Curro – Dog of the Month
Having only three legs might seem like a disadvantage, but Curro shows that three legs can be better than four if you have a quick mind and a kind heart. Curro works at the Fundacion Federica Cerda, an NGO in Barcelona that uses horses to help kids with disabilities. Curro is comfortable around the horses and adores children, which makes him indispensable to the team. He is also a great reminder to the children that there are many different kinds of perfect.
Curro came to the foundation after losing his front left leg to a car accident as a young dog. The recovery was long, and for a while nobody was sure whether he would ever feel confident moving through a busy environment again. What his caretakers noticed almost immediately, though, was how attentive he was to the people around him. Where other dogs might have withdrawn, Curro seemed to lean in — reading faces, watching hands, offering a soft nudge whenever someone looked unsettled.
That instinct is what makes him such a good fit for equine-assisted therapy. Many of the children who arrive at the foundation have never been near a horse, and a few have never been around a large animal at all. Curro trots out first, makes friends, and models the calm the horses need from the children. By the time a child walks up to the stable, Curro has already broken the ice.
What his Dognition profile suggests
Dogs like Curro often score high on the empathy dimension in the Dognition Assessment — they are unusually tuned in to human emotion and slow to react to novelty. That combination is exactly what you want in a therapy dog: a soft eye, a patient body, and a strong drive to check in with people before making decisions.
Curro also reminds us that a dog’s cognitive strengths matter far more than what their body can or cannot do. Three legs, one eye, an unusual gait — none of these change how a dog thinks or how much they can contribute. If you have adopted a dog with a disability, do not underestimate them. Play the games, learn how they think, and give them a job that fits their mind.
Photo by Sara Coe.
