Just some crazy ideas from someone, me, who have no clue about carpentry …  Can the dogloo come apart in two halves, top & bottom?  Any chance that some wood work can be done to raise the top half with some columns to make the entrance high enough for Polly? She might like to get into the dogloo for some closed-in sense of secure??  If so, board (cardboards? plywood? fabric?) the dogloo around to add some privacy for her...  Or keep the bottom and replace the top half with some fabric on a vertical post to make it look like a tent?

Genie never was able to use stairs without me helping… well, I should say, both of us never tried hard enough, and I was too overly protective.  So perhaps others more agile tripawd pawrents can share their experiences with you.  

Being a front-leg amputee, Polly should be fine hopping up to the car on her own.  I wouldn't let her jump off the car though.  Tell her to wait in the car until you have free hands to lift her out. Car ramps is a good idea too, but you still need to have spare hands to set up the ramp.  So I would think… train Polly to wait is the best bet.

We have wood stairs in the house and we ordered stair treads which have been great and our disabled cat finds them helpful too.  I taped them down to make them even better.  

Lily glides up the stairs beautifully (we are at 4 weeks now) but the problem is all we can do is hope there won't be an accident coming down.  When we let them out we make sure it is one at a time, but she still races down like before. We have stairs everywhere, and four dogs.  And when the doorbell rings and we're not home... She's so perfectly back to normal we don't want to confine her when we leave so we just have to hope.

 Jerry, did you really have help all the time after your recovery?  I'm getting so worried now because our black lab, Sally, fell down the stairs once and---weep, weep, weep--- that's all I'll say since I know we're all already crying about Mia and Uschi and the others who we've grown attached to here, so, I'm realizing I'm in big falling-down-the-stairs-denial.  

Guys, I also wonder, how did you all handle going down the stairs after all the healing?  Lily is a front amputee as well.  

Thanks,

Jody

About jumping out of the car--I had a friend make a little mini-deck for Cemil, which is a box a little longer than the distance from his front legs to his back legs, wide enough to be secure, and the height is about half the distance from the truck tailgate and the ground.  He can step out onto it and be level, then step down to the ground. It works great.  I'm not being specific about the dimensions because Cemil is a big dog, and Polly may not need one as big as he does (ok, it's 30" x 36" and 10" high); if she waits to get out, that gives you time to put it down on the ground for her.  I just carry it around in the back of the truck so it's always there. 

The car was a challenge for us and Trouble.  She is skittish about ramps, so we were pretty sure she wouldn't use one, and she's a little to heavy for me to lift without being nervous about dropping her.  For a while it took both of us to get her into and out of the vehicle, but soon she let us know she could get in on her own.  I stay close and have a hand on the leash to make sure I can give her a little support if she needs it, but she navigates getting in well on her own.  Getting out, I never, ever, let her try on her own.  She is a front amputee and I'm not willing to take that chance.  When possible, I back up to a sidewalk curb to let her out.  That way the distance to the ground is less.  I don't use a harness, but I do keep a firm grip on her leash and help support her weight as she jumps.

Polly is doing great!  I know you are so pleased.

Mac is a small tripawd, only 24 pounds since the surgery.  I've found that letting him do things that he wants to do and can safely do is best for him.  Dogs aren't like people; they don't need encouragement to live life to the fullest.  I'd say if she loves the Dogloo, let it stay.  Make adjustments if she has problems, but don't limit her.

As far as stairs, Mac is small enough that he has trouble going up more than a few.  I always assist up and down, except for our outside stairs.  He's small, though, and easy to carry.  I just figure the risk of falling and being hurt is too much.  However, if your tripawd is bigger, she may have no problems at all after an adjustment period.

I love that you are taking her on walks, despite doctor's orders.  Mac took 3 days to want to walk after his surgery.  My philosophy is that the prognosis is often grim, so why waste time?  Within a week of his first chemo (2 weeks after surgery), we were walking a mile a day.  Why hold back such spunk?  Keep it up; I'm a believer that exercise will help heal all wounds.

Good luck with everything!