By LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent

VEEDERSBURG, Ind. — At first glance, Libby is walking around the fairgrounds like any other dog, panting from the heat and occasionally stopping to sniff a peer or give her owner, Meriah Green-Wright, 15, of Attica, Ind., a kiss. But up close, it becomes obvious why so many people do a double take when they see the German shorthaired pointer mix. Libby only has three legs. “She got hit by a car a couple of years ago,” Meriah explained matter-of-factly while waiting her turn in the dog obedience show at the Fountain County 4-H Fair recently.

The day of the accident, Meriah had let Libby out of her pen, as she was doing some chores outside. Somehow, the dog got up on the road and was hit by an unknown driver. “She wouldn’t get up. Her leg was like a basketball,” Meriah said about Libby’s reaction to the accident.

Meriah and her family took Libby to the vet center at Purdue University, where an x-ray revealed that her left hind leg was broken in two or three places. The vet gave them two options: fixing the leg or amputating it. “We decided to amputate it,” Meriah said. “(The vet) said she would make a good recovery. She won’t live as long, because the other leg is weaker. Other than that she’s like a normal dog, she just has three legs.”

It took Libby a few months to get back to her old self and while she was learning how to walk with just one hind leg she gained some weight. But she’s not in pain anymore and even competed in – and won – the agility class at last year’s fair. This year Meriah only entered Libby in the veteran’s obedience class, as the dog was having some trouble jumping and climbing stairs. “I’m hoping to do good. We’ll see, there are a lot of good dogs out there,” Meriah said.

Libby wasn’t the only dog in the show that had gotten a second chance at life. Gracie, a young mixed-breed dog, was abandoned by her last owner and adopted from a shelter in January by Lexie Clark, 12, of Attica. “I think she might have been abused, because when I first got her she wouldn’t let me walk behind her,” Lexie said.

A vet estimated that Gracie is two to three years old and Lexie said she doesn’t think she’d been trained before she started working with her. Aside from training with 4-H, Lexie and Gracie have worked with a trainer at the Greater Lafayette Kennel Club, who taught her how to use a clicker and treats to get Gracie to perform. “It took a lot to get her to sit. My dad’s been helping me. But she learned how to do the A-frame in one day,” Lexie said proudly, referring to one of the obstacles in the agility course. “She’s doing fine at home, but when I bring her to the show there are all these new smells and she doesn’t want to do a lot. But she’ll still sit, lie down and heel.”

Dog superintendent Samantah Bayless of Waynetown said she’s been working with Lexie, Meriah and the other kids in the dog show since April.

The group meets every week, and ideally the kids should practice half an hour at home every day, so dogs are a time-consuming project. “This is mainly a project where the kids have to learn how to do it. The dogs may listen to me but they’re not going to perform for the kids unless they listen to them,” Bayless said.