Pig the dog hops like a frog and is an internet sensation

IT’S impossible not to stare at Kim Dillenbeck’s dog Pig.

Born in Atlanta with severe deformities and adopted by the Alabama woman, the 8-month-old mutt has gangly legs, a body that appears to have been chopped in half and no neck.

Pig looks like one of those fake animals created with Photoshop to draw clicks on websites, yet she’s real.

“The whole clinic loves her. She comes in and she’s a rock star here,” said Dr Rachael Hudson-Breland, a veterinarian who treats Pig.

The friendly little animal hops like a frog to stand up and walks with a high-shouldered gait that resembles a gorilla. Unable to swing her head side to side, Pig spins her whole body to see what’s beside her.

None of the vets who care for the dog have ever seen another animal with the same condition, said Hudson-Breland, but Dillenbeck has seen a few similar-looking dogs on the internet.

Found as a puppy with three littermates in a wooded area in metro Atlanta, Pig is smaller than her surviving siblings at only 7 or so kilograms. Her spine is about 18 centimetres shorter than normal, and wavy — with many bones fused together.