Three-legged dog who survived tragic fall needs a home

Stitch is as brave and resilient as they come. Since falling from a two-storey window and being abandoned, the one-year-old mastiff has endured more pain, frustration and disappointment any dog could fear in an entire lifetime. 

He arrived at the doors of our Victoria animal hospital in central London in July after suffering a badly broken leg in the accident. He had been in agony for days.

Our vets repaired the fracture and while the operation was successful, his owner never returned to collect poor Stitch, and he found himself without a home with a long road of recovery ahead.

We took him to our Burford rehoming centre to continue his care and rehabilitation, but it soon became clear that keeping Stitch rested to allow his leg to heal was going to be near to impossible.

Animal Welfare Assistant, Rachel Hazley, said: “He was pulling the stitches out – which is why we called him Stitch – so he had to keep going in for treatment for that. But because it was such a severe break, he needed six weeks of crate rest and he just couldn’t cope with it and was becoming unhandleable.”

Due his increasing setbacks and frustrations, vets decided that Stitch’s best chance laid with a leg amputation. 

“Although there were massive considerations for a dog of his size being three-legged, the recovery time from the amputation was only a week or so,” said Rachel.

Stitch bounced back from the operation quickly and soon adapted to life on three legs with ease.
 

Rachel continued: “He’s done incredibly well. I think the hardest thing for him is fitness. He was really underweight when he arrived and had no muscles at all, whereas usually if a dog was having a leg amputated we would make sure they were fit and healthy with good muscles to support them.”

But for a dog so young to have gone through so much, with little known exposure to the world prior to his accident, his physical healing has been just part of the rehabilitation process.

Understandably, he was terrified at first and has had to overcome many behaviour challenges already.

Rachel explained: “When he first came here, he was really scared. He was hiding at the back of his kennel and growling a little bit in fear. So, we had to be quite hands-off. 

“But it didn’t take too long – maybe only a week or so, and that confidence of: ‘Oh I’m quite safe here and it’s actually quite nice’ set in. And with regular visits from the same person he built that trust quite quickly.”

Having gained Stitch’s trust, the team got to work on the basic training he had lacked.

“Basically, the work we’ve done with him is what you would do with a tiny puppy. He didn’t have a response to his name and eye contact was really difficult for him as well, so we had to teach eye contact and even smiling at him – he didn’t know what that meant.” 

One of his biggest ongoing challenges is the worry he feels when he has things taken away from him and this is likely to need continued work in his new home.
 

Rachel said: “He panics when things are taken away. If he grabs something that he thinks he can’t have, the pressure that he feels if you try to take it from him just blows his mind. So, we’re trying not to take anything from him, even if he shouldn’t have it – unless it poses a risk to him. But it means we have to prep every area and make it Stitch-proof, much like you would with a small puppy.

“Things like ‘sit’, we’re not doing with him so that we don’t put any pressure on that area. Instead, he does things like ‘touch’ – hopefully, with a view that if he grabs something we can say ‘touch this’ and he’ll drop it, rather than us having to try to take it off of him.”

Despite his disability, Stitch is an active dog who needs equally energetic owners who can keep up with his large stride on-lead due to the leaps he takes to make up for missing a leg.

But he’s already been at the centre for two months and the team need to urgently find him a new home.

Rachel explained: “He’s getting frustrated as he wants to get out and do more stuff. In a home environment, when he’s just got more freedom and can run around a bit more, those training sessions can be a bit more structured for him and he’ll pick it up easier.”

The team are sure that with an experienced owner in the right environment, Stitch can thrive and grow to be a wonderful companion for someone.

Rachel added: “He’s brave, resilient and really playful. He’s got a lovely cuddly side as well – he’s affectionate, but he needs his outlets first to use up his energy, like tugging games. 

“He really is amazing considering what he’s been though – all that poking and prodding he’s had from strangers. His first experience outside the home was horrific pain and lots of invasive stuff being done to him, it’s incredible that he even likes anyone really. He’ll make a great dog; it’ll just take some work to get there.”

Does Stitch sound like the pet for you? Find out more about rehoming him.