Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi,
Hoping for some advice, Scout is a year and a half old, 40lb, front leg amputee, including shoulder, (as of 3/28/13) dobie/hound mix. We adopted her about a month and a half ago and we need some suggestions for a harness for walking. She does not need an assistance harness, she is ridiculously fast and agile, has no trouble with stairs or getting in and out of the car and is an incredibly strong puller on walks (we started training classes and she is super smart in every exercise EXCEPT leash walking). She is currently in a martingale collar, since she has the dobie neck/head it is the only "escape proof" one we have been able to find but it does nothing to stop the pulling (did I mention she also has an incredibly strong prey drive, squirrels are definitely NOT our friends), any suggestions on a no pull harness that works with a front tripaw? I saw the reviews for harnesses on the site but didn't notice any that addressed pulling? I've visited multiple pet supply stores with no luck as there is little experience with tripaws so I'm counting on you guys to come through for us, any recommendations would be really appreciated.
Well, the tricky part with pulling is that it's 50% the fact that a Tripawd just walks faster than a 4-legger (they need momentum for better balance, especially true for a front leg amputee), 30% a thing that needs to be worked on with training sessions and 20% something that a harness can help but not eliminate. When it comes down to it, most Tripawd pawrents just learn to walk faster than usual. Lunging is another issue entirely that can definitely be improved with good training.
The EzyDog Convert Harness is new to our Gear shop and is great walking harness, especially for front leggers. Check out the recent reviews in our Gear blog :
Convert Walking Harness Great for Front Leg Amputee Dogs
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I have a new Tripod of two days he is a doberman and also has a high prey drive some training tools I have used in the past and have had good success with are in the following link: http://shibasha.....g-your-dog
Hope some of the info can assist you
Dari & Sloane
Those are great tips Dari, I'm a Shiba Shake fan.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I have to be honest, I'm not sure how these would effect a tripawd, I think that it would have to be tested on a case by case basis, but I hear really great things about these from clients with dogs that have four legs.
Gentle Leader:
http://www.pets.....Id=2751500
Halti:
We used to use a Gentle Leader on Tripawds Spokespup Wyatt Ray .
Unfortunately we found that for him, it wasn't the right training tool. We know it works wonders on a lot of dogs and the goal is to not have to use it after a while. The GL didn't work on Wyatt, not because he was a Tripawd, the Gentle Leader had no effect on his balance. But what we found was that he was pulling so hard even with the GL, although we couldn't feel the pull, it was still there and the GL was actually rubbing the hair right off his muzzle.
What worked for us was some serious training 2x a week with a trainer for an entire summer (and even today, every walk with him is a "training" session!). This picture of the first time Wyatt and the trainer met says it all:
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I wrote this article about different loose leash training techniques a few years ago. Not sure how they'll work for a Tripawd though.
We've found that training using the red - light - green - light method worked best for us... UNLESS there is another dog or other furry animal around. Then pretty much nothing works, LOL.
As far as the gentle leader goes: We have one for Sara and one for Gatsby. We tried it on our first dog, Barret with no success. No matter how much positive reinforcement we gave to Barret around the collar, with it on, etc. He would not move with it on his face. He just froze every time. We gave it a good college try but it just wasn't for him. We trained him using a regular harness using red light - green light and he walks like an angel most of the time.
Once we added dogs 2 and 3 to the mix, things got complicated. We didn't have the time or patience to walk each dog separately for training, so we ended up using the gentle leader on sara and gatsby. We don't use it 100% of the time. For a while we'll use it, they'll figure out the loose leash thing with lots of praise and we'll switch to regular collars or harnesses. After a few months they "forget" and start walking erratically... time to pull the gentle leaders out again! I know that taking the immense time commitment to leash train each dog separately is the only sure fix, but I do the best with the time I have available to me
Heather & Barret
Barret was diagnosed with Hemangiopericytoma May 16, 2013. Front left leg/scapula/pectoral muscle was amputated on June 11, 2013 and we've never looked back. Follow our story on http://barret.t.....pawds.com/ and read my column on That Pet Blog
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