In October 2007, the long-hair chihuahua JiJi gave birth two three pups. One of them was Babe, born with only hind legs.

She couldn't compete with her able-bodied siblings at JiJi's teats. So her owner Warren Hoopi got some miniature baby bottles and puppy formula at a nearby petshop.

"I fed her every morning before I went to work and every afternoon, when I got home. She was ravenous. As soon as I put the bottle next to her, she ate it up."

When she reached 2.5 pounds she was eating on her own and in every way behaving like a normal puppy, wrestling with her siblings, going outside to relieve herself, and seemingly having no idea she was different from other dogs.

In 2009, because she had always been an inspiration and developed such a joyful personality, she became an certified therapy dog, a member of Tails of Aloha on the island of Oahu.

She regularly visits the elderly in care facilities and retirement homes. She cheers up everyone, as does her mother Jiji and the pomeranian Happy.

Babe's owner recalls an occurence at the Kahala Nui home. "There was an elderly woman that was there for two months. She wouldn't speak or smile at anyone. She carried around a little doll. We went there with our Chihuahua club. With all the cute dogs, she snapped right out of it. She started to talk to everyone. The nurses were freaking out!"

Warren doesn't regularly dress his dogs up but on Halloween his three wee dogs visited the Maluhia nursing facility, so were costumed for the holiday, to everyone's delight. Babe dressed as a witch.