Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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We foster failed for a rescue and now have a 2 year old 68 pound border collie with a front leg amputation. We have had him about 4-5 months and is been 6 months since his amputation, due to injury.
My question is how can you tell if your dog is really fatigued or is just being stubborn? He will blow around the yard with his buddy (2 year old corgi terrier low rider). However when I take him places or he just decides he doesn't want to do something be will just lie down. I have been a vet tech for years, now retired,I know when a dog is in distress but I'm stumped. I don't want to encourage him to get up and train if he's tired or having trouble. But I get the distinct impression he has figured out that he won't hand to do things if he just lays down.
Any suggestions,comments, jokes or commiseration welcome.
Thanks,
Tova 
Hello and welcome, your future posts will not have to wait for approval.
I'm sorry, but I'm laughing a little... reminds me of my pug Maggie, she was a rear amp. She was quite stubborn before her amp and got worse after it. I had a stroller for her that I would use on walks, she would sit by the wheels when she was tired and wanted a ride. Except I found out that she would walk twice as far with my Dad when he didn't take the stroller!
Oh, and congrats on your failure!
I have a little pug mix rear amp tripawd now who is about 15 months old, I adopted her when she was about 10 months old and 3 months past her amp. She played a lot at her foster home but there was no walks and no structured strength training.
Core strength is huge for tripawds- check out training and exercise ideas in the Gear Blog .
So with my little girl Elly I can tell she is really tired because she will sit instead of stand when we are playing. She will walk and play way longer than is good for her so I have to regulate.
It does sound to me like he is playing you a bit 
. When you try to take him places or train is it the first thing he does or is it after play?
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
His core strength has been coming along nicely. He flies around the back yard up and over things giving me a heart attack, the lovable bugger lol! He looks like a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Master when he plays, I have to be the referee.
He will do it in the beginning of training and after playing. After playing I understand, but I think he's just pulling one on me when he does it in the beginning. He also enjoys just sitting in the sun staring at the birds, making sure they don't do whatever it is herding breeds think they are going to do if they take their eyes off of them. So he has a bit-o selective herding hearing. 
I think we are going to do more obedience and that will tease out the truth!
I've been doing some really fun classes with Elly on Strength and Balance. At first she was so skittish she wouldn't even touch the equipment, but she has progressed to balancing on a FitBone with all three without help!
She also seems to like learning new things- I've taught her to spin and turn, shake, sit-pretty and roll over. One of our trainers said rolling over and sitting up or sitting pretty are great for core strength. Elly doesn't have any of her femur left so balancing on her butt doesn't really work for her. She puts one front paw on my hand to balance.
Karen
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Yup we are working on sitting pretty, we call it please. Also on "high five" which is sorting pretty and giving a high five. My 10 year old lab does it so Sam (our tripaw) is now trying it. Always helps when there is someone else doing it and getting puppy crack( freeze dried lung bits) for it.
Our Sam also likes to dig...with one front leg...to China. It doesn't bother me because it is great for his core as he balances on his back legs while lifting that front to dig.
I've been checking out the gear,exercise articles, blogs and posts and am starting to incorporate it.
Tova
Awesome!
I started a blog for Elly if you want to see some pictures.
Elly tried to dig outside occasionally but has trouble balancing on her back leg. She used to dig in this old bed we had- it was funny and a great workout!
Karen
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Would love to know the answer to this! We are almost 2 months out, and Otis still lays down at house 5 on a 7 house walk. I am getting kind of tired of it - I still have to walk Tess and get myself to work and standing there doing nothing while he sniffs the air and looks around is not productive. Yet I am hesitant to try to get him up and moving again for fear that he might really be exhausted.
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
Dogs don't know how to fake it, that's more of a human thing. Rehab vets tell us that Anytime a dog sits down on a walk it's a symptom of fatigue. I know it seems like two steps forward one step back, but he's really trying to tell you in Doglish that he's not ready for house #7.
Tova, welcome! I like your idea about the obedience training.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Jerry,
While I agree with you that animals don't "lie" they DO exhibit the same behavior for different reasons. If I call Sam to come in and he sits down he is doing it because he wants to stay out and herd birds( i.e. stare at them), not because he is suddenly instantaneously exhausted when I ask him to come in.
