Faces of No-Kill: Dog rolls into her golden years

With the wind in her fur and a smile on her face, there’s nothing stopping Bea Arthur. She’s rolled right into her golden era, complete with a golden wheelchair.

The sweet senior pup came to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary from a shelter for a fresh start and specialized care for some mobility issues and behavioral challenges (like her penchant for ingesting non-food items). It soon became clear that her adventurous spirit would help carry her through any challenge that came her way.

Bea loved her walks on the trails around the Sanctuary. But as she got older, her ligaments and joints couldn’t keep up with her love of adventure. “On walks, she’d slow down and end up lying down,” Best Friends caregiver Anabel Kirk says.

So, at the Sanctuary, she started hydrotherapy, which became one of her favorite parts of her day. During hydrotherapy, dogs walk on a treadmill in water to take some pressure from their weight off their joints. It’s a gentle way for them to stretch and strengthen their muscles. But it might be the peanut butter Bea gets during her sessions that she loves even more than the hydrotherapy tank.

[Faces of No-Kill: Meet the pink-wheeled pirate pup]

“Bea turns hydrotherapy into a peanut butter bath,” Anabel says.

While hydrotherapy helped, her joints still needed more support. So under the careful care of the veterinary team, Bea underwent double tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) surgery, which is similar to repairing an ACL tear in humans. As she recovered, it became clear she still could use more support to have the best mobility possible (and get back out on the trail walks she so loved). Enter: Bea’s golden wheelchair.

Bea’s new wheelchair provides her with the support she needs — taking the pressure off her hind legs — to go on her adventures in comfort and style. And with Bea’s flair, she couldn’t have just any wheelchair.

“Naturally, we had to make her wheelchair as special as she is, so I spent several days decking it out with everything yellow and bee themed that I could find,” Anabel says, with Bea proudly showing off her yellow tassels and bees attached to the frame. Anabel even went so far as painting Bea’s harness for her wheelchair yellow to match.

[Big love for little dog with wheels]

Bea took to the wheelchair like it was made for her (which it was). “It hasn’t hindered her at all,” Anabel says. “If anything, she’s able to go faster now. She’s at the end of the leash, ready to go.”

She’s even learned some clever maneuvers while using the chair — and maybe a few more ways to finagle a snack from caregivers. “She’ll slow down and stop, refusing to move until we offer her a treat. Then she’ll take off again, ready to go,” Anabel says, describing a typical walk for Bea. She has a standing date with a local volunteer for car rides and walks on the trails surrounding the Sanctuary.

While Bea can now enjoy the freedom her wheelchair offers her, she uses one more tool to keep her curiosity from getting the best of her: a muzzle. Like her wheelchair, it’s another way Bea gets to keep doing what she loves — safely.

Bea adores toys, but she can become a little too exuberant with them and ingest them. “She loves getting toys (under supervision), especially tennis balls, while wearing her muzzle. She’ll bat a ball around with her nose and try to grab the fuzz so she can throw it,” Anabel says. “The muzzle really offers her the freedom to explore and protects her from needing surgery from ingesting something she isn’t supposed to. It also gives us peace of mind.”

Bea doesn’t just love adventure though. If there’s someone nearby to pet her, she’s already plotting her approach. Her grin when someone offers to pet her is undeniable. She never misses an opportunity to lean in close for an extra snuggle. Whether she’s out for an adventure in her wheelchair or settling in after a hydrotherapy appointment, Bea’s favorite place is next to someone, ready to give them all the love she can offer.

With the right tools and TLC, Bea Arthur gets to keep doing what she loves — adventuring and charming the people around her. Bea’s golden era isn’t about slowing down. It’s about finding new ways to say yes to life, one adventure and one cuddle at a time.

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.