Furgus the Great Dane spent most of his life hobbling around on three legs because he was born without a front left paw. Because of this, Furgus struggled to learn how to walk as a puppy, while the rest of his four-legged siblings got to run and jump around as they pleased.
Furgus’ owners, Bill and Pam Lawrence, adopted the pup when he was 4 months old. Then, they looked everywhere to find something that could help the dear dog.
Eventually, they reached out to Tom Whitehurst of Riverside Orthotics and Prosthetics. Tom is definitely the man you’d want to see if you needed a prosthesis as a human — he actually made one for Bill’s dad, who was Tom’s first patient.
The only thing is that when the Lawrence reached out to Tom, he had never made a prosthesis for a dog before. Tom, however, thought he would give it a go to see if he could help Furgus.
Tom was able to craft a prosthetic leg for the Great Dane using a prosthetic for the arm of a child, and it worked like a charm. There were some trial and error, of course, but Tom was eventually able to craft a functional faux limb for Furgus.
Furgus is quickly learning to adjust to his new leg and is being trained as a service dog. Thanks to Tom, Furgus will one day be able to help humans who have prosthetic limbs just like he does.
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