Moose was surrendered by his owner to vet Dr. Calderon when an untreated injury to his hind leg resulted in an infection so severe that the leg had to be amputated. The owner did not want to spend the money for treatment, and did not want a three-legged dog. He told the vet to destroy the dog. We met Moose when Dr. Calderon called us to come see him. Even severely injured and in obvious pain Moose was sweet and loving. He just melted our hearts. We saw no reason to euthanize a dog with such a lovely character, so we stepped in to pay for the surgery.
Once his leg healed at the vet clinic, we planned to bring Moose up to the rescue. Unfortunately (or fortunately) he suffered a gastric torsion just before we claimed him. Moose underwent emergency surgery to untwist his intestines and relieve his bloat. The vet did a gastroplexy to ensure that this did not happen again. Once recovered, Moose moved up the mountain to begin his rehab and training with us.
Moose is a young (1 -1 1/2 year old) chocolate lab. He was a working dog, apparently sniffing termites for his owner who ran a pest control company.
He had been attacked by dogs (possibly while injured), and has many scars on his remaining hind leg and on his ears. He was overweight on intake, but otherwise seemed healthy.
Moose is an extremely sweet, loving and affectionate dog. He loves everyone and everything. He seems to have absolutely no idea that he has one less leg than his dog friends, and keeps up with everyone in the pack with no trouble at all. He plays with every dog he meets, shares toys, fetches and plays tug games with anyone interested.
Moose loves to chew, and loves to play with things, so he needs to be gently directed to things that are acceptable to chew, and given lots of chewable objects. He has a very gentle mouth on people, but can dissect a stuffed toy in minutes. He does bark when excited, or when waiting for his dinner. He has a big bark. He also has a truly remarkable sense of smell (even for a dog!), and loves to find things with his nose. He is very smart, very connected to his handler, and loves to train (we use clicker training)-being a lab, he loves food, so responds very well to food reward based training.
Moose is now at his perfect weight, and has adapted to his three-legged state perfectly. His remaining hind leg and hip are now extremely strong, and he can run as fast and long, and keep up with all the four legged dogs in the rescue.
Moose has not lived in a home-we believe that he was kept outside in a kennel with his previous owner. So his adoptive home needs to understand that he will need gentle and loving guidance in learning the rules of life inside a house…. not stealing the paper out of the bin, not chewing up a shoe, etc. He learns fast and wants to please, but he needs some time to experience living inside a home. He would love to be a couch potato and curl up on a sofa or at your feet. He relaxes and settles on the floor near our desk when working at home.
Moose is incredibly smart and very attuned to his handler. He is clicker trained and ready to learn tricks, or anything you might want to teach him. He works very willingly for food or toys and games. He is a happy, fun loving dog.
Moose was adopted by a family in Nevada and travels the country with them in their camper.
