Three legged dogs

[2LaneCruzer]

Found this old ad; brought back a lot of memories. When I was a young country boy, I recall seeing 3 legged farm dogs occasionally; my Dad told me in those days, it wasn't unusual for farm dogs to lose a leg in a sickle bar mower. I can see how it could happen.

Sickle Bar Mower (3 legged dog maker) - Yesterday's Tractors

 

[drssg]

We had a three legged dog when I was a kid. IIRC, it got tangled up in wire fencing somehow. By the time we found it, the leg couldn't be saved.

It was a back leg, and he got around fine.

 

[Jstpssng]

I've seen several dogs which are missing a leg, usually after getting hit by a car. You notice something isn't right, but it takes a minute to figure out what.
One pup still chased every car that went past. I guess he thought one of them might be whoever stole his leg.

 

[KennyG]

When I was a kid, we had a beagle rabbit dog that lost a leg to a sickle. She was the best tracker we had. She was a little slower but when the other dogs lost the scent she could find it.

 

[Jstpssng]

When I was a kid, we had a beagle rabbit dog that lost a leg to a sickle. She was the best tracker we had. She was a little slower but when the other dogs lost the scent she could find it.

Beagles are all heart.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Interesting video.

 

[Jstpssng]

Gentle dog.

 

[Willman]

I once knew a elderly couple who lived next to where I worked, they had a 65 lb. English bulldog named Megan.
We would often play ball with her at lunch time.
One day out with the owners she chased a car and got run over, they came to the shop and got me to pick her up to place in their car.
I was somewhat concerned about getting bit since she was in extreme pain, but she knew me and let me lift her up and place her in.
She lost all of one back leg but after her compete recovery she still played ball and was still almost as fast on three legs.

 

[Jstpssng]

Not quite the same, but when Ruger was about 4 years old we were both crawling over a big blowdown. As he jumped both hind feet caught and he was dangling from them, completely off the ground. If I hadn't been right there he'd have died where he hung. He completely ruined both knees and could barely walk
I got prices of $6-8000 per knee. I loved my dog, but not that much. My regular vet felt he could do the same for less. I told him that he just needed to be pain free; Ruger could stay home and be a couch potato. It took a while, but by the next spring he was going in the woods with me again. My favorite picture was of him standing in a stream the next summer, a mile from the truck. It was a big milestone of his recovery. The only thing he couldn't do was jump. That was rather convenient as I could put him in the back of the truck and go into the store at the end of a hot summer day, and not worry about him jumping out.

 

[dougtrr2]

We had a toy poodle mutt that quit using a back leg after being spayed. It was pretty atrophied and she barely used it. I measured her tracks going full speed in the snow and they were 3' apart. Not bad for an 11 pound three legged mutt.

Doug in SW IA

 

[Lineman North Florida]

My old daddy was a hog hunter and he had a Plott hound named Sam that got his leg bone shattered by a big boar hog and the bone was split and the leg was not savable so he and I amputated Sam's left front leg nearly to his shoulder and he sewed the skin back and it healed up well. I figured Sam would be a yard/farm dog but dad kept carrying him hunting until he died of old age , he wasn't as fast as before but it didn't stop him and dad always said that Sam set the pace and any dog that couldn't keep up with him couldn't stay on the place, both dad and Sam are both passed on but this three legged dog post sure brought back some old memories.

 

[sandman2234]

I was doing something on the tractor out back when I heard a noise that sounded "different". I stopped, sat still and listened. The noise I heard was a one legged wild turkey hopping thru the leaves. We went and picked up a bag of corn, and she got where she would come to the front yard to eat. She disappeared for a while after two years, but 4 months later returned. She lasted a couple more years but has since disappeared, this time I think forever. Her memory lives on, because we still feed the other turkeys that figured out where she was eating, as well as the deer and about a zillion squirrels!
Loosing a single leg, one out of four would be hard, but to loose one out of two, that is life changing!
David from jax

 

[mllud]

Dogs adapt pretty good to a lost leg.
I have known a couple three legged dogs that got along fine.
I knew a lady that gave up her dog for adoption because it lost a leg. She said it bothered her to look at it. The dog was fine; I lost respect for the lady after that.
Dogs are the most loyal animal in the world. Not so much with some people.

My dogs are part of the family.
I like the resilient one-legged turkey story.

 

[drssg]

I have shared this before, but I saw a deer walking along a tree line in the distance, and she was missing part of a front leg. She looked pretty pathetic rearing up every stride, just to take another step forward. I thought to myself that it would be more humane to shoot her, but it wasn't my property, so I let it go.

The following spring, I saw what I think was the same deer at the same location, with the same gait. The only difference was that she had a fawn walking behind her. She was not only surviving, but she was doing well enough to reproduce.

Mother Nature can be amazingly resilient.

 

[sandman2234]

Hopalong Jane standing in the rain on one leg, just a few feet from me on the porch with a cell phone camera.
David from jax

 

[sandman2234]

Dogs adapt pretty good to a lost leg.

My dogs are part of the family.
I like the resilient one-legged turkey story

Hopalong Jane standing in the rain on one leg, just a few feet from me on the porch with a cell phone camera.
David from jax

I kind of have a soft heart for animals missing a leg. At the age of three, I was severely burned on my left leg. The emergency room doctors (on Navy base) wanted to remove my leg halfway up my thigh. My Mom refused to let them, and when I came out of shock screaming, She asked the Doctor if there was something he could give me for the pain. He said "you would be surprised at how much pain a baby can stand". They had to drag my Mom off of him! Six months in the hospital for the skin graphs followed by a year of physical therapy to teach me how to walk again, I maintain my legs with almost no thought of how it could have been.
David from jax