LOS ANGELES — For several years, Jude Stringfellow and her Lab-chow mix have toured the country with a simple message: Faith walks.
Born without front legs to a junkyard dog around Christmas 2002, Faith the puppy was rejected and abused by her mother. She was rescued by Reuben Stringfellow, now an Army E-4 specialist, who had been asked to bury other puppies in the litter.
“Can we fix her?” Stringfellow, then 17, asked his mother, Jude, an English professor. “No, but maybe we can help her,” she said.
So Reuben turned Faith over to his mother. At first, the family had to carry Faith to keep her off her chest and chin. But with peanut butter and practice, Faith learned to walk on her two hind legs.
Today, Faith is a brisk, upright walker. When she runs, every so often she adds a hop or skip to her step, and she stumbles less often than most humans. She takes vitamins and joint supplements, and vets have declared her very healthy.
Since her first step on March 22, 2003, Faith has done the talk-show circuit, gone on tour with Ozzy Osbourne and been named an honorary Army sergeant. Jude Stringfellow has become a motivational speaker and written two books. Next year, the two are moving from Ardmore, Okla., to Chicago, where they plan to write a third book, called “Faith Walks.” They get more than 200 letters and e-mails a day, run a website and make dozens of appearances every year, including stops at veterans hospitals across the country to cheer injured GIs.
That mission is special for Jude Stringfellow, whose son left Iraq in September and is now stationed in Alaska. He is set to get out of the Army on Jan. 1.
For many, Faith brings a powerful message about overcoming adversity. “Faith has shown me that different is beautiful, that it is not the body you are in but the soul that you have,” Jill Salomon of Montreal wrote on Faith’s website.
That sense of hope is especially important for Faith’s visits to Army bases. Last weekend, she mingled with as many as 5,000 soldiers at McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis in Washington state. Some of the soldiers were headed to war; some were coming back.
“She just walks around barking and laughing and excited to see them all,” Stringfellow said. “There is a lot of crying, pointing and surprise. From those who have lost friends or limbs, there can be silence. Some will shake my hand and thank me; some will pat her on the head. There is a lot of quiet, heartfelt, really deep emotion.”
