Like any happy toddler, Ivy McLeod is full of smiles and filled with wonder as she discovers the world around her. Ivy’s favorite activity is coloring, but since she was born without hands, Ivy holds the markers between her toes to create her kiddy masterpieces.
At age 2, Ivy’s mom Vanessa says her daughter isn’t fully aware of the reason other kids have hands and she doesn’t. She knows it’s only a matter of time before Ivy is going to start asking some tough questions.
To prepare for the inevitable conversation, McLeod came up with the idea of getting Ivy a puppy that had similar limb differences as a way to show that being different and being beautiful aren’t mutually exclusive.
She wanted to be able to tell Ivy: “You know you were born that way but different is beautiful and this puppy was also born that way and that is also a beautiful thing,” McLeod explained in an interview with CTV News.
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McLeod was worried finding a pup to fit the bill might be a long haul, but it just so happened that a three-legged fur-baby was born in their Vancouver, British Columbia neighborhood just a few short weeks after the search began.
As it seemed like fate, they named the pup Lucky, of course.
In addition to being a way to help Ivy understand what makes her different need not set her apart, McLeod sees the bond her daughter and the Lucky share as they grow and face new challenges as an opportunity to shift people’s perceptions.
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“I love everything that is different about her,” McLeod told CTV, “so I encourage people not to view disabilities as sad or something to be pitied but something to be celebrated.”
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