If so, can you tell me what I need to know about owning a 3legged dog?
Dog is 14 month old Aussie who is scheduled to have his left rear leg amputated on Wednesday. We do not know exactly how the break occurred. Surgery was done at Texas A&M resulting in a plate and screws. He was re-x-rayed today and sadly there is no bone re growth, 2 screws are detached and the plate is not holding.
I have read that they adjust very quickly. I guess I am concerned that our 7 m.o. Aussie will be too rough with him.
Dog has such a sad history and I really want to give him a soft place to land. Husband is asking all the hard questions.will he need more vet care than normal? What will
quality of life be as he ages? Will he have a shorter than normal lifespan?
My concern is what will he be able to do? He has been started in agility but competition at high level is no longer an option. Perhaps a therapy dog but it seems like based on what I know about him, he likes to be busy.
We are taking our dog and going to meet this guy tomorrow. They are brothers and the dog is now with the breeder.
So…any stories and/ or advice are most welcome.
My tripod passed in 2006, but he lived the last two years of his life without a right hind following a bout of osteosarcoma. He was an 80-lb Doberman and my heart dog.
Honestly, he did great. I was really conflicted about the surgery, but am so glad I did it. He was home in about 3 days. Mobile on his own without help about 24 hours after that. Took him about 2 weeks to master stairs as a tripod. He had the surgery in early February and went to a horse show with me mid-march and half the people who knew him didn’t notice the missing leg right away. He walked courses, etc. just fine.
The only complication was an odd one–they’d also takes a mast cell tumor off his other butt cheek, and he was active so much quicker than they thought, he kept tearing the staples out. Eventually we just managed it as an open wound.
We had no additional issues or expenses, he had a happy healthy life until Xmas eve 2006, when he laid down in his sun patch and never woke up. He was 12. I miss him to this day.
Good luck to you and your boy.
I wouldn’t rule out agility. I groom several tri-pods and not one of them appears more than minimally hindered by the missing limb. They move funny to compensate and that’s about it. Most go to doggy daycamp and play just the same as the rest.
I imagine some develop arthritis later in life in the limb opposite the amputation since it does double duty, but I’d not hesitate to get a tripod dog because of that. I’d do a glucosamine supplement early on (they’re pretty inexpensive), keep the dog lean, and not worry about it further.
I had a tripod for several years, adopted the dog when he was about 8-9 after he came into our clinic with several bullet wounds. He was abandnrd by his owners after the amputation and so I adopted him. He lost his RF. Even at his oldef age he adjusted well and ran, played, and did everything a dog with 4 legs would do. He did have traction problems at times and would fall which resulted in some neck problems over time. We eventuslly put him to sleep due to aging and mobility issues, but he was elderly and lived for several years after he was adopted. Your dog will be fine I’m sure, snd dont put limits on him until he shows you ehat he can do. Good luck.
Thank you for the encouragement. I am excited to meet him this afternoon. We will be his 4th home thru no fault of his own. Breeder just wants him to be loved, safe and happy. If he can get along with the cats, the dog and our 22 m.o. Grandson, all will be good. Our Aussie pup and grandson are like puppy brothers:)
If all goes as planned, he should be home with us mid August.
Next order of business is to change his name. Both breeder and I think it is not great and a change in karma would be welcome.
One thing that I have read is that bc a tripod hops forward they will always pull on a leash. Has this been y’all’s experience?
My hay guy has a few Border collies who work his sheep. One has a front leg missing. That dog acts just like the others. I don’t know about a leash because the dogs are always controlled by voice commands alone.
Well, we met him this afternoon and despite his hard knock life, he is a happy boy. He will come to us mid- August once he has made a full recovery from his surgery. My husband is making a list of names now. And no…we will not call him Lt. Dan, much to my husbands dismay:)
I was so excited to come share about a tripod, but he’s a cat, so not as relevant. But he gets along totally fine, jumps on stuff and everything. His biggest complaint is that his was a right hind amputation, so he can’t clean out his right ear properly and it’s very itchy! His name actually is Tripod, and I think Lt. Dan would be a hilariously wonderful name for your dog! 
Cat stories are most welcome.
This dog will be a left hind amputation, so we will do all the scratching on that side.
