Carter in the classroom

Dog With Amputated Legs Gets Help From 7th Grade Girl

After a horrible attack that left a puppy with two broken legs and her owners ready to put her down, an animal rescue organization stepped in to help find the puppy a new home.

Now, her fight is getting some help from a student.

Liz Rigor will never forget the day she first saw the puppy, named Libby, in an online ad.

"Her photo had her legs and they were just hanging there. And she had this big smile on her face," Rigor recalled.

Libby was up for adoption after she was attacked by two other dogs in her home.

"The other dogs attacked Libby and broke her legs, broke her ribs, there’s scars on her nose from where the puncture and wounds were," Rigor said.

Liz fell in love with the spunky little puppy. She had the dog’s broken legs amputated and tried to help Libby love life. Libby scooted around on her back legs since doctors weren't able to find a way to give Libby better mobility.

The solution came from the mostly unlikely of places — Makerspace, a 7th grade class at Lakehill Preparatory School in Dallas.

"In Makerspace, you’re free to do whatever you want, so you have to get a project and work on it and stay with it," student Lily Bracken explained.

Bracken’s project idea came to her on a family trip.

"I saw a dog with a wheelchair on a beach and it was just so cute. I wanted to build one of those," Bracken said.

After a lot of research and design work the project started to take shape but Lily had to search for the right dog that needed help.

"We got our dog, Annie from White Rock Dog Rescue, so the lady there helped us find that dog," Bracken recalled.

Lily met Libby and the two hit it off with the help of a few treats. With a 3D printer at Lakehill Prep, a new doggie wheelchair was born.

The wheelchair helped; it wasn’t perfect. A few topples happened, but Lily is already trying to design a fix for that.

Liz says there’s no doubt about it — the spunky little dog that was supposed to be for her dad is moving around much more these days, thanks to the little girl with a school project to simply make "something."

"I think we underestimate the ability of kids to be creative and what they can do with their knowledge, and the fact she was able to creative this is amazing and I can see her doing so much in her future," Rigor said.

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