In a match made in dog heaven, a toddler without feet gets a new puppy who is missing a paw.
Sapphyre Johnson, a three-year-old who lost her feet at age one, was given the gift of a cuddly nine-week-old German shephard named Lieutenant Dan. The canine, named after the amputee soldier in the movie Forrest Gump, was brought to her on Monday by devoted breeder Karen Riddle of Greenville, South Carolina.
She knew in her heart that the doggy deserved an owner with whom he could share a unique bond, and Shriner’s Hospitals For Children helped her find the perfect match.
“A lot of kids don’t see other children or animals that have issues like they have,” the little girl’s father Matthew Johnson told The Greenville News.
Shriners’s specialist Elaine Hardin said that Sapphyre fell in love with the dog right away just based on his picture.
“The first time I showed her a picture of the dog, she looked at it for a moment, and she said, ‘That’s my puppy. He’s just like me,’” Hardin said.
As an added plus, the hospital has offered to make a prosthetic foot for Lieutenant Dan when he’s large enough, the same way that they made two for Sapphyre.
The two youngsters are currently cavorting in Tennessee enjoying their perfect match.
(WATCH the short video, or READ the story from the Greenville News)