Family spares Christmas to Save Dog Article

[Guest guest]

Here's that sad, yet heartwarming story about the dog, that many tried to

read online but couldn't.

Gretchen

Family Skips Christmas to Save Dog's Life

Faithful Pet Injured After Being Hit by Truck

NORTH MANKATO, Minn. (Dec. 16) - Josie was in bad shape by the time the

veterinarians at the University of Minnesota saw her: broken back,

dislocated hip, internal injuries. Surgery would be expensive, they told the

dog's owner. Death would be much cheaper.

''It was a pretty easy choice, and I know people who don't have pets don't

understand this. But Josie is like one of my four children,'' said Stella

Twedt. ''If my daughter had been hit by a car, I'd do anything to save her,

to give her a normal life.''

So Twedt, 36, borrowed $3,000 from her father and raided her Christmas

savings. The surgeries began last week to repair the damage left behind by

the bumper of a speeding pickup truck.

There's no money left to fly Twedt's 15-year-old daughter, Britney, who

lives with her father in Arizona, to Minnesota for Christmas. There won't be

presents under the tree for Twedt's two children who live with her: ,

14, and Kirsten, 5.

Britney understood. ''She said, 'Mom, I understand. Do what you have to do,'

'' Twedt said. had the same attitude. Kirsten struggled a bit, but

came around. They understood what Outlaw Josie Wales meant to the family.

''Christmas is Josie this year,'' Twedt said as she held her left arm,

paralyzed by a stroke in 2001. ''Josie has been an angel. ... She sat with

me on the porch for months, and we watched the world go by. I just can't let

her go.''

Twedt had lived an adventurous life before the stroke. She had traveled as a

child in a military family. As an adult, she became a gunsmith. She had

three children and two divorces before marrying Doug Twedt five months

before the stroke.

On May 20, 2001, she had just returned from taking Josie for an afternoon

walk when the stroke struck. ''There were times I honestly lost the will to

live. But my family, my friends and my dog ... they kept me going,'' she

said.

The dog had joined the family years earlier, after her second divorce. She

thought a dog would be a good for her daughter, who was an infant at the

time.

''There was a lot of change going on and I just thought that Josie could be

a companion, a friend that Kirsten really needed,'' she said.

The 60-pound Australian cattle dog and daughter hit it off immediately.

Kirsten could do anything to Josie - pull her tail, use her as a pillow -

and the dog never batted an eye.

''The bond between those two, wow, I can't even begin to tell you how deep

it was,'' Stella Twedt said.

On Dec. 5, with friend Dull in town to baby-sit and Kirsten,

Twedt left for a short getaway with Doug. Dull got the kids to school. When

she returned to the Twedt house, she brought the garbage cans into the

garage.

Suddenly, Dull heard a yelp. Josie was flying through the air while a white

pickup truck sped off. ''I grabbed some blankets, picked the dog up, put her

in the car and headed to the vet,'' Dull said.

Only later did Dull - with the help of - realize the pickup must

have swerved onto the grass to strike the dog. The Twedts have pictures of

the tire tracks in the grass. The family has decided someone intentionally

hit their dog.

''Who would do something like that?'' Doug Twedt asked. ''I mean at first I

figured the dog ran onto the street and I can live with that, I mean that

happens. But this ... this is just cruel and senseless.''

By the time the Twedts returned to North Mankato on Dec. 7, their dog was in

excruciating pain.

Veterinarians in Mankato suggested the Twedts take Josie to the University

of Minnesota in the Twin Cities. The veterinarians there gave Stella Twedt

options: put the dog down, let it live as a cripple, or perform surgery.

Twedt took the latter.

The vets performed two surgeries - one on Dec. 8, the other on Dec. 10 - and

in between, Stella Twedt, her kids and Dull drove through a snowstorm to see

their dog.

''Five hours up, almost three back for 45 minutes with the dog,'' Twedt

said. ''Kind of goofy, but worth it.''

Josie arrived home in North Mankato on Dec. 11. A bed was waiting for her.

tested it the night before, sleeping through the night to make sure

it was comfortable.

The family is angry that the person who hit their dog hasn't been caught,

but they are happy to have Josie home for the holidays.

''When we got her, she probably had no idea what she was going to go

through, but she's handled everything up to now,'' Stella Twedt said. ''She

gave us so much love.

''Now, it's our turn.''

" It's not stature, but caliber that matters. " - LPA member

" My theory is that my body cells knew to be short but my fat cells didn't

get that message. If I was tall with my body fat now, I'd be skinny " - the

God honest truth from my friend,

" A relationship is like a rose. How long it lasts, no one knows. Love can

erase an awful past, Love can be yours, you'll see at last. To feel that

love, it makes you sigh. To have it leave, you'd rather die. You hope you've

found that special roase, 'cause you love and care for the one you chose. "

Rob Cella

" I think animal testing is a terrible idea; they get all nervous and give

the wrong answers. " ph Blosephina