119-Pound Dog With Bad Feet Had To Tiptoe Everywhere Video — Watch Her Run! | The Dodo Comeback Kids

Lumen's a Great Dane who was born with bad feet. She was rescued by a couple who has helped so many special needs dogs and has a pack of their own, but she was in so much pain she could only walk on her tiptoes. Lumen got surgery and had prosthetic legs made just for her — and they cracked under all her weight. Her second set of prosthetics didn't work either. Watch what happens when she finally gets the right legs!

Video Script:: 

Lumen walks up on her tiptoes sort of like a ballerina
with pointe shoes. She was born without her main
paw pad on all four feet, and that’s the
weight-bearing pad. She doesn’t have any toes. Lumen is growing
at an alarming rate. She’s a Great Dane, so she’s going to be well over
100 pounds once she’s full-grown. Christine and I have been at Luvable
Dog Rescue for about six years. We received a message that a Great Dane puppy was abandoned
in a box in Tijuana, Mexico. And she was born with
deformities, and is deaf. I instantly wanted to
go scoop her right up. Lumen was really nervous
when she came home. She definitely hadn’t spent
time around other dogs. Atticus seems to have taken on the
big brother role with Lumen. And we’ve noticed already
that Lumen and Wicket, our foster puppy that
was born with no eyes, have become best friends. And the pack has been
a huge help to Lumen in helping her discover herself. She’s growing more emotionally, and just flourishing
from the relationships. Lumen has such a fighter spirit. She’s just raring to
play with her pack, and doesn’t want
to be slowed down. Our vet advised that we get her
in to see an orthopedic specialist, who felt like she wouldn’t
make it past six months old. And advised that we euthanize her. It was a really
devastating meeting. So we’re going to
get a second opinion. They felt like we could
do some surgery to create toes. We are not giving up on her. They have told us Lumen won’t be able
to walk within the next month if she doesn’t get
surgery right away. So at this point surgery feels
like the only option for Lumen. Lumen’s doing a
great job at healing. She acts like she didn’t
even just have surgery. - We’ve got to go home, weirdo. - Everyone has taken
such good care of her that she didn’t even want to leave
the hospital after her surgery. - Lumen, you don’t want
to leave the office? Come on.
Good girl. Hey, I’ll go with you in your truck.
[Laughing] - You can work for me. - It’s been about six months
since Lumen’s last surgery. Even though the
surgeries helped, she still doesn’t have the ability to distribute her weight on
her feet like a normal dog. So we’d like to be able to
get her some prosthetics so that she can use
those to go outside and experience
more of the world. Now that she has prosthetics she can join the pack
like a regular dog. And it’s just changing her life
by opening up her world. Lumen’s going through
constant growth spurts. So her feet are growing
and changing all the time. She’s going through
prosthetics like crazy. When they break or
she outgrows them, we sort of have
a little hiatus where she doesn't get to
wear them for a while. She’s stuck inside more. She definitely gets
really bummed out when the other dogs go outside
without her and she can't join them. It’s definitely a helpless feeling when we can tell that she just
wants to be able to go outside, and play and be normal. We try to make up for it with
enrichment and games inside, but nothing will ever be the same
as running outside with her pack. - Good morning, Lumen. Now we’re making some
of Lumen’s meds. She gets meds twice a day. - Now that Lumen’s full-grown, we definitely are seeing a
lot more issues with her feet than when she was a small puppy. But as of right now, she still has a
great quality of life. As long as Lumen’s
fighting for herself, we’re going to keep
fighting for her. It’s really funny now that Lumen has
gotten so much bigger than Atticus. He still plays with her
like she’s a tiny puppy, but she can just
bowl him right over since she’s three times his size. - Derrick at Bionic Pets has been working on orthotics
since Lumen was a puppy. He’s making a brand-new
design just for Lumen. He hasn’t tried this out on
any of his other patients yet, so we’re really excited to see
if this style will work for her. - Come on. Good! [Laughing] Yay Lumen! Can you get your rope? Yeah? - This new orthotic design
basically suspends her feet so that she’s not actually putting all
of the pressure down on her toes. But with that, there is a lot of weight
bearing around the joists. - It’s already cracking. Is that from her weight? - Wow, okay. - Yeah, I was like,
oh man, already? - We’ll get her.
We’re getting closer. My hope is that we can
keep building upon this design. That’s what I want to do. - We’re going to send
those back to Derrick, and hopefully he can
seal those back up and get something a
little sturdier for her. - All right guys, ready?
We’re going to the pole barn. - Here in Oregon it definitely
rains most of the year. So we built a pole barn that
has an agility course inside. So it’s kind of like
a fun playground where the dogs could
still go run and play, and even if it’s kind
of yucky outside. Definitely one of the most
exciting parts of the day, but Lumen’s always left out. The gravel is really
hard on her feet. And if she goes just even one time,
she’ll start developing ulcers. - The other dogs get
worried when she’s upset. And she definitely feels sad
when she can’t join the fun. So hopefully we’ll
get the orthotics, and we can start having Lumen
run around with her pack. - It’s now sunny out,
and beautiful weather. And Lumen is just
dying to get outside, because everybody is having so
much fun outside without her. - Lumen’s prosthetics arrived today.
We’re so excited! Your prosthetics arrived! - So we are definitely anxious to get
the next set of prosthetics on her so that she can enjoy the
summer with the rest of the pack. - So pretty! - Unicorns and donuts? Ready? Let’s roll. All right, Lumen! - I’m trying to figure out why her left foot
is twisting more than that one. - Yeah, I don’t like
the way it’s moving at all. - It definitely isn’t fitting in
there exactly like it should. - It may be a bit too narrow. - We’re not sure if Lumen’s feet
have changed a little bit, or what’s fitting differently, but this left one isn’t
fitting on quite like it should. Her foot is sort of pivoting in a sideways position. - It’s kind of a trial
and error game, but getting something to work
exactly right has been really difficult. And that’s just sort of the name of the
game with prosthetics, it seems like. - Lumen obviously is so excited
to be out in the backyard, but her foot and her
gait is definitely off. We wish that everything could just
work for her the way we want it to. - So we just got Lumen’s
prosthetics back. One of the problems is
it’s kind of too hard to compress this area together. So what I need to do is make it
so this shell comes in a little. We’ve got to get the
angles right on them. We’re going to add some
pads to the inside, and add some
straps that are static. That don’t stretch. I’m not giving up on Lumen. She’s an awesome dog. And here we are. Lumen’s newly modified prosthetic legs. And ready to ship them out. So let’s do it. - They’re here! Ooh, those look like good ones! Got the right foot on. Good girl. Are you ready for your left foot? That looks great. All right. Going up. You’re so excited. You know where
we’re going, don’t you? So excited! Yay pole barn! - Come on!
Come on, this way! - She’s so happy. Are you excited, Lumen? - It’s been such
an incredible journey since the day we
brought Lumen home. She has grown and developed
into such a beautiful dog. She’s just so happy
and full of life. She still has that puppy enthusiasm for everything that she does
and gets to be a part of. And we just want to give her
the best experiences possible.