Walking a three legged dog on a leash, can sometimes be a challenge.
Three legged dogs find it easier to walk at a faster pace, and may have difficulty making quick or sharp turns.
They also have less balance, and are more prone to falling down.
1. A Harness Can Provide Support
Using a harness can give our three legged dog more support, when we are out on a walk. I found this to be especially helpful, in the beginning.
We can also use the harness to quickly and safely turn, restrain, or move our dog. This is useful to stop a tripod dog from running ahead, and to get her safely away from dangerous objects, for example broken glass.
I was using the Ruffwear Web Master Harness on Shania, and it worked out well. It is strong, provides good back support, and has fleece material over the leg straps, so that they do not overly chafe her at the joints.
However, this harness may limit air flow during hot days, and cause the dog to heat up more easily.
Another weakness of using a harness is that it gives the dog a lot of pulling power. Shania has very strong prey-drive, so it was very difficult to control her pulling, whenever she spotted a squirrel, cat, or deer. For leash training exercises, I find that it is more effective to use a thick, no-slip collar.
2. How to Stop Pulling
Being a Siberian Husky, Shania does a fair amount of pulling during walks. To stop her from pulling, I have tried using the Gentle Leader head halti.
The halti works well in controlling the direction of her head, and redirecting her away from undesirable objects and situations. However, Shania really dislikes wearing it, and she will occasionally plop down on the ground in passive protest. It is difficult to get her up again, by just using the head collar.
The same applies when she decides to hang back, dig in, and not move forward. For dealing with these situations, I usually have Shania’s collar or harness on, in addition to the halti.
Also note that the head collar is not a long-term solution. It does not train our dog not to pull, but just prevents the pulling. Once we remove the halti, our dog will likely start to pull again.
To train Shania not to pull, I use a combination of hand-targeting and treating, when she is voluntarily walking by my side. If she starts to pull, I first give her a verbal warning to slow down. If she does not listen, then I stop her, make her do a Sit and Wait, re-target her on my hand, and then move on. When I am using a collar instead of a harness, I sometimes use my hand to hold back her chest. This gives her more support, during a forced stop.
Some trainers suggest doing a 180-turn-around, to stop pulling. This does not work as well with three legged dogs, because forcing them to turn quickly may cause them to fall, and place undue stress on their feet. When I need to turn or change direction, I make sure to do it slowly, and at a pace that Shania is comfortable with. It is also possible to use leash-jerks to discourage pulling, but I no longer use aversive techniques for a variety of reasons.
Nowadays, I almost always use a flat collar while walking Shania. She is better at walking now, and although she still pulls when she sees a squirrel or other prey, she will usually stop when I tell her to. I use the Premier Nylon Martingale Collar
, which works very well for preventing collar escapes. It is also nice and thick, which helps to distribute the force around the neck, when a dog pulls.
Shania seems most comfortable with just a flat-collar.
3. Short Walks and Rest
Three legged dogs tire more easily, so take them for short but more frequent walks. During longer walks, make sure to stop often (in a shady spot if possible), provide plenty of water, and keep our dog cool.
Three legged dogs will take some time to build up their walking stamina, so start with brief walks, and increase the distance slowly.
Stairs, uneven ground, and raised surfaces, may be difficult to navigate, so be patient, and provide help as necessary.
4. Protect Our 3 Legged Dog
Three legged dogs may feel more vulnerable in the presence of new dogs. When threatened, there are four possible dog responses – fight, flight, freeze, or appease. Conditions are often fluid, and a dog may decide to change from one strategy to another.
My Husky Shania deals with unknown dogs, mostly through appeasement. She will roll onto her side or back, and offer them her tummy. Sometimes, when there are highly active dogs nearby, she will choose to run away.
It is important to step in, and protect our three legged dog from unwanted attention.
