Over the last decade, it’s become increasingly common to see dogs who experienced severe injuries exploring the world with their wheelchairs.
Some of them were rescued from unsafe situations , some were given a grim prognosis by vets, and others had people in their lives who were caring and clever enough to put the wheelchair together themselves.
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But if there’s one thing they have in common, it’s that their lives became so much better once they got their paws on these devices and it’s so satisfying to see them thrive.
And while that’s true for the pit bull we’re about to meet today, it also seems that even before she got her chair, the kind of paralysis that would take most animals out of commission barely slowed her down.
Although Pigeon the pit bull has long proven she can accomplish a lot on two legs, that wasn’t how life started for her.
As Good Morning America reported , she was in a car accident serious enough to leave both of her hind legs paralyzed. Apparently, the fallout was too much for her owners to deal with because they would end up abandoning her.
Around the same time, a dog-sitter from Savannah, Georgia named Erica had recently lost her own dog when she came across Pigeon’s picture for the first time.
As Erica put it, “She looked exactly like my dog who had just died and I knew we were meant to be together.”
But while Erica intended to give Pigeon all the support she needed, she soon discovered that the dog was more independent than she thought.
As we can see here, Pigeon has long learned to hop on her front legs in a way that helped her keep up with other dogs and even outrace some of them.
In Erica’s words, “She’s just so capable that you forget that she’s paralyzed.”
It had taken a surgery to get her to that point and after that, Erica figured there was a way for this energetic dog to have an even better leg-up in life.
So she took Pigeon for a fitting at Eddie’s Wheels, an organization dedicated to making specialized wheelchairs for animals.
And while it’s rare to see a moment when this dog doesn’t look happy, we can see from the Instagram video that first showed her wearing the device that her excitement was palpable.
And years later, we can see that she’s just as enthusiastic about running as ever.
Although she could keep up with other dogs before, Pigeon has finally found a wheelchair that can keep up with her. And if seems like her constant joy and spontaneity would get infectious quickly, that’s all but confirmed in what Erica’s been saying about her.
As she said, “She’s stronger and more resilient than I’ve ever been and she inspires me every single day. It is difficult to have a bad day around Pigeon.”
h/t: Good Morning America
