"Do any of you know of a dog who had a good quality of life with three legs?" Yup. As I type, IÂm watching my 80# tripod Doberman girl screaming across the back yard after her dobi brother in play. By the way  the big boy dobi lost. (actually most any dog she engages loses) She had a rear amputation at one year and just turned 8. My immediate neighbour has lab mix with a front amputation and the director of the shelter I volunteer for has a German shepherd with a front amputation. So I can confidently say that a loss of a limb does not affect the quality of their life. My dog, these dogs donÂt even miss the leg. ItÂs a non issue for them. Tile and hardwoods did make my girl hesitant to navigate across immediately after the amputation, so if McdufÂs path includes these, IÂd suggest some temporary runners until he becomes sure of himself While you donÂt have to baby Mcduf, you should take preventive action to reduce injury to the good remaining back leg. Obviously, there will be stress on the remaining back leg and the body in general and it must be kept in mind. My girl is very well developed in her front shoulder and chest region in compensation for the amputation. My tripod girl is now starting to see the effects of bone spurs in her rear leg. Slowing down, but barely. Arthritis WILL happen. We keep the girlÂs weight on the lean side at 80#, despite piggyÂs insistence for more food and her large frame for the breed. Extra weight will just hurt her back leg. We keep the "free for alls" and out of control play-fests between her and her siblings to a minimum to reduce the stress to the back leg. When we throw the ball for her- we throw it straight ahead of her, so that she doesnÂt have to turn and pivot on the one good leg and cause more stress. We keep her on glucosamine- whether or not it works  IÂd rather be safe than sorry. We make her sit as often as we can to reduce the stress to the remaining leg. Yahoo has a disabled dogs forum. I joined years ago when the girl lost her leg, but I found that there was no reason to need help from them, as the girl did just fine with her amputation as IÂm sure Mcduf will do. Leg- what leg?

The cancer two years ago was carsino sarcoma - a very slow growing but invasive cancer. Also, this was a very telling thing -- when he was outside flies would gather right where he was having the pain. I immediately said "infection". Why else would those disgusting, blood-sucking disgusting things do this? Never did we think cancer. So he had his back leg amputated, we all grieved (including his little sister, Daisy)for awhile, until McDuff was up an running and playing and going down stairs and amazing everyone. Especially for such a huge dog (180 lbs.) to be able to support himself on three legs. Now it's two years later - a lump on his front paw. This time they don't really know what type of cancer it is. The vet gave him Rymadel and Tramadol for pain and told us 2 - 8 months. Also that he could have chemo and radiation or amputation. We decided that we would not put him through anymore. I know the medication has kicked in when he stops licking his paw. We're trying to be brave right now. We will miss him so much. And I always tell everyone that everything happens for a reason. I truly believe this. And this thinking has got me through alot of rough patches. But the day McDuff goes, will still devestate us. It will hurt down to our bones. I will try and post a picture

I'm so sorry about your precious boy. I think some people grieve more over losing our pets than losing our fellow humans. And there is nothing wrong with that. My parents lost two of their dogs this year. One in April the other in August. To this day my dad is still grieving. One of their dogs had cancer, the other had liver problems and went downhill very quickly. The had two other young dogs at the time but that didn't help the pain. My dad recently adopted two puppies, one of which is almost a spitting image of one of the dog that died of cancer. When I was there for thanksgiving, seeing this dog reminded me so much of Petey the one they lost) that I cried and its been since April that he passed away. My dad orginally called the new puppy Little Pete and my mom made him change his name because it was too similiar to the dog they lost. I know this doesn't help much now, but you have all those wonderful memories with your boy and think of what a great life you gave him. He was a very lucky dog and I'm sure he knew how much he was loved.

Thank you sylvia. I know everyone is probably sick of hearing about McDuff. I posted here 7 years ago when we first got him. remember? He would have been 7 in January, 2010. Anyway, we opened a B&B in May, 2007. I was so nervous I couldn't answer the first phone reservations! When our first guests arrived, I opened the door with Duff and Daisy right beside me. Imagine going to a B&B, and greeting the owner and two Saint Bernards? That was uff was long and tall and long and big and ....oh god, everytime I think about him, I cry.