Hi everybody, thought i'd introduce us both to this amazing community. I'm Jill mum to ilean, an old tyme bulldog x breed.  

This is all so new to me (i've never owned a tripaw before), It all started 6 month's ago when I was browsing through facebook, I wasn't really even looking to get a dog at the time (my previous dog had gone to the rainbow bridge & I just couldn't face getting another) but I follow my local dog rescue centre, they always post new dogs that need re-homing on there that they've found abandoned & roaming the streets.  A picture popped up of ilean (who they had named tri-pod) I fell in love with her instantly!

The following day I went to the rescue centre to meet her hoping that somebody hadn't already taken her, she came bounding out, gave me the biggest kiss and jumped all over me, i knew straight away that she was definately the furbaby for me. I could'nt bring her home with me straight away though as she had a few issues, ear infections, a really bad case of cherry eye & kennel cough.

This actually gave me time to get my house all sorted out for her arrival though, I had wooden floor but got it covered with carpet to make sure she didn't hurt herself sliding everywhere.

The rescue centre had arranged with local vets to get her cherry eye done before I collected her & were supposed to be calling me to let me know how everything went, but after a few days of not hearing anything (I was beginning to get worried that something had gone wrong with the operation) I was calling them about 20 times a day & just getting an answerphone, somebody eventually got back in touch. The cherry eye was too serious for their vet to do so were going to refer her somewhere else, so I could go & collect her.

I could'nt wait to get her home & out of the cold kennels, she took a little while to settle in everything was obviously new to her & I have absolutely no idea of her background.  All I know is she was found roaming the streets & picked up by the dog warden. I do know that if she was lost though she would'nt be hard to find would she with 3 legs, so nobody has bothered looking for her.

My beautiful little furbaby has now had her cherry eye fixed(i've been told it could still pop out again though), the vets have told me that her 3 legs are due to a birth defect and think that she's between 18 months/2 years old.  She is the happiest, friendliest loving dog ever, she loves everybody she meets.

I've done so much research for the best harness for front leg tripawd dogs & eventually bought one called a perfect fit harness, problem is with ilean she still has a little stump where her 4th leg should be so where the harness fits right behind her legs, her stump rubs, I thought i'd solved the problem by cutting up fleece fabric & stitching it over where her stump goes, it did work for a while.  Now when the harness gets wet & mud sticks to the fleece it rubs on her like mad its like sandpaper on her soft skin.  I don't know what to do, does anybody have advice about harnesses that sit further back from right behind a dogs front legs?  Or do would a t-shirt put on before the harness help, I'm worried once that gets dirty that might rub like mad as well.

I'm so glad to have found this site there's so much information for new mums/dads of tripaws

Thanks Ilean & Jill x