Florida students build wheelchair for handicapped puppy

TRENTON, Fla. -- A sweet, little puppy in Gilchrist County, Florida was born with a physical handicap and some high school students put their heads together to design a tool to help her stay on her feet.

Nine-week-old Gabby was born without her two front paws, but that doesn't stop her.

But a wheelchair for dogs isn't cheap, so Gabby's owner, Flora Brock, had another idea, reports WCJB.

"I started looking on Youtube and I just randomly found where a young girl had adopted a puppy with no legs, or she had found it on the street actually, and her engineering department at school agreed to build her some wheels," Brock said.

So she reached out to Trenton High School's engineering department and three students took on the unique challenge.

"It's pretty much guess and check what works, what doesn't work, what fits, what doesn't. How does she react to it, obviously," said project leader Samantha Prather.

The change took a bit of getting used to and the new set of wheels still needed some adjustment. But, a part of engineering and design is not getting it right the first time and going back to the drawing board.

Gabby needs to come back next week for another fitting, and then maybe, she'll be ready to run.

"I think she'll get used to it and she'll be excited when she finds out she can really get around. Give the other dogs a run for their money," Brock said.

Gabby's owner said she's going to train Gabby to be an emotional support dog for patients in nursing homes.