Sometimes, I bring Shania to a dog playgroup. When there are overly hyper dogs about, I step in and body block them away from Shania. In this way, she does not have to deal with stressful situations alone. If necessary, I do the same when she meets new dogs during walks. By keeping things positive, she will hopefully gain more confidence, and feel more comfortable when interacting with her dog friends.
Be vigilant and keep bad social experiences from occurring, as that may cause our three legged dog to become fearful. This may ultimately lead to dog aggression, depression, or other dog behavioral problems.
In fact I would step in and protect any of my dogs from rude dogs and rude people, although I have to admit that I am more protective over Shania.
If we have multiple dogs, be aware of how the whole pack acts in the presence of unfamiliar visitors. The rest of the pack may feel the need to protect their more vulnerable sibling, and become aggressive to other dogs.
My Shiba Inu is very protective of Shania. I always supervise very closely when introducing them to new dogs. Usually, I keep Shiba on a lead, and let Shania interact with the new dog first. Once they are getting along fine, I let Shiba loose, and continue with close supervision. If Shiba displays any aggressive behavior, play stops, and he goes on a mini time-out. What the whole pack should understand, is that we are in charge of their safety, and we do the protecting when it is needed.
5. Socialize Our 3 Legged Dog
Note that three legged dogs may feel more vulnerable, and may be more fearful of new things.
It is important to socialize our dog to as many new experiences (garbage truck, umbrella, all types of people) as we can, so that she gains confidence, and is less likely to show fear aggression.
Let our three legged dog approach new experiences at her own pace, and make sure to reward and praise her well for taking small steps.
have you ever had problems with muscle spasm and pain in the rear legs. My Lakeland lost his front right leg in an accident 3 yrs ago he is now almost 5 , having increasing problems with pain due to spasm in his rear right leg
I haven’t seen any muscle spasms with Shania’s rear legs although there is some occasional trembling.
The biggest thing with Shania is making sure she doesn’t overly stress any of her legs. For example, she still likes to lift her leg during pee-ing, so I either support her on one side when she does this, or I stop her from doing it. I also no longer let her go up and down stairs, and we limit the amount of hill work that we do. I also limit how fast she goes and I manage greetings very carefully so she does not get over-excited.
Have you been to the tripawds.com site? There may be people there who have been through this with their dog. What does your vet say? It may also be useful to visit with a specialist.
I had a episode with Bella last night she squealed and ran to me, she lost rear right leg in May my problem is she never tires runs all the time
Hi there! Your blog has been a big help for me and my tripawd, Benji. Benji had his front left leg amputated before we adopted him, and since then we’ve been trying to find him a sturdy harness. With the Ruffwear Web Master Harness, do you find that it slips or rotates due to the missing front limb?? Thats the issue we’ve had with any harness we’ve tried in the past.
Hello Magda,
The Ruffwear harness has quite a lot of material, so it stayed in place pretty well for Shania. However, all that extra material also limits air flow, and is probably more constraining, so Shania didn’t enjoy wearing it for too long. Shania has a thick double coat though.
I LOVE THIS SITE!! and you have a wonderful dog family…. I have a 2 y/o german spitz klein, Curry, he is a front left leg amputee, this is such a cute site, thank you for sharing with us!
also, do you ever have an issue with when they play too much and they sit and you can see the front paw shake a little from pressure/ being tired?
what can be done about this?
With Shania, I have noticed that one of her back legs sometimes shakes when she is over-excited. I have not noticed her front leg shaking.
I try to manage her carefully during play-time and not let her overdo it. I throw in many play-breaks to manage her excitement level, and I do not allow my other dogs to overwhelm her, jump on her, hump her, etc.
When I play with her, I also have strict play rules and structure so that she doesn’t overly stress herself and does not get over-excited. When she is over-excited, she often goes into super charged running mode, and she is not very careful with her own safety. Therefore, I try to make sure she doesn’t get to that point. Prevention is best with her.
