As Seen on Montel Williams

Dog Named Faith Walks on 2 Legs

My dog Faith was born very small, the runt of the litter. She had no right front leg and a left leg that was upside down and backwards placed at the shoulder, rather than at the front of the body. That limb had grown, but did not have a joint where the elbow should be, and it had seven toes.

Her mother, Princess, had a uterine infection that caused these abnormalities. Princess tried to suffocate Faith at birth. Faith had been too small to suckle, so her mother lay on her. By the time my son found Faith, she was in a state of exhaustion and fear. She was about three months old when she decided to walk on her own.

It was not easy to train Faith to walk upright. The back of her legs looked like rabbit legs, so we decided to teach her to sit up on the longer haunches, like a rabbit, rather than on the ball of her foot, like a normal dog. Then we trained her to balance by using peanut butter on the end of a spoon. If she balanced and kept her head up, she would get rewarded.

After she learned to sit up, she began hopping to us for Gummy Bears. It started to progress from hopping to walking when we stuck her out in the snow. I was fostering a Corgi puppy that herded sheep and cattle. One day he ran behind Faith and bit her on the heel and took off. Faith ran after him. It was my son’s eighteenth birthday; he couldn’t have asked for a better gift.

She doesn’t catch sticks, or balls, but she will catch food. When I was on Montel Williams, I said Faith didn't have any problems with her hips, but she may face problems when she’s older. Veterinarians don’t understand why or how she walks upright. The muscles that surround the spine have actually changed to support walking. Miracle or evolution?

Faith was commissioned as a US Army Sergeant out of Fort Louis in Seattle, Washington. She outranks my son, who is now a private first class in the army.