This is Ben our 3-legged Saluki. He is about 18 months/2 years old. My mum saw him at a local rescue centre's open day and completely fell in love with him. This picture was taken at the open day, two days after his op. We've had him 6 days and he's already impressed us with how well he's coping. It's two weeks since he had his leg removed and while he seems easily tired at times, I can't imagine any person ever adjusting so well!

He lost his leg after being hit by a car/lorry, we don't know which as whoever did it left him. Despite being a little slow, a bit bruised and a bit shy, he's very affectionate, exceptionally well behaved, and I'm guessing with a bit more TLC he'll have quite a sense of humour too.

We don't know anything about where he came from, but nobody claimed him and he's desperately thin, so has either been neglected or on the road for a long time.

We live in Grimsby UK, the picture was from an article about H.A.R.A open day in Killingholme, it was in the Grimsby Evening telegraph but there wasn't an article about him, although there will be over the next few days so will send details.

He is adorable and as I said incredibly well-behaved, I have a mad mongrel who barks, chews, howls etc. I keep thinking Ben is just lulling me into a false sense of security, but so far, no surprises!

How do I go about building Ben up exercise wise, etc.?

he rescue shelter hasn't given us much guidance over this. They said he can't be left alone over the next month and he hasn't had his vaccinations yet so can't walk him. I'm guessing he has to have some "physio" to get him used to 3 instead of 4 legs, but not 100% sure. That's how I found your site, as I was looking for info.

I am hoping Ben will have a calming influence on my little mutley, so long as Khan doesn't pass his bad habits on to Ben! lol

Carla Linford
Friday August 19, 2005

UPDATE:

Hi Cassie, here is an updated picture of my three-legged dog Ben and my four-legger Khan. I got Ben in August 2005 and he has done fabulously! I sometimes even forget he only has 3 legs, it doesn't stop him running rings around me! He's s delightful part of our family and even though he has only one back leg he now even jumps up on me as greeting when I come home. He has an indelible spirit and losing a leg has certainly not held him back in anyway shape or form. Especially as there's always someone willing to give him a rub if he has an itchy ear, he now demands we scratch him!

Carla Linford
Saturday January 7, 2006

Our dog is Rocky (K C Rocket). He is a 6 month old part Miniature Pincher and part Chihuahua. Here is his story of how he became a "tri-pod" dog. Tragedy struck our Rocky on August 14, 2005 at approximately 5:30 in the afternoon. I was sitting on the couch waiting on Tyler and McKenna to get home. Rocky had just went outside to "do his business" and I was waiting on him to come up to the back door and come back in before the kids got home.

I heard Rocky bark (which he never really does). I went to the back door and called him. He came running around the corner of the house and I thought I saw blood. Next think I knew he hit the step. My first instinct was that he had gotten into a fight with another dog (he is so small). I turned to pick up a towel from inside the door and by the time I turned around he had somehow managed to climb to the porch.

I scooped him up in the towel and I could see his front leg was almost just hanging on him. I was hysterical. I cradled him like a baby and called my brother. He said he was on the way.

About the time I hung up the doorbell rang. I went to the door and a lady said that she was glad this was his home she tried to call him and he just ran. She said she had hit Rocky with her car.

I was in total shock. I called to tell the kids to not to come home yet. Ty got there and by that time I had laid Rocky in his little bed wrapped up. He was just laying there breathing hard. Ty picked him up, bed and all, and we left. We tried to find any kind of Vet on Sunday afternoon to take him to. Kim was at home calling around and calling us back. We finally found out that the only place to take him was an emergency clinic in Loganville. I was so afraid Rocky wasn't going to make it. We headed that way.

I just cradled Rocky in my lap in his bed and tried to keep him from moving. I had no idea what his injuries actually were and I was to afraid to look.

We got to the clinic and they took Rocky. The vet finally came in and said that Rocky appeared to be fine except for his leg and possibly a concussion. He wanted us to leave him overnight and then pick him up the next morning to take him to our regular vet. Ty advised against it and said that I could take care of him overnight. I wasn't sure I could do it.

When they brought Rocky back out from the back and he saw me - he just looked up and started wagging his tail out from under the towel. We drove home and Ty helped me get him into his crate before the kids got home. That was so hard. He would yelp if I tried to move him and my adrenaline (and his) had worn off and I was scared. We finally did it though. We moved him into my bathroom and he was peaceful.

About 1am he decided to try and move and hollered out. It scared me to death. I got him calmed down and laid beside him. We did this several more times during the night and I would lay there and he would put his head against the cage for me to pet. He finally got turned off of the hurt leg and settled down.

Tyler helped me load him up (crate & all) and I took him to see Dr White first thing in the morning. Rocky just looked around and wagged his tail as usual.

Dr. White told me then that just looking at it, he figured he might lose the leg. He said to leave him, he would take xrays and call me then we would decide what we wanted to do. After the xrays he said that Rocky appeared fine internally. This was all so remarkable, given his size; you would have thought a big van would just crush poor little Rocky. However, the only problem was the right leg was basically crushed. He once again recommended that we should probably remove the leg. He said that Rocky would probably never know the difference and with his small size he should be able to get around fine. He said that he could put two plates in the leg and try to save it but with all of the damage he only had about a 20% chance that he could regain use of the leg.

Dr. White said that Rocky was doing great and that everyone had fallen in love with him. One of the girls was trying to lay in the crate with him and he was just wagging his tail.

That afternoon Dr. White called and said that while he was re-examing Rocky he cried when they tried to get him to stand up on the other three legs. He took an xray of his left front paw and found two breaks in the "fingers". This would need a splint. He said that it should heal fine but the main setback was his mobility and more work on us.

So on Tuesday August 16, 2005 approximately 2:30pm Rocky had surgery to remove his right front leg and to set the broken paw on his left leg. Dr. White said that he did great and everything looked like a success.

I also have a blog set up to track Rocky's progress and tells more about his life and shows more pictures. Here is the link

Molli A Brown
Saturday August 20, 2005