Witt is a Delta Pet Partner.  He participates in animal-assisted activities with patients in a local Rehabilitation Center.  Many of the patients have orthopedic injuries and they relate well to Witt as he cheerfully hops from room to room.  No, he’s not a bunny.  He’s a mature Bernese male with a lustrous black coat that glows like polished ebony, a sparkling white bib, and twinkling dark eyes that telegraph good humor.  And he’s missing his right front leg. If you mentioned the absent leg, Witt would communicate, “So What?  I’m a happy dog with everything I need.”

He was injured at birth.  Fellow breeder, Christie, and I saw it happen. We stood in the surgery suite as the Cesarean section began.  The vet made the first incision and lifted the heavy uterine horn onto the sterile drape.  He made a second incision and grasped the first puppy around the middle.  As he lifted it through the opening, the puppy began to fall from his grasp.  First, he held the wet puppy by the shoulders, then only by one foreleg.  In the next instant, puppy slipped back through the incision.  I turned to Christie and whispered, “Well, if one of them limps, I guess we’ll know why.”  The vet enlarged the incision and lifted the puppy out.  A moment later, I forgot it all as I recorded that the first puppy was a male with brown front feet and then helped him to clear his throat and announce his own arrival.

Soon, Momma dog and her five beautiful babies were resting comfortably at home.  They were big, active puppies with good appetites.  All went well for the first few weeks.  . . .   Until the puppies started to walk. One of them was having trouble.  I thought his Dam or I must have stepped on him, but then Christie reminded me about the puppy slipping through the vet’s hands.  I checked my notes and saw that Witt, the only male with brown front feet, was the first puppy delivered that day.

An x-ray of a four-week old puppy is a scary thing.  The bones are, for the most part, still just promises represented by “buds.” But Witt’s foreleg was x-rayed and the film sent to a certified veterinary radiologist.  He responded that perinatal trauma had damaged Witt’s growth plates – in other words, the injury occurred at birth

As the puppies matured, Witt’s limp became more pronounced and, although his right foreleg grew, it did not keep up with the rest of him.  He cheerfully hobbled about the yard, fully interacting with his littermates, giving as good as he got.  But, when he was four months old, it was clear that the growth plates in his shoulder, elbow, and carpus were badly damaged.  We cried when the leg came off, but Witt was a trooper and, once he recovered from the surgery, there was no stopping him.

Now, at five years, Witt charges up and down the stairs, leaps onto the bed and into our vehicles, and bounds around the yard with our other dogs.  He loves to run and pivot on his remarkably strong rear legs.  Once he starts, his momentum propels him forward.  Then he moves smoothly and, oh, so fast. Two things are difficult for him: walking – because he has to pick up his left front leg and hop forward - and lifting a rear leg to potty.

But hopping is okay in the Rehab Center and bathroom functions are irrelevant to his job as a Delta Pet Partner.  When I first approached Gary Kammerer who conducts Delta Society Pet Partner Evaluations, I asked if some parts of the evaluation would preclude a three-legged dog from qualifying.  He mentioned one: allowing the evaluator to lift each leg and examine each paw, in succession.  We weren’t sure that Witt could balance on two legs.  Gary called Delta Society to ask about an alternative.  The Delta representative advised, “Just have the dog lie down.”  The point was to see how Witt reacted to having his paws handled by the evaluator.  Well, Witt enjoyed the nice foot massage and he passed the evaluation with flying colors.

When I told Gary I was writing this piece, he said, “You can quote me on this:  Witt is a very qualified dog for the job.  And he’s a good ambassador for the breed and the physically handicapped.”   I told Witt the “very qualified” and “good ambassador” parts, but I left out the “handicapped” bit.  Witt just wouldn’t know what that means.