Girl without feet bonds with her new puppy missing a paw

It was love at first sight for Sapphyre Johnson and Lt. Dan.

Three-year-old Sapphyre was born with a congenital condition that caused her to only have two fingers on each hand and one toe on each foot. Doctors amputated her feet when she was a baby so she would be able to one day walk with prosthetics, and she is often at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Greenville, South Carolina, for fittings. Recently, a breeder called the hospital and said she had a nine-week-old white German shepherd puppy who was born without his right front paw, and would like him to be paired up with a child who had a similar situation. Right away, the employee thought of Sapphyre.

"It was amazing to see Sapphy and her puppy," Sapphyre's mother, Ashley Johnson, told Today.com. "She pays attention to hands and feet on everyone and everything, I guess because she realizes hers are different. So she loves him. She took her prosthetic feet off to show him her feet, and he held his little paw up and it was so cute." Lt. Dan has only lived with his new family since Monday, but is already teaching Sapphyre important life lessons. "I always want Sapphy to know that everybody is different, and some of us are more obviously different," Johnson said. "I think it's good for her to realize that even animals, everyone is different. We're supposed to be. It would be really boring if everyone was the same."

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