Precious boys Max and Gogo have shared their first year in the UK together and here is what happened:

MAX’s journey began with a visit to our lovely vet clinic here in Cornwall. They were as impressed as we were by the agility tha Max expressed on his 2 remaining legs. Max surprised us all and keeps doing so. Sadly he does not qualify for a prosthesis as we had so hoped. There is just not enough bone left on his hind leg stump to attach such a walking aid. We are considering a cart for our boy, but he is just so happy and fast on his 2 legs that it would be a shame to take that away from him. A cart would be quite restrictive. The head vet here in our clinic as well as the specialist in Exeter agree with this. However, from time to time we see Max licking the joint on his front leg which could be an early sign of strain. It was explained to us that the main part of the body weight (about 60%) is supported by the front legs and with poor Max... there is sadly only one to take the load. One of our supporters, Marie, has kindly and generously donated for Max so that we could try a leg brace to give him additional support. This is quite a recent venture and poor Max decided that his leg was missing when we put the brace on him for the very first time. He was just so scared to walk. But he is such a wonderfully spirited boy and his courage took over and he learned to walk and run within a very short time. In the meantime we have found someone who would make a cart for Max and it is something we would like to try for him in time. As it is a specialist cart we will be looking at approx £500-700 for this device for Max. 

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Apart from his leg challenges Max is enjoying life with his doggy friends here at the rescue. And of course he is still very close to his friend Gogo who remains his closest friend to this very day. Both dogs have matured into handsome young adult boys now.

A dog like Max was a first for us here at Paws2Freedom. A dog with two legs and both on the SAME side? We had trouble imagining it and how he would get on. We told our vet about him before Max arrived and they could not see him being very agile either. But to all our surprise the dog who arrived was very agile indeed. Nothing seemed to hold him back. It was like nobody told him that he had a double amputation! We are in total awe of Max. He ran with the others, played, jumped and rolled. What a dog! The only thing he cannot do is climb the stairs, but we just carry him and this works very well. Max amazed us so much that we decided to keep him as an educator dog to be taken to fundraising events. People need to see that dogs like him can have a wonderful quality of life and should not be put to sleep as is sadly often advises. Max really changed our point of view in a massive way. 

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And of course little Gogo has to stay too as long as Max remains as part of the rescue. They are just so bonded it is heart warming to see. 

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GOGO is also enjoying life here with his doggy friends and has a lot of fun each day. But the little chap was so eager and in such a hurry to grow up and so wild in his running and playing that he sadly developed a bone condition called carpal valgus in his left leg. We took him to a specialist in Exeter who recommended surgery as the leg is quite noticably deformed. We were given the option of surgery for this little pocket-rocket of a dog, but after speaking to more people who are living with dogs with the same condition and some even worse than little Gogo we decided to not go ahead as he is pain free and very happy in himself. 

So both these lovely young boys are having leg challenges which need support to one degree or another. Some right now as in the case of Max who has started hydro therapy and most likely late in life if at all with little Gogo. If you would like to support them please donate as little or as much as you can. We here at Paws2freedom and of course Max & Gogo will be ever so grateful for your help.

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And here a few photos for you to enjoy which we have taken over the past year of them both and their doggy friends.