Many dogs will put on the breaks and sit or lie down, making their center of gravity lower when they don't want to do something. Think 2 dogs playing tug and one flops down so it makes it harder for the other to drag him around. *this occurs in our house all the time, the 4 legged corgi,Shorty, does this to tripaw Sam when they play tag. It's hilarious, looks like Sam is cleaning floor with a particularly cruffy mop*
So what I am trying to figure out is WHY he doesn't want to continue. Is it because he's fatigued and it might be detrimental to continue OR because he just doesn't want to continue and wants to do something else i.e.: wants a treat, thinks he's missing out on whatever the other 2 dogs are doing at home, there is a critter I can't see and he wants to stare it down, wants to ride in a cart etc.
Otisandtess,
Give it some time. He might feel a little unsure if you could walk both of your dogs together it might be go better if he had a bathroom buddy.
And you will be surprised by their progress sometimes it feels like it happens all at once because we can't see the little improvement, but I know he's making them.
Tova
I have never walked them together. Although they are both good on the lead individually, they get silly when they are together and they outweigh me. I have taken a spill or two because they saw a squirrel before I did. Right now, Tess goes farther than I could expect of Otis and the exercise is good for her (cruciate repair over the summer). I wish I could walk Tess first, but Otis expects and demands to go first. I really suspect that he knows I am a wimp and he just wants to prolong his time outside while smelling the smells from a different vantage point. Before surgery, if he was sprawled out on my bed, I would push him over to one side so I can sleep. Now, I try to sleep around him because I am afraid of hurting him. Same with the walks - I am afraid to get him up thinking I may get hurt him.
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
I have to agree with you Tova on the lying vs faking or wanting to do something else (although faking makes a better title!).
From the time Maggie was a puppy she would sit down on walks if she didn't want to go somewhere. And when I would take the girls walking somewhere they didn't want to go they would drag behind me like it was all they could do to take another step, but when I said lets go home they would tow me like sled dogs all the way to the truck.
It is more complicated with a tripawd though, especially one you don't know very well, i.e. you didn't know them before their amp. That is the situation we are in with my Elly and your Sam maybe? And being so young I feel like Elly will go much farther and do much more before she realizes she is tired. It has been hard for me to judge, although I think I am getting better at it, but it is sometimes impossible to tell how tired she is until the end of the day.
And I'm sorry but I giggled a little at the picture of you walking both Otis and Tess 
. In the last class I took with Elly there were two Danes, a 6 month old and a 3 or 4 year old. Each of them had to outweigh the person on the other end of the leash (it was a mother and daughter duo). Almost all of the equipment we used was bigger than Elly, I think the biggest peanut balance thing hit the 'puppy' at belly level!
Karen
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Hahaha I didn't realize it was a Dane. Yeah...walking together maybe not the best idea. Giggle away, serves me right!
And you are correct, since I didn't know Sam before his amp figuring it out is a bit tougher like your Elly. It does make me nervous that they are so young and might do to much. Sam was playing char me with Shorty and leapt off of the 3+ foot high deck and just kept on running...meanwhile I had a heart attack and yelled at him to stop. Which he did for the 2 seconds it took him to look at me with the innocent "what's the big deal mom? " face before continuing his game.
Otisandtess,
I found that the biggest improvement I saw was between 2-4 months and then again between 4-6. It just seems like something clicks and poof one day you will be like hey they couldn't do that before! !! When did they stay being able to do that! ?!
It can be tedious and frustrating but it gets better I promise
I should also mention that when Otis first started walking post-amp, when he would rest, he clearly needed to. He was breathing heavy, and we would wait until his breathing slowed down and he got up again. Not so anymore - I think it has just become a habit.
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
I thought of another indication I got from Maggie when she was a new tripawd, she was a rear amp so it would be different for Sam probably.
When she got tired her back end would wobble a little or sway, and sometimes her butt would start sinking. It was very clear that her back end and leg were fatiguing and she would plop down. This was early on in her recovery, I don't remember how long it took but at some point she stopped doing the wobble altogether, I'm guessing because of gained strength and balance.
I've not seen Elly ever do the wobble, but she was 3 months post amp when I got her.
Karen
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
LOL Tova! I'm just thinking about my own border collie mix and thinking about how clever she is.
I like to think it's not so much "faking" as "playing" you. Gosh knows my Melody "plays" me ALL THE TIME! And she's a quad-paw!
Harmony became a Tripawd on 10/21/14 (MCT). She left us way too soon on 11/1/14.
"We miss you so much; our love, our heart, our Harmony."
- Pam, Ron and Melody, Meesha, Doublestuff and Mariah Carey
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