Roo, a five-month-old pup who started out life in Romania before arriving at British Safe Rescue For Dogs, has been getting a lot of attention from the international press lately.
Cute, happy dogs are pretty much a dime a dozen on the Internet. However, Roo is uniquely photogenic in a particular way. Despite the fact that she’s missing both front legs, Roo manages to get around very happily by hopping on the back two, hence her name.
After her trip from Romania, Roo found a home with Nikki and Ian Dick, a couple from Northumberland, England. They say that on first glance, many people do think that Roo is a small marsupial instead of a dog. “Roo doesn’t know any different to hopping on her two back legs, but she still laps up all the fuss from people who always stop and do a double take when they see her because they think she is a kangaroo,” Nikki Dick told The Telegraph. “At first glance she really does look like a kangaroo and even stands up on her back legs and hops along, too.”
According to the staff of Safe Rescue, they think that Roo was born with one leg missing, then lost the other in an accident soon after. Kelly Hare, the co-founder and director of the organization says it brought Roo to the UK because there was no chance of finding her a home in her native country. When Roo made it to Britain, though, Hare was surprised to find how well she’d adapted. “I was expecting a meek little puppy given what she had been through,” Hare said in the Telegraph article, “but she was full of beans from the moment she arrived. She didn’t stop jumping around, and her favorite trick was to bounce off the sofa onto the other dogs.”
Hopping on her back legs lets Roo live a happy, playful life, but it also means that some extra care is involved, too. The bodies of dogs have evolved to walk with the hips and spine horizontal, not upright. So, while Roo may have fun running around on her hind legs, it also causes some back problems. The Dicks take her to get special treatments every week to ease any long-term discomfort that she might have. “She is very independent, and it doesn’t hold her back at all,” Nikki Dick said. “Though if we are going on a long walk, we will take a puppy carrier to give her a little rest when she needs it.”
Roo’s family and British Safe Rescue for Dogs are trying to get her outfitted with wheels so that she can get around a little bit more like a dog and less like a kangaroo. If you want to donate to getting Roo some wheels or other aspects of her care, Safe Rescue is accepting funds via PayPal at saferescue@hotmail.co.uk. Money specifically for Roo should be marked ROOS WHEELS.
Via The Telegraph and Safe Rescue for Dogs
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