Pippa was born December 3rd, 2014, somewhere in Puerto Rico. She’ll always be a proud Sato (look up the good folks at the Sato Project).
When people inquire about the breed of that beautiful dog, we tell them she’s a pure bred Puerto Rican Street Dog.
Originally “Nucita,” she was put up for adoption in PR and was eventually rescued with a larger group of pups, including her brother, and brought to a no-kill shelter where I used to volunteer during medical school in New York City (thanks Bideawee!).
Clearly, no dog should be allowed to have an adoption photo this adorable, as they can lead to bad decisions, but ours was a great one. Please note: her ears have never, ever done that again. I think they photoshopped it to increase the cuteness quotient. Good job by them.
Pippa was tightly bonded to her brother at the shelter. He unfortunately got adopted before she did, leaving her in a markedly depressed state.
We had to carry her out of the shelter on to the streets of NYC. She gradually acclimated to her new life with lots of treats, love, naps in Dad’s lap, and trips to the park.
A couple weeks ago, she had two lumps excised from her skin. They turned out to be low grade mast cell tumors (c-kit!👩🔬). Fortunately, those have a relatively good prognosis, and the margins were clear, but who knows what the future holds. We’re grateful to her wonderful veterinarian and staff.
Here she is recovering a day or so after the surgery and receiving some love from our son.
I took the final photo yesterday during one of our daily hikes. We’re both soaking up the perfect fall weather before the long winter, which she also loves but is a little tougher on me, inevitably comes early.
I’m enjoying every second of it, and I’m grateful she’s still in our lives.
What pup rescued you? Let us know in the comments.
