Run Derby, Run!

Derby was born with limb differences in his front legs where they do not have all the bones that they should. Although his foster mom did try to create a solution by putting wheels under him, the wheels still did not allow him to turn quickly or to run like his foster family was hoping.

Derrick Campana, CO of Animal Ortho Care and his team found a way to help Derby the same way that the team of folks from E-nable are helping children with limb differences, using a 3-D printer. I spoke to Derrick about Derby last week. Derrick said that Derby was a new challenge to Animal Ortho Care. They often make legs for dogs that have amputations or braces to help dogs. However, for Derby they had to figure out how to help him with legs that would accommodate his different feet. Their first thought was to make Derby some blades like humans with limb differences use to run. However, they soon figured out that the blades would not work the same in a dog as in a human. Then they came up with the innovative design that could be printed on a 3-D printer.

When designing Derby’s feet, the goal was to keep Derby close to the ground in the beginning so that he didn’t have trouble learning balance and could get used to his new feet. He has since received more sets of feet that are higher and he will soon be running on full height feet!

Derby is a pioneer in the field of helping dogs with limb differences run. With his help, more dogs will soon be able to go for walks, and even run.