Hope’s story with Headrock Dogs Healing centre began 29th June 2017

We rescued Hope and took her back to the healing centre with a temperature of 39.9 C. She looked very dehydrated so we gave her lots of electrolytes and pain killers for her front leg which we bandaged. She was in terrible pain but knew we were trying to help her. Hope slept in bliss for 2 days, probably the first time she’d ever slept on a comfortable bed. After 3 days we realised that her broken front leg was too serious for us to treat.

Front Leg Amputated

We took Hope on the long, 200km drive to a large veterinary hospital. Her front leg was x-rayed. Devastatingly we were told that she needed to have her front leg amputated, leaving her with only one good leg. Her future looked so bleak. Hope’s amputation went OK and she managed to sit up. She was living in plaster support to help realign her spine and see if it helps her leg in any way, but it left her with nasty sores.

After she was discharged from the hospital we bought her back to the healing centre, this would be her forever new home. She was still very nervous, painfully thin and her poor legs were covered in sores. Hope was a model patient. After a few days, her operation sutures were taken out as her wound had healed well.

Hope Loves to be Outside

Hope is a strong-willed determined dog. Despite her paralysis, her muscles are well developed and her front leg is incredibly strong. Over the years she has become very independent and loves to hop around on the grass and play with her friends. Her constant movement caused drag wounds and pressure wounds on her back legs. We needed a solution to keep her mobile. That solution had to be a wheelchair.

Hope's Wheelchair Arrived from the USA

We’d been waiting months to post these great pictures of Hope in her very own beautiful wheelchair!!!

A huge thanks to 3 wonderful people who made this happen. Tom Reiner, Tina Sumner, Gill Callandar who donated so generously and Hope's fantastic sponsors Matteo Staffaroni in the US who gave incredible support through the extremely difficult ordering process. It took over 3 months to finally get what we wanted. Hope's case is definitely 'out of the box' extraordinary. Not many people ask for a wheelchair for a one-legged dog.

Hope we're so proud of you!

We've been giving Hope several 5 to 10-minute sessions in her wheelchair as instructed by Walking Wheels. She's nervous when we first lift her into it but after a few minutes of talking to her, she relaxes. Hope has had many practice sessions in her wheelchair and she is slowly beginning to become mobile without our help. The future looks very bright.