From time to time, we foster dogs who are too abused, sick and/or disabled to go right to permanent “forever” homes.

One of our favorites was Merv, pictured here, who had the body of a wiener dog and the coat of a soft shaggy lamb. Cait called Merv a “lap-seeking missile” because you couldn’t sit down without Merv joining you.

In the eight months Merv was at The Cait & Marty Rehab Camp, he blossomed from an emaciated weakling to a strong little hunk, as seen here.

Merv’s transformation made us think of this quote from The Dog Says How by NPR commentator Kevin Kling, who is Gimpy himself: “When I get depressed, I just take a look at our two wiener dogs. You’ll never see more of a can-do attitude - in a more can’t-do body - than a wiener dog.”

Eds. Note: Merv found his forever home with a lovely couple in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he has become the canine mayor and greeter of his town. We hear Merv is so popular he is contemplating a run for the governor’s office in 2009. Go Merv!!!

Click here to meet Nubs, a Gimpy dog who bonded with a U.S. Marine in Iraq and tracked him 70 miles when his military outfit moved camp.

“The charming relationships I have had with a long succession of dogs result from their happy spontaneity.”

”Usually they are quick to discover that I cannot see or hear. Truly, as companions, friends, equals in opportunities of self-expression, they unfold to me the dignity of creation.”

- Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Learn more about her

Her movie “The Miracle Worker”

Isobel, a six-year-old husky cross, is a great sled dog with strength, endurance and team spirit. She’s also blind. Isobel runs lead in tandem with another husky for Jenafor Ollander in Churchill, Manitoba.

Isobel went blind three years ago when her retinas detached, possibly the result of a virus.

“I remember a couple of people mumbling, `What good is a blind sled dog? You should just take her out and shoot her.’ And I’m a bit stubborn in nature … and I said, ‘So what if she can’t be a sled dog? she’s a good dog.’ ”

Ollander then kept Isobel at home, figuring she would be safer and happer. But Isobel stopped eating and became depressed until she was returned to her pack and hooked up to the sled again.

“That dog ran like you wouldn’t believe. She ran better than when she had her eyesight,” Ollander said, noting Isobel relies on the other dogs, human vocal commands, and her other senses to avoid obstacles.

“I believe that their senses adapt and they adjust, just like a person,” Ollander said. “We know that people hone in well on their hearing skills and their sense of vibration and time and distance and smell and everything like that. And dogs become really acute at that. When they lose their vision, the rest of their senses kind of take over.”

Isobel still has a couple of good running years left in her. But she’s nearing the age when many sled dogs hang up their harness and finding a good home for her might be a challenge.

“We’ve had several people who’ve offered to adopt her … but we’re really concerned because she just loves to run,” Ollander said. “We want to make sure that she doesn’t end up in a situation where she gets depressed again.”

Imagine having a dog that picks up what you drop, opens doors and even helps unload your laundry if you ask her.

Ten to 12 of those dogs are trained annually at WAGS - the Wisconsin Academy for Graduate Service Dogs - one of a handful of such centers in North America.

After tallying vet bills, employee salaries and the costs to run WAGS facilities, it costs between $12,000 and $16,000 to train a dog, with the money coming from fundraisers, personal donations and the United Way.

For clients, it costs $6,000 to buy a service dog and $2,000 for a home helpmate, which are dogs that work around the house but don’t go out in public. (Low-income clients receive help from WAGS to offset some of that cost.)

WAGS and similar organizations are always in need of volunteers to help raise puppies, help with events and promote the word about the valuable service these dogs provide.

The WAGS Web site is loaded with more information about these dogs and similar centers that may be near you.

Let’s hear it for Sandra Bullock, who adopts abandoned and Gimpy dogs.

The dog shown here - adopted from a shelter in Long Beach, Calif. - has just two legs and walks on her hind legs, Bullock said on the Ellen DeGeneres show.

“She was born with like a little flipper here and a little flipper here,” Bullock said. “She’s like a little dinosaur, a velociraptor.”

“She’s got the best posture. She goes up the stairs (but) we haven’t taught her how to go down yet - that’s sort of like face-plant central, and you don’t wanna laugh.

“She just gets so excited; she takes off.”

Bullock also has a three-legged dog adopted from the same shelter.(via INFDaily.com)

Storm the Belgian Shepherd has received the world’s first prosthetic paw after having his front leg amputated because of a tumor.

The technique, previously used only in human fingers, attached a titanium alloy implant to the main bone of Storm’s leg.

The process someday may be of benefit to human legs, says Storm’s doctor.

Watch the video