Frodo Shanahan

Meet Frodo. He’s a 7-year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and is a walking miracle. Little Frodo had a great start in life, earning the most advanced Obedience title, and titles in Agility and Rally. His official name is Sandfox Aberystwyth Frodo, UDX, RE, NAP, NJP. Wow.

In July 2007, disaster struck. Owner Sharon Shanahan describes her nightmare:

“When I took Frodo and his brother, Samwise, out for their regular walk, Frodo was staggering like a drunken sailor.”

An emergency trip to the vet showed that Frodo had a bulging disc in his back.

“He said we should try treating it with rest and steroids, but if the disc ruptured, I would have to make a fast trip to the University of Illinois vet school for emergency surgery," Sharon recalls. "About 9:30 on a Saturday night, the worst happened and Frodo went down and could not get up. His hind legs were completely paralyzed.”

The memory makes Sharon shake her head, trying to rid herself of the image.

Two surgeries later, Frodo regained a tiny amount of sensation in his back feet. He started underwater treadmill physical therapy sessions three times a day with his angel, Kim Knap, a Registered Canine Water Therapist.

Kim wouldn’t give up on the spunky dog with the deep soul eyes. Frodo stayed with Kim, receiving intensive therapy for six weeks, and when he came home, he had improved to the point that he could move his back legs. But he couldn’t support himself. At all.

Sharon took it from there, walking Frodo twice a day with a sling to support his rear end, and then she would "swim" him twice a day, around and around a kiddy pool.

In September, her joyful, energetic dog got depressed. Her local vet discussed starting Frodo on Prozac, but Sharon opted to try acupuncture!

Veterinary acupuncturist Dr. Robert Shaffer in St. Louis didn’t know if he could help Frodo regain the use of his legs, but was confident he could cheer the Corgi up. Boy, did he! Within 24 hours of the first acupuncture treatment, Frodo was back to his happy, sparkly self.

Shortly after acupuncture, Sharon ordered a cart for Frodo.

“Some people will tell you that putting disabled dogs in carts will make them quit trying to walk, but Frodo's cart was a wonderful asset for both him and me," Sharon says. "He could go just about anywhere he wanted to. And he moved his hind legs while he was in the cart, so it minimized the muscle atrophy. We even resumed our one-mile walk to the mailbox.”

Frodo was hanging around one day in January, not strapped in his cart, just being a dog, when Sharon threw a toy for Samwise. To Sharon’s heart stopping, eye-leaking joy, Frodo jumped up and “ran” — more of a bunny hop, but still — with his brother after the toy.

And he hasn’t looked back. He threw away his cart in May, and walks with Sharon and Samwise almost a mile a day now. Stairs and slick floors are challenges he’s yet to conquer.

When asked if her dog will ever be completely normal again, Sharon rests her hand in Frodo’s thick, soft coat as he looks up at her face and smiles.

“Who knows?," she says. "He takes every day as it comes and definitely doesn't consider himself disabled! I do know that Frodo has never given up, and I will never give up on him.”

Rock on, Frodo.

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