Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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So I'm always a bit anxious of overworking Patty, and I generally go on 1-2 walks per day that last about 15 to 30 minutes + some play time at home with myself and our other dogs. However, she's only a bit over a year old and she's absolutely full of energy. She'd run until she drops chasing after a tennis ball if I let her.
The problem is that she's still really wound-up around bedtime, lots of running around, soliciting to play, etc., so I feel like I'm not giving her enough physical activity. I'd love to get some opinions on what you think the limit for a tripawd is exercise-wise. We have extensive trails at our local park but I'm not sure how far I should take her, and whether hilly paths are ok. She's done wonderfully on short to medium length walks with rest and water breaks in-between, but I don't want to accidentally push her too far.
Any ideas on how to find the right balance of exercise for her?
Are you sensing that she is in any pain after walks? Is she having to rest mid-walk or a lot after? It sounds like she needs more stimulation. Can you add an evening walk or make one of her existing walks later in the day? Or perhaps try a longer walk and see what happens (as long as you can get her home if she gets tired).
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
otisandtess said
Are you sensing that she is in any pain after walks? Is she having to rest mid-walk or a lot after?
I haven't noticed any signs of pain (or even fatigue really, on shorter walks at least). She keeps very good pace with me and generally I'm the one that stops her to give her a break. Today she went straight to playing with one of our other dogs right after she walked through the door at the end of a 20-ish minute walk! Too much puppy exuberance I guess...
She seems to have pretty good stamina, but she really doesn't seem to know her limits as far as physical activity goes. I suppose I'll try increasing her walk time by 10 minutes or so, and maybe adding a third walk somewhere in the day.
Hi,
We talked before about this I think- I have a rear amp pug mix named Elly who is about 16 months old. She too would go much farther than I let her...puppies!
Elly is part Beagle so she does enjoy her walks- I try and get her out at least once a day. But instead of longer walks you might think about some obedience practice and core strengthening activities. Elly is quite smart and seems to enjoy learning so we spend some time every day on games and learning new tricks. Some of the tricks work on her core strength, like sit pretty (with assistance) and roll over. We also 'play' on obstacles on walks- big tree roots, playground equipment, etc. I find also that challenging her mind really seems to tire her out.
I know you have other dogs and it does make it more challenging. I have one other pug who also likes food games. I set them each up with a toy to play with and it works pretty well.
Good to hear that she is doing well!
Karen
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Thanks for the suggestions Karen! I never even thought of this before but some of my park's walking paths have little "exercise stations" with basic equipment. I'm sure I could use some of them as a doggy playground for her 🙂
She works on obedience and strength a bit every day. We're working on a sort of modified "sit pretty" using our garden's little retaining wall as a support so she has something to balance on. She was starting to get the hang of roll over but that has to be postponed for now since she just had surgery to remove a small growth on her back (benign, thankfully!).
Our other dogs are older (and pretty lazy) so they're not too much of an issue when it comes to training and games. It takes some serious work on Patty's part to rope her older sister into playing with her :p We're working on finding puzzle toys that she can't destroy within minutes since she's a serious chewer. So far Kong toys and ruffwear's Huckama ball have withstood her chompers, but she tends to get bored of them easily if she can't get the treat right away
thanks for all the help! She's doing great so far 🙂
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