Scooter, The Two-Legged Dog

I wanted to share with you the story of my precious little dog "Scooter". He was born with his two front legs missing. One day I received a phone call from my aunt who raises hairless chihuahuas. She informed me that one of her dogs had three pups and that two of them were missing their front legs. After a few hours, one of the pups passed on but the other seemed to be doing okay. She figured no one would want the little guy.

I told her that we would take him. I have a child with special needs and figured it would be good for her to have a "special" dog like her. I took the pup, hoping I could give him a somewhat normal life. We had no idea what was in store for us. We picked "Scooter" up at around 6 weeks. He was only about 10 ounces and very gray in color and looked terrible. I was determined to work with him and give him as good a quality of life as possible.

At first, Scooter's back legs were in bad shape. They looked and felt like they were dying. I figured we would have to amputate them. I took him to the vet, who said his knees were a "3" on a scale of 1-4. They were very loose and he couldn't even stand on them. I brought him home and we began the hard work. Everything we did with him consisted of making him put pressure on his legs. He began to gain strength and color. He started crawling around on the floor. Then his crawling turned to hopping. Now he hops very quickly and stands on his back legs like the famous dog "Faith". We are working with him on walking on his back legs. He is up to about 4-5 steps and hops.

Scooter is now doing very well. We took him to the vet the other day and she was amazed at his progress. He is up to 2.2 lbs and very active. He chases the cats, and plays with our 90-pound lab. He will hop around the coffee table and attempt to jump up on the couch.

Scooter is a blessing to us. He has come so far and we do not even see him differently anymore. I want to encourage people to take in animals even when they are special needs. Animals are special creatures - they don't realize they are different even when we see them that way. They can show you a strength you didn't know existed.

Sometimes people see Scooter and make the remark, "poor thing". I correct them quickly and tell them there is nothing poor about him. He is just a normal little happy dog.

Thanks to Kim Holt from Texas, USA, for sharing Scooter's story.