I haven't been on the boards for awhile, so I thought I would share some recent pictures of Gracie.

Gracie is a 13 month old pure bred Golden Retriever who was born with a deformed front leg. She came from a reputible breeder who breeds for health and temperment, and they never had a puppy born with a problem before. Gracie's dad was an agility champion as well as a paid movie / TV star. Gracie was given to us by the breeder in the hopes that we can train her to become a companion dog for our 10 year old daughter Ashley who has mild autism.

Gracie's leg is normal from the shoulder to the elbow, but her foot/paw is short, and her wrist is bent so her paw pads are turned in. Gracie still uses her paw to play with toys and to lean on. I have a friend who makes prostetics for people, and he offered to make a prosthetic leg for Gracie to try. He had previously made a leg for a horse who had gotten his leg tangled an injured in a rope, and the horse is doing very well.

We are working with Gracie wearing the prosthetic for 20-30 mins at a time. She puts weight on it when she sits and when she goes to stand up, but we still have to remind her to put weight on it to walk. She is so used to hopping. We are using a clicker and treats, so she is starting to get the connection 🙂 as soon as she stops moving, she puts the leg out and taps it on the ground in front of her, as if to say "OK, here's what you want, so where is my treat?" She is too cute. We will let her decide if she wants to use the leg or not. Right now as soon as she sees it she runs over and lays down because she knows she will get a treat once she is wearing it.

Here are some pictures 🙂

You can see puppy pictures of Gracie without her prosthetic here:

http://www.meil.....esigns.net

Kim 🙂