Hello im writing on behalf of my cousin in Australia, her labrador was attacked yesterday by a crocodile, whilst swimming in the river, the croc got a hold of the dogs back leg, the lab luckily got away, god knows how! my cousin rushed the dog to the vet, trouble is the bite is extremely deep and large and the vets want to remove the back leg, she has rung me for advice but i dont have any experience on how dogs cope with 3 legs!????? help please... :(

I know of two dogs that have had a leg removed later in life and they both run around perfectly normal. :-)

Most dogs cope very well on three legs.

Usually, they cope much better having lost a back leg rather than front leg, as the front legs in a quadruped carry all the weight.

So a fit healthy labrador with just one back leg shouldnt be too much of an issue (as long as he has good hips). A fat unhealthy one losing a FRONT leg would be a much more serious issue!

Em