Tumbles, a six-week-old Terrier, was born without his two front legs but that never stopped him.
“As far as he knows he’s just a normal puppy,” foster mom Karen Pilcher told WBNS-10TV.
Pilcher, who works with the non-profit rescue dog organization Friends of the Shelter Dogs, said that, until now, she had never encountered a two-legged canine in her 32 years working with rescues.
Tumbles scoots around using his back legs, but when he was a newborn, he had trouble getting to his mother for milk.
That’s when technicians at the Ohio University Innovation Center stepped in to build him a set of wheels with their 3D printer.
“This is the first functional prosthetic we’ve done using this printer,” said lab director Joe Jollick. “The trickiest part is getting the dog to use it.”
The first prototype of the wheelchair was produced last week, but was too large for Tumbles.
Eventually, a smaller and better fitting sled was designed for him and soon there will be no stopping him.
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