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Thumbelina Tsaphiel

Photographer:
Toni King

This is my Tsaphiel, nicknamed Thumbelina because she was a very tiny runt puppy. She was born with a dislocated jaw, shoulder and three cracked ribs because she was crushed in the womb by her full size littermates during birth. The vets gave her survival odds at about 25%. Her mother rejected her and refused to let her nurse. I had to tube feed her until she could eat regular food. But she not only survived but thrived.

After physical therapy to repair her body, she discovered her bliss – lure coursing!. She became an ASFA Lure Coursing Champion. And even though she was undersized and wasn’t really considered show quality, she had so much personality that she sometimes won inspite of herself becoming a UKC Champion.

But her real purpose was becoming a therapy dog. She was in her element working with children. She once told an animal communicator that she was here to teach children that “imperfect bodies hold perfect beings”. She lived a good long life but in the end, it was cancer that took her from me.

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