Pup Gets Life-Changing Surgery After a Lifetime of Crawling

— -- A rescued pit bull has become a "tap dancer," in the words of his owner, after having reconstructive surgery to fix a rare deformity that left him only able to crawl.

Roscoe, a pitbull, was born with a deformity that left his front legs partially bent backwards under his wrists, according to ABC News affiliate WLOS-TV in Asheville, North Carolina. As a result he was forced to walk on his wrists, with the front part of his legs bent backward like "flippers."

Dr. David Crouch, a vet from Asheville, was able to help Roscoe walk by performing surgery to fix the deformation.

He was "trying to walk on the tops of his wrists and created bloody sores," Crouch told WLOS-TV.

To pay for the surgery the the Asheville Humane Society in North Carolina raised more than $3,000 for the pup.

After the surgery Roscoe quickly transitioned from "baby steps" to a more elegant gait with his casts.

"For the first couple of days he was really wobbly on his stilts," Roscoe's foster parent, Laurel York told WLOS-TV. "He's managing to walk around on his little stilts."

Crouch told WLOS-TV he's heartened that Roscoe has made a huge improvement in such a short period of time. He pointed out that by walking on his toes in his casts, Roscoe looks and sounds a bit like a tap dancer as he heals.

"You kind of tap dance like Fred Astaire right now," Croch told the pup.