Hilliard Davidson High School students are helping Jimmy, a three-legged cockapoo, step a little livelier. But when the engineering students strapped Jimmy into a wheelchair they spent the past school year designing, the dog didn't feel much like walking. "He's scared," said Susan Montgomery, Jimmy's owner and a teacher at Hilliard's Norwich Elementary, where Jimmy is the unofficial mascot.

Hilliard Davidson High School students are helping Jimmy, a three-legged cockapoo, step a little livelier.

But when the engineering students strapped Jimmy into a wheelchair they spent the past school year designing, the dog didn�t feel much like walking.

�He�s scared,� said Susan Montgomery, Jimmy�s owner and a teacher at Hilliard�s Norwich Elementary, where Jimmy is the unofficial mascot.

In a demonstration in front of Montgomery�s fourth- and fifth-graders last week, Jimmy began panting heavily as Hilliard Davidson seniors Chloe Shevlin, Blake Roberts and Sean Noel harnessed him to a four-wheeled cart made of PVC pipes. The students tried to get him to step forward. Jimmy took a few steps back.

�It will take him a little while to get used to it because he is used to freedom, but I think it will be helpful,� Montgomery said. �I�m so proud of (the high-school students) for the work they�ve done on this.�

Shevlin heard about Jimmy from her younger brother. She proposed helping the dog in a yearlong project in her engineering, design and development class.

�When I was thinking about what I wanted to do for this project, I thought, �How cool would it be if we could make this new innovative wheelchair for Jimmy that is different from all the other wheelchairs in the market?�??� said Shevlin, who is interested in working with prosthetics and biomedical engineering.

Jimmy�s right front leg was amputated when he has 4 months old after his previous owner yanked his paw and left his dislocated elbow and broken leg untreated. Now, Jimmy�s left wrist is beginning to twist and he�s starting to experience arthritis in his remaining front leg.

�Sixty percent of a dog�s weight is in the front, and he�s absorbing all of his weight on one leg,� Montgomery said.

She said Jimmy eventually would need a wheelchair and was concerned when she discovered that one can cost up to $600. She was surprised when Shevlin emailed her about her project.

�I thought, �Wow, how touching she would want to do something like this,�??� she said.

Shevlin teamed up with Roberts and Noel to create a wheelchair that serves Jimmy�s needs, including a sling to help ease the pressure on his front paw.

The group studied dog-wheelchair companies and sought advice from a veterinarian at MedVet Medical and Cancer Center for Pets, asking about benefits and flaws in existing products. They connected with a bioengineer at the University of Louisville, who helped develop a wheelchair design for paraplegic dogs using items commonly found at a hardware store. They also appealed to Norwich students for help in purchasing parts. In two weeks, they raised about $650.

Their first model turned out to be 5 inches too tall. They reworked their prototype, which they presented to Montgomery and her class last week.

The blue wheelchair will serve as a temporary model. Another team of Hilliard Davidson students will pick up next year where Shevlin,

Roberts and Noel left off, using aluminum pipes and spherical wheels for a lighter and more-mobile wheelchair.

�This project has changed my life,� Shevlin said. �Now I know for a fact that I want to go into biomedical engineering. I don�t know what yet, but it reinforced that fact.�

cboss@dispatch.com

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