Hi Everyone!

Thanks for all the welcomes.  We got Harley as a rescue from Muttville Senior Dog Rescue.  We had at one time a litter of beagles and we kept all of them because I would cry every time someone would come look at them.  The last of the beagles Flash is the only one left, he will be 17 in March and is as peppy as a puppy.  We first got Savannah from Muttville and at that time Harley was there, and had been there for many months.  Muttville is a no kill shelter which if you did not know San Francisco is all a no kill city.  About three months after Savannah I went onto Muttville's page and poor Harley was still there.  I was worried about having wood floors and stairs to get up to the bedrooms but Muttville assured me he was fine on hard surfaces and could navigate stairs so my husband said, let's make sure this boy has a good home for his remaining years.  

Harley was really good for almost 2 years.  We went on vacation and had dog sitters stay at our house so the babies had company all the time.  When we got home I noticed then that Harley's rear paw, which is his only, was pointed out instead of in which is how he maintains his balance.  My only thoughts are that when he comes in the doggie door, he doesn't have himself straight and his paw gets stuck.  I'm here daily so it isn't an issue, I just go out and pick him up and put him in, but then he's all excited and starts to run and he can't with his paw sticking outwards   When we had gotten him they gave us a sheet of physical therapy to give to him if he started having problems.  So as soon as we got back I started that but it isn't helping him.  I then took him to our vet and he said that because of his age his bones are starting to atrophy in his back quarter.    Over the past few days, he seems to be agitated, doesn't sleep well at all and paces around a lot and hangs by me.  The vet prescribed Tramadol which I was giving him but didn't seem to help, so we're assuming he isn't in pain.  Last night I gave him a melatonin thinking it would help him sleep but it didn't.  I always find him downstairs in the morning, and when he sees me he gets so excited and then he blows out because he tries to run.  We've learned to walk slow when he's with us to avoid that.  I love my Harley boy, but I'm starting to wonder if age related signs are going to be his problem.  

Below are the exercises I am using on Harley, directly from the physical therapist.  

I tried to put some pictures in of him, but I don't understand the process, normally you just upload directly from your computer, so I will try to copy and paste them in here.     We copy and past didn't work 

Thanks!

Cheri

Thanks for the tip on the pictures.  We're taking Harley to the vet in 10 min, so will update later on and hopefully add some pictures also.

Cheri