If I miss something, and she goes into her running mode, I try to get her to stop right away by calling her to me and giving her the Sit command. I use very high priority food rewards for this. She is very food focused, so those usually work well with her. Then, I get her to do some other commands, e.g. Look, Down, to get her to refocus on me and to calm down. Her leg stops shaking after she relaxes and calms down. I make sure she rests a good long while after that.
Shania is a go-go-go girl, and she often leaps before looks, so I try to be the one that “looks” for her. 😀
Big hugs to Curry!
Hello I was just surfing and saw your cute page!
We also have a three legged, front amputee husky. He is doing very well but a specialist taught me about the importance of preventing the carpus from hyperextension. Apparently this is a typical problem for front amputees. Check out orthopets.com – they can custom make an articulating carpal brace for your husky to support the carpus and prevent injury and arthritis. Our tripod loves his brace and it is a relief to know that he has some support on that leg. Apparently it is not such a problem for back amputees since the front end manages most of the dogs weight. Anyhoo, I hope you and Shania are doing well. Feel free to email me if you have questions or want to see a picture of our “bionic” husky.
=)
christine
This has helped me a lot quite a bit, about two days ago my four month old bug ( boston terrier/pug) had her front left amputated, ite been har on the both of us, I originally rescued her from a drug house, someone bought her and I stopped to check in on my friends mom as j do time to time and saw the condition and amount of drugs being smoked around 4week olds and we each grabbed a puppy left and reported them. She was doing amazing when I got a call from my roommates saying something was wrong and to come home from work right away. She had a fall (my guess is exploring jumping from furniture to furniture cuz she had recently learned she could do and thought was so cool lol) she is getting back to her cuddly loving self but I am worried to not only her but us adapting aswell…trying to keep her from pushing to far is what I am scared of and I dont know how to make such a happy and care free hyper puppy slow down and relax, its heart breaking. Your storey an all the comments here have really helped to inspire, I have had some nasty comments about spending 2000 on such a young puppy. She is my baby money has no limit as long as she is happy and healthy. But I worry because she has been threw so much.
I was also very worried with Shania, but she has adapted really well. She does need closer supervision, and I train her not to get on furniture. She is a go-go-go girl who tends to “leap before she looks” 😀 , so I am very strict with her about safety rules.
During the training period, I keep her in a safe enclosure or crate if I am unable to supervise. I only gave her unsupervised freedom when I was very very sure of her training and behavior.
I also have clear play-rules and interaction rules for my other dogs so that they do not accidentally hurt Shania.
More things that help with Shania-
http://shibashake.com/dog/three-legged-dog-care-tripod-dog-care
http://shibashake.com/dog/living-with-a-3-legged-dog
Big hugs to your furry girl!
You know what? I dislike people who judge us who would do anything for our animals. They are just like children to us! We have the awesome stuff, sweetest 12 year old Dorky (dachshund/yorkie) named Bruiser who is a trip and. He is a front leg amputee. He had an injury at about 2 years old. Over the years we have spent about $10,000.00 on him. I have gotten many people ask me how on earth I could spend so much money on a dumb dog. Alot of people say they would’ve just put him to sleep. Some people are so insensitive. Bruiser is my baby. I would do anything for him!
My 8year old 73 lb. Labradoodle had his left front leg amputated this morning due to cancer. I have been so worried about how he will adapt, but reading your articles has given me much inspiration. Thank you so much!
Thank you. Btw. have you been to the tripawds.com site? They have a lot of useful articles there and a very supportive and helpful community.
Big hugs to your boy!
How is your baby doing now that it’s been over a week? My 6 year old bulldog has her front leg amputation surgery on Wednesday due to Osteosarcoma.
I just adopted a 2 year old, 3 legged black lab from the shelter-her temperament is incredible and she loves absolutely everyone. The biggest question I have is how much to walk her. She has so much will that I worry her drive is bigger than her ability…Are we talking a .5 mile walk or could she do a 2 mile walk–is that something she can aspire to? Also, we live up a flight of stairs so I am fearful of her stressing her one back leg out. The vet says she needs about 8 pounds added to her. She lost her leg as a puppy when she was attacked by another dog. Her owner went to jail and never had anyone come to take care of her. I have 3 kids who are loving the heck out of her. We named her Nia, which means purpose 🙂 Thank you for all the info you have on here I need as much as I can to help her stay strong and capable!
