OK so below you see “the stairs.” This is prime doggy territory. They line up on the top steps, each one lying along a stair looking out. They can see into the front and back of the neighbor’s yard; they can see out around our house to the front street and even across the street; they can look the other way and not only see the back alley but down the back alley for several houses distance. And they are eye-level with the birds and squirrels filling the oak, hickory and crepe myrtle trees – just a few feet away.
But we don’t think it is safe for Buddy any more. Going up he could probably manage – but coming down seems like a really bad idea now. He could so easily fall and on those stairs he would break a leg. Because of his size he used to walk up and down with his front feet going up and down several steps ahead of his back feet. But he can’t do that now. And not only that but all the dogs are crowding, pushing, jostling each other rushing up or down with the two little ones running under and between the legs of the larger dogs.
We really hate to take this away from him but cannot see how we can let him do this any more. You can see in the photo we have placed a bar across the stair railings at the bottom. Stubby and the two little dogs can get up the stairs, but not Buddy or Bella.
Here he is with his new haircut with Stubby at the bottom of the stairs. He is such a handsome dog even with his old-man white face and “crewcut”
Your instincts are correct, I wouldn’t let a front-legger do those stairs especially so soon after recovery and with a big pack in the home.
We had some in our house that looked like that, and we had to use them to go in and out. So Jerry always wore his Webmaster, and we always went down with him and kept our hand gently underneath the harness handle, just in case.
Thanks for the confirmation of our concerns. So no more unsupervised access to the stairs for Buddy. Maybe I can make him a wide platform with successive wide landings out in the yard so he can safely get up a little higher than ground level and survey his domain again.
Yep, Jerry is absolutely correct on this situation……My Polly was also a front amp, was in good shape for her age (9), but coming down stairs became a no-no for her. We have new deck stairs that are way less an amount than this pictured stairway, maybe only 7 steps, and I had to stand in front of her step by step so she wouldn’t fall. Her only remaining front leg could not stop her from tumbling down the steps, and the risk of injury was too much to think about. We eventually just took her out front and around our house to the back, because there were only 2 steps for her to negotiate out front. When Polly fell the one time on our back steps, because of the one time I didn’t get there quick enough to help her, I sobbed because I felt so guilty for letting her down and possibly hurting her. Never happened again.
Just wanted to share my story, front amps are sometimes a bit more difficult with things than a rear amp.
Bonnie & Angel Polly
Thanks for the story Bonnie. I can imagine how bad you felt. Every time Buddy has just fallen over my heart just wrenches.
Upstairs is just out of bounds now for Buddy. We can come down to him. The doggy bedroom is on the downstairs porch and we feed them all down there. So there is no need for him to go upstairs.
We won’t let the other dogs on the upstairs porch from now on either so Buddy doesn’t feel excluded. We’ll just have to spend our time with them downstairs instead of upstairs. The little ones can still run up the stairs and make a commotion at the back door to get us to come out and come down with all the pups.
Such well cared for dogs!!! Your devotion is beautiful!
Merry Myrtle and I were wondering if we could come over.and sit on the “Porch Perch of Paridise too!! It sound just perfect for dogs!!!
Okay, I’m trying to think options here rather than “depriving” them of this splendid view.
RAMP? Would building a slowly slanting ramp work? My brother came out and built one for Happy Hannah about a week or so before her amputation so she had no problem getting used to it at all. The secret with any ramp, supposedly, is to put rails so they feel secure.and don’t feel like they could fall off.
I’m gonna try and find a video of.it and post it…I’ll be back!
Hugs to all !..Sally and Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle too!
VID_20140127_163736.3gp: http://youtu.be/K1Sz7Jf9Ktw
VID_20140127_164007.3gp: http://youtu.be/DzyxiWCX-kY
oh Sally! Hannah is so wonderful running happily up and down her ramp. I do notice she keeps an eye out to the side for the cat! It is a very good design for a ramp too. I notice she can run easily on the traction mats.
A ramp would be great but to get a ramp with such a gradual slope to the top of my stairs would be so long it would go out the back of my yard and through the neighbor’s yard!!
I may try to build something that will let him and the other pups sit up higher and look around. I’ll see if I can draw my idea and post it!