Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 27, 1992 TAG: 9202270319
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PATRICK K. LACKEY LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium
PARALYZED VETS LEARN NEW TRICKS FROM THIS OLD DOG
Peanut, a two-legged dog, is hope on wheels.Although a back injury 5 1/2 years ago forced the amputation of Peanut's rear legs, he gets around fine strapped into a special cart.
Once a week he visits Veterans Affairs Hospital patients with spinal cord injuries, who also need wheels to move about.
On a recent visit to the Hampton VA Hospital, Peanut's front legs seemed to paddle as he eagerly propelled himself down the halls in search of old friends and sweet food.
"It's great to see him when he comes in," said Gene H. Hodge, 43, of Spotsylvania, whose legs were paralyzed in a car accident two years ago. "It seems like he's happy, no matter what, like nothing ever happened. Sometimes you get down, and it's good to see little things like that to give you a boost.
"It gives us inspiration not to give up. He hasn't given up. If he can do it, so can we."
Kenneth B. Gagen's legs were paralyzed in a farm accident five years ago, when he was 29. Gagen, who has lived in Hampton most of his life, admires Peanut's mobility in his cart.
"It's just like my wheelchair," Gagen said. "It helps him get around. It makes him mobile, and he seems to get around just fine."
Another patient, 65-year-old Leonard F. Weatherford of Virginia Beach, enjoys watching Peanut move.
"You have to watch him when he goes around those corners," Weatherford said. "He makes a wide sweep like a tractor-trailer.
"I like to talk to him. He looks at you like he understands everything you are talking about."
Peanut is an 11-year-old dachshund and beagle mix, two breeds predisposed to back problems. He went to sleep one night healthy, said his owner, Helen Baker of York County, but awoke with his hind legs paralyzed. A back operation ended the paralysis, but nerve damage caused Peanut's hind legs to tingle so unbearably he chewed one foot off.
Specialists said the only choices were to amputate his hind legs or put him to sleep.
"They said he'll be depressed" without his legs, Baker said.
But he wasn't.
After the amputations, she ordered what's called a K-9 Cart from Berwyn, Pa. It costs $170 to $300, depending on size.
Thirty seconds after Peanut was strapped into the cart, Baker said, he was padding happily around, though it took him about a day to learn to swing wide on corners.
Baker, 44, is president of the non-profit Animal Aid Society Inc., which operates a shelter in Hampton for about 60 dogs. She adopted Peanut from the shelter when he was 6 months old. She named him Peanut, she said, because he looked like one.
She had taken other dogs to visit veterans with spinal cord injuries before she took Peanut last April. Because Peanut proved the most popular by far, Baker has taken him to the hospital most weeks ever since.
"These guys tell their relatives about Peanut," Baker said, "and they don't believe them."