Kerren, Michelle, Sally, Petra, Martha, Jackie,

Thank you So much for your enormously kind, thoughtful, empathetic and encouraging responses.

I'm sorry to have posted such a downbeat update. I actually posted it, then deleted it, then reposted it. Deleting because I am aware that so many people in this community are dealing with far greater issues and doing so with a great deal more positivity too. It seems selfish to crap on about our petty frustrations. I reposted because, after some thought, I decided that if I am going to keep a sort of diary of our 'journey' with the wheels, then I needed to include all the ups and downs, so the next person will be able to see an honest account of our experience, and if this down is followed by an up, then that may in turn give them the boost they need to keep going.

You all make so many good points. Meg has indeed face planted several times, once she went face first into the mud. She was never much fazed, and I was never much fazed. This is slightly different because of the wheels, in that she did a full head-first somersault, landing upside down on her back, with the wheels on top of her. I obviously picked her up immediately and set her back on her feet and she did seem okay. Slightly surprised perhaps, but okay. I made sure to keep her in the wheels for a few more minutes, and give her plenty of liver cake, so the tumble wasn't what we finished on.

I think what I'm struggling with is that Meg has just been through so, so much. She's had so much intervention (from the age of three, she's now nearly ten), months in bandages, one whole month with an external frame going through her leg, and all the rest, all the operations, all the sheer hell of it. Then with her amputation, she got her life back, and ever since, has been able to be so wild and free and doing all the things she loves to do, and now with this wretched contraption, she is trussed up all over again. But of course there's a reason for the wheels and they are supposed to help and enable her. I am doing this FOR her, not TO her, as you say. And all the above is MY stuff, not hers, and I do realise that, but unfortunately it's still there.

Were I confident the wheels were correctly adjusted, and that I was working with her in the right way, then I would feel much better. I've been stalking fellow front wheel drivers, as I call them, via Instagram and Facebook, and have made contact with two, who have tripods with front wheels, who were fitted in person at Eddies Wheels. One woman, who lives in Long Island, and whose dog was fitted for wheels just in March, was a total poppet. She actually went out and filmed her dog then sent me the video, so I could see her walking from various angles, and she sent me a video of her the first day, so I could see how the gait had changed. Her dog, Penny, was kind of hopping at the start, as Meg was, but her gait evened out after about a month or so, and then she took about another month to learn how to turn corners. 

Meg has the corner business down, and I think her gait is smoothing out, but I'm worried about her not using her front leg and the way she seems to have to sort of reach for the ground. It just doesn't look right to me, and I don't see how they can be adjusted right, but it's hard to know where to turn.

My Grandfather used to respond to life's adversities by quoting Churchill. 'Keep buggering on', which he shortened to K.B.O., and this is what we shall endeavour to do.

Much love to you all, and big hugs all round. I can't tell you how much we appreciate our Tripawds family.

Meg, Clare and Angel Pie 

PS, Martha, thanks 😊 The videos are all shot on an iPhone 6, and then processed in iMovie. My photos are often shot with a Panasonic Lumix GM1, but not actually most of the ones on this thread, which are also shot with my iPhone 

PPS Video of the clog dancing, Kerren, please 

PPPS You are just the loveliest people EVER 

The MegaWheels Week 5

So after somersault-gate, detailed above, we  recruited the assistance of a certain Californian Rehab specialist (thanks Rene!), none other than Dr Kramer herself, interviewed talking about wheelchairs here for the Tripawds Gear blog . Dr Kramer's patient and thorough assistance has proved invaluable. She immediately spotted that the yoke was too far back, and had me move it forward. I also lowered the frame substantially, sending her videos and photos with each alteration, until it wound up a good inch and a half lower than it had been before. If you think, Meg is only around 15 inches tall (floor to top of shoulder), this is a very substantial difference. The aim was to stop her coasting, i.e. walking with just her back legs, with her foreleg held out in front. Dr Kramer also had me leave a trail of liver cake on the ground, so Meg walked along bending down to pick it up, and she said to ensure that I always give her treats either on a level or lower, as giving them any higher encourages the dog to raise their leg (just as they do when limping).

Dr Kramer said that it can take Tripawds a considerable time to 'get the hop out', as she put it, changing their gait to walk smoothly in the cart. She was quite surprised, I think, at how well Meg was doing in this regard. Meg is also really very good at turning and has also managed to back out of awkward places, if a wheel gets caught on the gatepost, for example – though this does require me to tough it out and fail to 'notice' she wants my help... She is now putting the front paw down a lot of the time, though she will still coast given half a chance, and certainly if allowed to work up any speed. I think it's just a question of continuing to practise, and hopefully, in time...

This morning, Meg discovered an entirely new function for the wheels, as a portable drilling rig, enabling her to drill down for moles in the garden. 

Thanks everyone for continuing to follow Meg and Momma's rollercoaster wheels adventure.... It truly is two steps forward one step back, or three steps forward two steps back, or four steps forward three steps back, or whatever, you get my drift.... Since my last post, Meg has been extremely reluctant to go in the cart at all •sighs• and when I have managed to coax her in, has been coasting much of the time. I haven't changed anything to do with either the wheels or the liver cake recipe, so I think the explanation lies buried somewhere deep in the MegaBrain.  (If you know of a Californian dog shrink who does Skype, Rene, please can you let me know?) Seriously, I'm not sure what is going on, or how best to respond. I don't want to turn her against the wheels, so my instinct is to give her a break, but I really don't know if that's the right thing to do. I have emailed Dr K, and am waiting to hear what she thinks. It has been unreally hot here (does happen occasionally...), with temperatures in the 80s/90s for several weeks now. I'm sure it's hotter where many of you are, but this is very unusual for the UK, and neither Meg nor I are accustomed. We obviously don't do the wheels in the heat, but that really means it needs to be early morning, as by 8am or so, the heat is building.

Anyway, we shall do our best to KBO.

Karen, ditto Sally. I love the thought bubble. Yes, that's exactly what she's thinking.

Sally, in answer to your question. We literally spend ten, maximum say twenty minutes a day practising with the cart. She doesn't spend any other time in it, but just hops around as usual. (She spied a mole and rolled off and  started digging in the middle of what was supposed to be her practice session) The plan is just to use it on one of her two walks a day, but not around the house and garden etc., of course that could change should the condition of her remaining front leg worsen in the future. She can't lie down in the cart though. She can obviously sit, but she can't lie down, so I wouldn't want her in it for an extended period of time. Her go with the flow attitude, is a bit off and on to be honest. She will go with the flow so long as the flow is going in a direction she approves of, lol. Otherwise, she is as stubborn as a rock, and the water just has to flow around it. (I do miss Pie's ULTRA obliging nature). Meg is a tremendously confident dog, though. I mean literally NOTHING phases her, and though this has had me tearing my hair out at times, there's no question it's a help when introducing her to new things like her stroller and the wheels. Or a giant yellow peanut, for that matter...

Christine, yup, those moles are shovelling soil as fast as their flippered feet can fling it.

Jackie, thank you. Though, as you can see, the 'beautiful English garden' is looking decidedly parched at the moment, what it needs is some good English rain... She's never actually caught a mole, thank heavens, though if they've any sense they'll burrow off elsewhere (see above).

Rene, thank you, and thanks again for putting me in touch with Dr K. I agree, Meg's digging motion is really smooth, and she looks really comfortable in the cart. So why she has suddenly taken against it, Dog only knows. Hopefully, that will pass....