The young son of Jude Stringfellow saw the act, rescued the puppy, and brought her home. Since then wonders have never ceased around Faith who defied the evolutionary laws of “survival of the fittest” to reaffirm the faith her human rescuers put in her.
It’s close to ten years today that Faith continues to charm people and instill them with the value of faith. The Stringfellow family put all efforts to helping the puppy in spite of people, including veterinarians declaring that there was no alternative but to euthanize her.
The single deformed front leg of Faith had to be amputated soon after her rescue as it began to atrophy.
However, Faith the female dog with only two legs learned to walk upright and move around. Jude painstakingly taught Faith to hop with a spoon and peanut butter as incentive. However, Faith herself decided to walk on two legs. She was helped along by the family’s Corgi who used to nip her heels to encourage her to walk.
Faith Finds Fame
Faith soon became the darling of her new family and wonder of neighbors. She became a media star in her own right after being featured in The Oprah Winfrey Show, Animal Attractions Television, The Montel Williams Show, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and the PBS show NOVA in an episode called “The Family That Walks On All Fours.”
Her popularity led to her having her own website as also her own page on MySpace.
But not all has been well: Though Faith was considered to have a role in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” the offer did not materialize, but the accompanying fame in U.K. had Faith being featured in the “racy” London magazine “Bizarre” in 2004. Her owner Jude Stringfellow lost her culinary college teaching job as a repercussion from her employees who did not approve of Faith appearing in racy London magazines.
Several books have been published on Faith including “With a Little Faith” by Xilbris Corporation. A new Ebook titled “Faith Walks” is also available now on Amazon.
Faith Misled:
In February 2007, the American Airlines sent Faith to a different destination than her owner, by mistake. The news was covered by MSNBC, and the incident happened at Dallas while changing planes to return to Orlando from Oklahoma City.
It has been reported that this is Faith’s last year of tour as she has grown old and the owner cannot afford the travelling costs. With most schools having their budgets cut, they cannot afford to bring faith on to their campuses. The owner of Faith has asked for the donation of an SUV so that she can still take Faith to show to the young and disabled who need faith.