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I first want to say Thank You Tripawds Members!! You have been a life saver through this tough time!
Our 11-year-old Rottie had his left rear leg amputated two weeks and a few days ago due to bone cancer. He has made the most amazing recover, I can't believe it!! Our only problem is reteaching him stairs. Our house has two half-flights of stairs and he is really struggling to figure out how to go up them; down is not an issue whatsoever. we are using a harness to help, but are there any other suggestions. He had no trouble with stairs before. Maybe he just has to work on figuring out his balance?
Thank you for any suggestions and thank you for this fanatastic website. I don't know what we would have done without it!!
12:09 pm
Team Tripawds
25 April 2007
OfflineNo, thank you for taking such good care of George. He'll get the hang of the step, and will likely just need more time to build up strength in is his remaining rear leg. Going up is going to be harder on rear leggers, while front leg amputees will have a harder time going down. The harness will help you assist Georgie, but if your stairs are not carpeted he may need some traction. Once he's all healed up, consider doing balance exercises and stretching to strengthen his leg.
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12:33 pm
Moderator
14 August 2009
OfflineWelcome Georgie and Family!
Sorry you have found yourself here. It sounds like it's going well so far! So happy to hear!
Stairs can be intimidating! Including what admin said above, try calming his fears with a treat. Perhaps have someone helping by holding th harness assisting him and another person at the top with a high value treat to encourage him!
Good luck!
Sending lots of healing wishes!
Comet - 1999 to 2011She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
6:07 pm
Team Tripawds
25 April 2007
OfflineGeorge, welcome!
Here's a bunch of Forum Posts about dealing with stairs that may help.
Two weeks isn't a long time. Don't worry, you'll get it! Pretty soon your folks are gonna have a hard time stopping you!
Latest Tripawds News
Read my story here.
8:01 pm
5 December 2009
OfflineHere's a blog post from when Gerry was getting the hang of stairs – also a rear leg amputee:
http://gerry.tr…..m/2010/02/
10:15 pm
27 October 2010
OfflineWelcome, boy if your boy is a Rottie he is pretty good sized. Our Newfie mix Cooper made a residence on our landing for ALL of 2 weeks after his surgery, and Im not sure it wasnt even closer to a month before we attempted the stairs. He will be 11 in January God willing, and he I am sure will never be the same on stairs again, but he has been going up and down slowly for 8 months now. Your boy will get the hang of it! Welcome to Tripawds and good luck!
10:05 am
7 March 2010
OfflineWelcome to Tripawds! Skyler was also a rear leg amputee. She really never did get the hang of going up the stairs. At 3 months we still had to help her, but I think part of that was she wasn't always feeling well (she did chemo for 8 weeks) - and was maybe a little spoiled???
Cathy
Thanks for all the good info! I obviously need to be more patient! We appreciate all the great advice and encouragment!!
Welcome Georgie and pack -
Glad to see things are going pretty well for you guys and since you are about 2 1/2 weeks into this – it gets a whole lot easier…..
We have stairs too but never had an issue - Riley avoided them the first week or so (I think it was the pink elephants) then ran up and down them like she had always done – we ended up putting up a doggy gate for about 6 weeks to keep her from hurting herself…She did stumble once about 3 from the bottom but picked herself right up and kept on going…
Just give him another week or two…I bet he will be up and down in no time…
Can't say I have any new suggestions about how to help your dog with the stairs, but I just wanted to throw in my welcome– so glad you've found the group, and happy to hear that your dog is recovering well! :)
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