Congratulations on your new furry family member! I am so glad that Nia has found such a wonderful home. 😀
In terms of the length of walks, I slowly built it up with Shania. I started with shorter but more frequent walks, and I build up from there. I make sure not to let her go too fast, as she has sprained her leg before from going too fast. My vet says that a slow jog is best, so we now do a slow jog or a fast walk. I don’t hurry her, but I do slow her down when she is going too fast.
We went on longer walks when Shania was younger. Now she is over 6 years old, so I do maybe a couple of longer walks in the week and the rest are shorter walks. Sometimes, a family member will drop us farther away (by car), so we can explore more and only need to make a one way trip home. It also depends on weather, because when it gets hot, Shania doesn’t really like going too far. I observe her closely and adjust our walks accordingly.
Big hugs to Nia! I would love to see her pictures, so please post us a link when you can.
I have an older arthritic dog and my apt is 43 steps from the ground level. I put a good harness on him and going up and going down, I pull up with a leash connected to the ring of the harness, or sometimes I grab underneath the ring on the harness itself, taking some of the weight off of his joints. Hope that helps…
Best,
Dave
I am so glad that I found this inspiring blog. I have a 12 week old siberian husky named koda. About three weeks ago we had a very unfortunate accident when he jumped out of my boyfriends mothers car. The injury he faced is called brachial plexus in his right front paw/leg. The first two vets that we saw told us without hesitation that we would have to amputate. With koda being so young I as him mom didn’t want to resort to that so quickly. We came upon a vet that gave us a ray of hope and that week we started koda on laser therapy to try and get the nerves back working since they were all damaged. This seemed hopeful for koda for he was doing great with the treatments and at home we were doing our own therapy such as moving exercises and water therapy. We seemed so hopeful and thought he was doing great!! On Friday though April 9th we took koda in because his shoulder was really swollen. The vets took him back for X-rays and came back with not so hopeful news. The first vet that we took koda to the day of the accident did X-rays but did not notice two fractures in kodas leg. One in which on his growth plate in his shoulder and the other in his lower leg. The fracture in the lower part of his leg was their biggest fear. Since koda is so young he is growing at a rapid rate. The bone adjacent to the fractured bone is growing while the fractured bone is not. This would eventually cause the limb to deform as koda grows. The vets at this point gave us two options. The first option go through surgeries to get the fractured bone up to speed with the other. (Numerous surgeries through out growth) still without knowing if in the end he would get feeling back in his leg/paw at all. Or option two amputation. Knowing that we had hard decisions to make my boyfriend and I knew that we had to think for koda and what would be best for him. Without knowing if koda would get feeling back in his leg after all of these surgeries we restored to amputation. Even though it was the last thing we wanted for our little guy. Knowing that koda may not still get feeling in his leg we knew that having the amputation sooner than later would be best for koda. On July 7th koda goes in to be neutered and at that time we will go fourth with amputation. Though it has been the hardest decision I know that koda will still live a full filled and happy life. He is the sweetest little pup and so full of energy and personality despite his rough patch.
Thank you for sharing all your stories on shania. They have really given me more hope and a better understanding on tripod dogs!
Yeah, it was a very tough decision for us as well with Shania.
Shania is now over 6 years old and she is still very much on the go! The hardest part in caring for her is in restricting her Sibey penchant to leap first and look later. She thinks she is invulnerable. One of my neighbors, who is her cookie friend, joked that we should make her a superhero cape. 😀
Haha, yeah Sibes really are amazing. Big hugs to Koda! Shania sends her love and super Husky kisses.
