Trinity has landed on her feet. Just three feet because that's all she's got.

But Trinity is still blessed. Because there she is 1.9kg of three-legged dog – about half the size of a cat – snuggled into a bean bag and gazing over Tauranga Harbour from a plush hotel suite on Devonport Rd. Nice!

Trinity's a global dog – she travels. Internationally, of course. And she's very social. Also very nice!

'She has incredible spirit,” says Trinity's dad Robert Nichols. 'She has made a change in our lives as far as perspective and how we view things.” That's a lot of magic for one small crossbred to weave.

But you have to understand Trinity's enormously contradictory fortunes. Life hasn't always been this charmed. She came back from the brink.

The tiny miniature Italian greyhound and chihuahua-cross spent the first 11 weeks of her life in abject pain and misery because of a seriously damaged hind leg. 'The rescue shelter wouldn't tell us what was wrong. They said we wouldn't want to know,” says Robert.

In different circumstances she could have been euthanised. 'Most definitely. The shelter could easily have chosen to put her down. But they amputated instead.” A life spared and a 'forever friendship” forged because Robert and his wife Teresa were looking for a dog, a small dog to suit their travelling lifestyle.

The place was Chillicothe, Ohio, and the year was 2013. Robert and his wife Teresa are both native Americans but now card-carrying Kiwis. They and Trinity are now us – this trans-Pacific story stopped right here in Tauranga.

'But when the shelter in Chillicothe called us and asked if Trinity was a fit, we said ‘Yes'.

'She is a gift,” says Robert. And there was an immediate connection. 'This little thing was bouncing, Teresa picked her up and BOOM!”

Trinity has been elevated above a gift – 'a divine order” Teresa calls her – the belief everything has a place and rank in order of their perceived importance and spirit. The more spirit, the more power. Trinity has lashings of both. She wears 'divine order” well.

She might have three legs but Robert and Teresa don't see it that way. They don't see her as others see her.

Three rough and ready types stopped on The Strand. They fix their stare on Trinity. 'What's that, a rat on a string?” The Nichols parry with a stock response. They tell them Trinity only has three legs and not to make fun of her.

'Then they go: ‘Oh My God, so she does'. And their hearts melt, they feel crap and think I can't make fun of this dog.”

And there they go, three rough and readies cooing and playing up to a three-legged crossbred from Chillicothe now domiciled in the CBD. Trinity has woven her magic again.

'Her middle name is oooohh!! – because that's the typical reaction to her.”

It's a little incongruous though – a six foot four or 195cm bean pole of an American called Robert with 1.9kg of dog on a string. 'Yeah. I get it all the time. The juxtaposition is very funny.”

It's an interesting mix this dog. Miniature Italian greyhounds are very skittish and chihuahuas can have attitude beyond their size, territorial and mean. But Trinity seems to have escaped the worst traits of both breeds.

And no-one's told her she is small. 'She just stares people and dogs straight in the eyes. She just says: ‘How are you going?' She doesn't shy away from anyone or anything.”

Trinity has been to the USA three times – she travels cargo and quarantine is like a second home. 'It's about the cost a typical airline ticket. But we don't have kids and that's a small price to pay to keep her in our lives.”

And they don't have to worry about her wherever they go. That dog has certainly landed on its three feet.