Hi, welcome - first, everyone on the site has shared really good tips, and now that they are all collected in the book, it is a "must read". 

My 8 year old Lab Ajax had his amputation in July - I posted about his recovery throughout (search "ajax"), and just last week or so, I posted a video of him zooming through the snow.  It might make you feel good to watch.

Sadie will ABSOLUTELY  adjust and figure everything out on her own (and I was a non-believer originally).  The book is great and has lots of good tips.

Ajax did have it a little easier because it was a rear leg, but Sadie will be fine and back to driving in no time.  The carpet/floor cover mentioned above is a great tip - Ajax loves in particular his sisal rug which doubles as a "scratcher" for the side missing a scratching leg.  Also, we found that with Ajax's personality (fairly typical Lab, though perhaps a little more responsive due to being a city dog who can never just "hang out" in the back yard), the best thing was to let him go at his own pace.  More often than not, if we pushed him, it made him scared and he refused to do whatever it was until he was ready, and if we held him back, the minute we turned around he would be pushing himself to the next level.  Of course, you have to keep them safe, but 7 mos. later we think that Ajax was much smarter than us.  And he is back to his super happy self.

Good luck, write back if you need anything.  And if you are neurotic like me, and have a furry Hoover vaccuum, you are wondering "my Lab eats everything and now should I cut back the food b/c he is not running as much"?  My vet's answer was no, he needs to build strength, and our experience is that his weight did not change - I guess he was burning extra energy moving on the the 3 legs.  So that's one thing not to worry about.

Hello Sadie, 

Welcome to the club.  Our black lab did the same thing after her amputation of her right front three weeks ago for a couple of days.  I think part of it was the drugs from the surgery working through her system.  It was sort of like she did not have the confidence to lay down on her bed or the floor.  Once we put some mats down on our hard wood floors, she seemed a lot more comfortable because she stopped sliding.  Laying down was still a little tough but she managed and is now an old pro. 

Sounds like things are moving right along at your house!

Trust Sadie to find a way to make things work. If I learned nothing else from going through JD's amputation it is to trust they will do the best they can and they want to be back to their normal selves. They have such extrordinary coping powers. JD never did like to lay on her amp side, but did just fine manuvering to get to whatever she wanted when she wanted it!

And you are already 'cool' no need to work on that!!!

Thanks for posting and I look forward to updates on Sadie.

Deborah

Mom to Spirit JD and the quadpaws Serena and Maya

My Rudy had his rear leg removed this past wednesday.  He's had a hard time getting comfortable when he lays down like your Sadie.  He used to lay on his 'bad' leg too.  Rudy will be sound asleep and he'll get up and go in circles before he lays down again, usually in the same position he started in! He's tried to lay on his amputated side but he quickly figures out that it doesn't feel right, for now anyway. I think your Sadie and my Rudy will adapt with a little bit of time. I've found in this short amount of time that we have a harder time adjusting then they do! Thanks for sharing I would love to hear more about Sadie's recovery.