For a two-legged puppy, Hope gets around.
The sprightly Maltese can bounce across a room at a break-neck pace. Rounding her small back, she uses her hind legs to propel her body forward onto her chest, which has small wriggling nubs where her front legs should be.
“She gets around fine,” said the puppy’s rehabilitation specialist, Cassy Englert of River Veterinary Emergency Clinic on Amnicola Highway. “She never knew anything other than hopping like she did. ... The hardest thing is teaching her a new way to get around that’s going to actually be better for her.”
A Chattanooga orthotist with Dynamic Prosthetic & Orthotic on McCallie Avenue created a device he hoped would give Hope a more normal gait.
“Once she quits growing and gets to her full size, she will need another one,” local orthotist David Turnbill said. “Prosthetic care is an ongoing cycle.”
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