a dog like you!"
Joseph soaked up the little boy's love and attention. He thought to himself, "Perhaps he has not seen my stub leg yet."
* * *
Suddenly, Joseph heard the boy's father calling. "Benjamin, Benjamin!"
Joseph barked to let him know where they were. But as soon as he saw the boy's father coming around the edge of the steep river bank, he looked down at his stub leg. Not wanting the man to see it, he turned and ran off toward the house.
* * *
The next day, Joseph asked his mother to go for a run with him. As they came to the river bank, he told her the story of how he had saved Benjamin.
As they were sniffing around the river bank, Benjamin suddenly appeared with his father.
"Look, Dad! There is the dog that pulled me out of the river!"
Benjamin ran up to him. Hugging and petting Joseph, he laughed. "Isn't he big, strong and handsome?"
"Yes, but something is wrong with his leg."
"I know! I don't care!" Benjamin declared. "He may only be a three-legged dog, but he is strong. I love him! Please can I keep him? Pretty please!"
* * *
Joseph and his mother led the way back through the woods to their house, and Joseph was adopted by Benjamin that very day. Benjamin told the newspaper reporter about how Joseph had saved his life. The next day headlines appeared: "Three-legged Dog a Hero".
But, of course Joseph did not know anything about the newspaper story. All that he knew was that Benjamin really loved him. Whenever Benjamin took him for a walk, everybody wanted to greet and pet him between his ears. Everyone said, "My, what a big, strong, handsome dog you are!" Nobody seemed to care that he was a three-legged dog.