Thanks for the informative article and for not giving up on your dog. We are considering adding a tripod to our pack and my only real concern is our high activity level, which would mean that he would often have to stay home. 🙁
Hi Shiba, just letting you know your blog has been a massive help! I recently adopted a cattle dog cross from the local shelter, missing a front leg just like Shania. He is energetic, playful and very sweet – but sometime he gets a little too playful with his mouth. Thats the first thing that I wanted to ask – when I go outside to play and things aren’t moving fast enough for him, he barks in frustration and will jump and try to bite me, when he does succeed he will grip on to my forearm and pull. I’ve tried ignoring this, but when he is so hyped up he will simply come around and bite me from behind! I don’t want to engage him and make noise but he will also just not let go of my arm! The second thing i wanted to ask you that is much more relevant to this article is about your walks with Shania. My dog is walked daily and sometimes more than once and also receives at least 15 minutes of play time (mainly fetch). However, on our walks I find he is frequently stopping. I recently purchased the ruff wear harness that I now attach the leash to which does help controlling him and his pulling but I find the longer time passes the more he stops on people’s front lawns and lies down when walked. It is very difficult to try and coax him to get back up again, treats do not work to help him get up and he is very stubborn. The harness has helped this somewhat with the handle. However, I would like it that he would be able to get up on his own and not stop as frequently. I know that 3 legged dogs need rests on walks but it sometimes happens on 15 minute walks possibly about 15 or more times! I also bring water for him and constantly offer it. I’m wondering if this is normal? Someone said it may be puppy defiance as he is only 1 year old and had very very basic training when adopted from the pound. Thankyou so much for your very helpful articles – I don’t think I would have been so convinced to adopt him without the help of your experience with Shania 🙂
Congratulations on your new furry family member! Shania gives lots of licks and three big paws up for helping a dog in need. 😀
In terms of the jumping, I try to have very clear play rules for my dog. If she jumps or bites on me, I no-mark right away and tell her what to do instead, e.g. Sit. If she sits, then I make sure to reward her well with food and most importantly, more play. If she continues, then play stops, and I withdraw my attention. If she escalates her behavior, then I calmly say timeout and put her briefly in a safe timeout area. More on what I do for jumping and biting.
Puppies often start jumping and biting when they get over-excited. Another thing that helps with my dog is to manage her level of excitement. I do this by throwing in many play-breaks. I play a very short while, then we have a very short obedience break with fun movement commands and very good food rewards, then we do another short play session and so on. I adjust the time for each based on the behavior of my dog. In this way, I try to set her up for success, and make it less likely for her to lose control of herself.
As for stopping during walks, that can be a tough one with Shania. Sometimes she stops because she is tired, sometimes she just wants to enjoy the outdoors, sometimes there may be a physical issue, and sometimes it may be in protest of something.
When it is in protest, there is something that she wants to do but can’t. For example, she may want to go to a certain area or want to keep going. If I stop her, she may just plop down in protest. Usually she gets up after a little while and tries to keep going in the same direction. If I stop her, she may plop down again in protest. If I am *sure* that it is a “protest-stop”, then I usually prevent her from plopping down, I turn her around by supporting her chest with my hand and using that to turn her around, then we move along.
However, Shania *does* like to stop and watch people, or just hang-out during our walks. She really enjoys doing this so I bring along my iPhone and read while she does her people, squirrel, or cat watching. 😀 There are a lot more interesting things happening outside and more interesting smells, so she likes lying on the sidewalk or under a tree.
Each dog is different though, so I try to observe closely and adapt my training methods to suit each dog.
Hope this helps. Big hugs to your boy!
This is very helpful! I am looking for a chihuahua to adopt, I do not want to buy one from a breeder or a store, as there are too many as it is. I found the dog I want desperately near my location, and she has had one leg amputated due to an infection from a car accident. I did not know if she would be able to do all the things regular dogs do, but this website showed me that tripod dogs can do anything a regular dog can do! Thank you so much.
Four paws up for helping out a dog in need! Big hugs to your soon-to-be new furry addition. 😀