I know that it is better to keep tripods on the thin side, bi put this poor boy is pretty skinny.
Lt. Dan is funny but…
I have Petals, the tripod kitty. She had her rear left leg removed as a kitten and has never missed it. She just finds things to scratch herself on on that left side, preferably a human finger nail :lol: - She can jump yet knows her limitations on height. It’s never hindered her desire to go somewhere… case in point, she went down the open hole where a tub drain used to be. She braced her three legs between the pipes and lowered herself to the ground, happily as you please 
I recently watched an obedience training video in which one of the dogs being schooled was a hind-leg tripod. Did not slow him down one iota, and he was doing some pretty quick stuff.
Not sure if a tripod would be allowed in competitive agility (I just don’t know). But you could work with a trainer, a dog-school class, just for fun and the trainer could tailor the work to meet the needs/abilities of the tripod. I would imagine that A-frames might be a bit difficult, and maybe even tunnels, if the dog is very tall and had to crawl. Don’t know how much jumping stamina a hind-leg tripod would have, and a front-leg would be at risk from landing off of jumps on one leg.
I would think you’d want to be able to walk on a loose-leash so you don’t jerk accidentally when they’re hopping, but I see no reason that they would have to pull. That’s a matter of teaching them to rate, and not balancing on the lead. If they can walk and run free, they can walk politely on a leash, I would think (again, no personal experience).
No direct experience, but our neighbors have a beagle whose left hind leg was amputated 10 years ago, due to a close encounter with a sickle bar mower. 
I’m pretty sure he’s never competed in anything, but he’s still getting around just fine.
Good luck and bless your heart taking in this dog.
My dog did just fine without one of her front legs. I think she found her bum easier to chew on then… She loves the extra care that comes with it. But she is kinda sensitive about it in that she doesn’t want to bumped and jostled by other dogs. She will snap at them for just standing near her sometimes. And whines when she can sit in “her” spot.
We are fortunate to have a really nice, quiet dog park that I frequent with my 8 mo puppy. I hope the tripod dog will be comfortable going there as well.
My brother and sister in law run this site www.tripawds.com I’m sure you can find some great info there. Their massive German Shepard (Wyatt) is cruising along just fine on 3. Their previous Shep (Jerry) also did very well. I suggest you go there and see what they have to say. They are lovely people and major dog lovers. Hopefully you can find some useful info.
One of my fosters came back to me being hit by car and having radial nerve paralysis right fore requiring amputation of that leg. He did great. Played hard (pit bull, 50 lbs +) would jump onto my blanket boxes, did not miss the leg at all. He was adopted not too long after his surgery into a pit bull home, he and his new sister play as pit bulls play, HARD and then crash and sleep snuggled up together. More than likely he will have arthritic issues in his other front leg, but we could not face putting this puppy (8 months old when injury occurred) down. New family is well aware of tripod issues and act accordingly. Traction devices (rugs) on hard wood floors, elevated food/water dish etc. He did fall down some initially when playing and turning to missing leg direction but learned quickly to compensate.
Thank you for giving him a soft place to land, rescue animals are the best.
Tripods do great!
In fact, they’re one of the easiest dogs to place in our shelter. People like to feel all warm & fuzzy that they’re adopting a disabled dog, but it’s easy b/c they require no more care than a normal dog :). Win-win for everyone!!
Thank you for the tripawds link. The Ruffwear harness is going to be ordered the first of the month. I have a place for him to swim and have his float vest ready to go. The name list is growing and although Lt. Dan is the favorite, I have given myself veto power:)
We are excited to have him!! Hopefully he will settle in pretty quickly.
My parents just adopted a great young pit bull who was found as a stray with a fractured femur. I met him at my work where they tried to repair it. It did not work out and they had t amputate. He does great. He is only 38 lbs and very lean for a pit bull. He is monitored closely around stairs, but other then that, is just a normal dog.
I’ve had a hind leg tripod cat who still caught birds, and currently have a front leg tripod terrier cross dog. I stopped feeling sorry for her the day I saw this:
That’s a standard patio table on flat ground.
As far as what to do for fun, UKC competitions allow amputee dogs in obedience, and NADAC allows them in non-jumping agility classes.
You can also always just train and play with both obedience (rally is fun) and agility but not compete - dogs don’t care
