Hi Kalua and family, welcome! I'm in the Tripawds Chat room right now if you want to talk.

What was the reason for her amputation? Just curious.

First, I'd like to respectfully say that all Tripawds can benefit from rehab therapy. This is a relatively new field that many general practice vets aren't too familiar with yet, but studies are proving again and again that it makes a tremendous difference. Do they need it? Not necessarily, Tripawds do get around fine without it, generally speaking. But what it does is give them a huge advantage over time because it educates the parent on what kinds of activity their specific Tripawd can and can't do, should and shouldn't do. This is critical to know in order to prevent joint stress as they age. We feel so strongly that all Tripawds can benefit that the Tripawds Foundation will even pay for your first rehab visit .

What your vet didn't tell you was that a dog's propulsion is all in their hind quarters. So things like moving forward, jumping, etc., are all a bit tougher when one rear leg is missing. Rear-leggers have more of a challenge going up stairs and raising up on that one back leg. That's where rehab therapy exercises come in handy. We do rehab exercises with Wyatt Ray nearly every day and since we became religious about it last summer when he had some issues, he's improved tremendously. By the way, he was also very hesitant about going up stairs right after he lost his leg, especially open-back stair cases like in motels and such.

One thing you can do to help give her confidence is to use a harness for assistance. For very small breeds we recommend the Ruffwear Front Range harness.  Many do well with the Ruffwear Webmaster but it can be bulky for petite gals like her.  The front range doesn't have a handle the way the Webmaster does, but you can still gently assist her with the straps to help her go up and down stairs. Be positive when you assist and reward reward reward when she completes a set of stairs. It took our Wyatt about 6 months before he wasn't terrified of steps, and about a year before he would do them without much help (but we still help him going down stairs, as we don't want to put too much stress on his joints when he lands).

I hope this helps! Thanks again for joining. Stay tuned for more feedback.