Hello and welcome!

How big is your boy?  Since you carry him I'm guessing he's not too big?  And how old is he?

My current Tripawd is a little Pug mix named Elly.  She was hit by a car at 7 months old and lost a rear leg as a result, I adopted her when she was 10 months old and 2.5 months post op.  Elly weights around 15. 5 pounds ( 7 kg).

She wasn't very strong when she first came to me so spent some time in the stroller.  I got her on a Saturday so when we went for our first couple walks/stroller rides there was no car traffic around.  On Monday I took her out and although we were a block or so away from the busiest road in our neighborhood she started shaking.  It took a minute but then I realized she was afraid of the car noises.  Of course!  From that point everywhere we walked where there were cars she would stop and watch until they went by- she refused to walk again until the car was well past us.  Yeah, we didn't get too far those first few months

She was also a bit fear reactive with other dogs, she was also very timid around people.  She would sometime sniff noses with a dog, then bark in their face! Her reaction was sometimes caused by the person with the dog.  She would sometimes let a dog walk by us (not too close) and then bark and lung after it while it was walking away.

We have taken a bunch of classes to work on her fear issues and to find things she likes to do.  One important principle I practice is to reward the behavior I want.  Another thing I do is reward her for focusing on me- the command I use is 'watch me'.  So as an example when we were walking and a car would come down the road I would tell her 'watch me' and if she looked at me and stayed focused on me she got a treat.  I was making the car passing into a good and safe moment for her.  At first we would still stop when the car came by until she was consistent in focusing on  me and not noticing the car as much.  Then we would keep walking while we did watch me and she got a treat if she stayed focused on me and didn't worry about the car.  I gradually got rid of the command as she had stopped noticing cars going by!  It took a little longer to get her used to big trucks and she really didn't like motorcycles.  She confidently walks down the street now even with big trucks although really loud motorcycles will still sometimes make her stop walking.

After she found an old chicken bone at the park that I had to wrestle out of her mouth I worked on the 'leave it' command.  Again, rewarding the behavior I want.  I use 'leave it' often now- for all kinds of things.  I can keep her from picking food up off the floor, or weird things on the ground, I also use it to keep her from reacting to dogs as we pass.  I do use 'watch me' for that as well- it sort of depends on the circumstances.

One of the most powerful skills I learned was to teach her to touch something with her nose on command.  I use 'tag' although many people use 'touch' as the command.  I have used this to teach her games and tricks and to get her over some of her fears.  It's also a great way to distract her when I'm concerned she is going to react to something around us.  I have her 'tag' my hand or foot and she gets a treat.  I got her over her fear of plastic bags with this game!

We practice all the commands in all different circumstances so she doesn't associate the command with one situation. 

That's a lot of info- let me know if you have any questions.  Elly is by far the hardest pup I've ever dealt with- she also has separation anxiety which has been a huge challenge.  When I saw Elly's pic on the rescue web site I got excited about doing therapy work with her. She is really cute, small, and a Tripawd...the perfect therapy dog!!  But as it turns out she is very shy, has fear issues, doesn't like to be touched or held...so really the opposite of the perfect therapy dog!  Elly has made huge progress but our journey so far has taught me that you can't pick out an activity and fit the dog into it, you have to find the right activities for your dog.

Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls