Dexter, a 7-year-old Brittany Spaniel from Colorado, has become an inspiration for many around the world after he taught himself to stand up and walk on his hind legs after suffering an accident.

When he was only a puppy, Dexter escaped his owners’ yard in Ouray, Colorado, darted into traffic and got hit by a car. One of his front legs had to be amputated and the other was severely damaged. But he survived, and that’s all his owners cared about. They assumed he would need some kind of wheelchair to get around without his front legs, and he did use one for a while, but only until he learned he could walk much faster on his hind legs alone. Since then, he has been walking like a human, turning heads around town and inspiring the entire world.

Kentee Pasek first learned about Dexter’s ability to walk on his hind legs when she left him at the foot of her porch one day, only to come out and find him laying down at the top of the stairs. He was without his wheelchair, so she couldn’t figure out how he had gotten there. So she went and got her phone, set Dexter at the bottom of the stair again, and caught the miracle on camera.

Since then, Dexter has only gotten better at being bipedal, and he is now able to go on walks around town. As you can imagine, he has become somewhat of a local celebrity, and everyone loves to see him walk by and attend yearly parades and festivals. He always puts a smile on people’s faces and reminds them that no matter how hard life knocks you down, there’s always a way to get up.

Dexter has become big on social media as well, with hundreds of thousands of fans on Instagram and TikTok. Some people occasionally leave negative comments accusing his owners of training him to walk like a human for attention, but according to Kentee Pasek and several veterinarians, Dexter’s ability is just his unique way of adapting to overcome adversity.

And to think most people in the shoes of Dexter’s owners would have probably put him down after the accident, rather than seeing him suffer. But Pasek simply couldn’t bring herself to do that without giving him a fighting chance.

 

“We didn’t think he’d make it,” Kentee told People.com. “I couldn’t put him down without giving him a chance, I just couldn’t.”

Dexter’s case is very rare, but it’s not unique. There was once a dog named Faith who had both front legs amputated as a puppy and taught herself to move on hind legs alone. She became an inspiration for millions around the world and even had a foundation named after her.