On April 10, 2013 I joined the elite tribe of tripawds. There were some interesting and exciting hurdles to overcome. With lots of love and support (thanks ruffwear) there is nothing I cannot do prior to my amputation. It may not be pretty, but I can do it.
I am now a two story dog. With assistance. I never learned how to go down a set of stairs with 4 legs and I fell down the 8 rubber covered backyard steps twice with injuries so I understand my humans reluctance to let me try the 15 carpeted steps inside.
And then spring came and the thunderstorms came too. The first time I went up the stairs, the baby gate was open. The second time, it was a really bad storm and I jumped over the baby gate to find my sleeping humans. Yes, they were really surprised! The baby gate is just a suggestion really that I politely observe.
After that, they just put my webmaster on me and take me upstairs for the night. The pack is reunited again.
My humans found me a personal trainer who will come to the house. Although I am in excellent shape, especially for my age and years in retirement, Cookie is getting a bit fluffy. I have hinted that she should get a workout program too. Now that she is starting to show some rear toe dragging and lots of reads during her Chiropractic appointments, the humans have agreed.
Hopefully we will start that next week.
Way to go Nixon, keep up the good work!
We hope you’re working with a Certified Canine Rehab Tech. You’ll find lots of professional exercise, stretching and massage tips in Loving Life on Three Legs.
Dr. Williams is certified in K9 PT at the Canine Rehabilitation Institute in Coral Springs, FL.
http://www.wholehealthmpc.com to check her out.
My humans have both books. I don’t care for the book because it told my humans to do 3 small walks a day instead of a nice hour walk. We have something of a compromise on that. One to two 20 minute walks a day, as much play time or backyard time as I want, and one big walk every 7 to 10 days. Since making that change, I have gotten stronger and faster…not sure if I want to admit to that.
My human measures my time and distance every walk with her fitbit. I went from half a mile per hour to 1.5 to 2 mph. We can easily do a half mile walk in 20 minutes, not including picking up poop. But, sometimes it is really hard to go home. I love being out and about. Checking my pmail. Meeting old friends and making new ones. Shopping. Who doesn’t like shopping? Shopping is hard on me though cause of the hard floors.
I forgot to mention that I was adopted into my pack on a Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, I was at the vet for stitches cause I fell down the stairs. I have quite the history with stairs and we own a lot of ramps. A lot of ramps. Before the amputation, before the spinal cord injury, I was encouraged to use ramps to get into the car and up and down the front stdps. Both Cookie and Kitty took about 3 weeks to learn to go up and down stairs. I just don’t have the patience to learn. I would try to but it just is faster to jump.