Poor Clifford. His back/hind legs have been getting worse and worse. Last week I looked at trading in my Scion wagon for a minivan, since they are much lower to the ground and don’t require a big “jump.” I kind of felt bad about it though- I’m only 5 or 6 payments away from paying off the Scion loan!! Arg. I finally decided to stick with the Scion and instead invest in a long, telescoping ramp for him to get in/out of the car.
We already have 2 half-length ramps. Lucy mastered this shorter type, but it was too steep for Cliff, who is an insecure chicken deep at heart (don’t tell him I said that!). I hated to get another ramp when I had 2 laying around but, alas- had to do something, right?
While at Petsmart recently, I saw a few bags of Nature’s Recipe Farm Selects Chicken Slices on sale so I nabbed a couple up. They were perfect for ramp training- smelly and utterly irresistable! First, I left the ramp on the living room floor for a few days so Cliff became used to it. Yesterday, we took the ramp outside, put one end on the car bumper and telescoped it all the way out.
I have to say… I’m SUPER proud of Cliffie! He was very nervous at first. I think the biggest initial challenge was the narrowness of the ramp. He can’t control his back legs very well anymore, so when the ramp was laid flat on the ground and I tried to lure him on, his back legs stumbled a bit on the lipped edges. Also, when the ramp was on the car, he’d try to get on it from the side and stumble a bit trying to lift his back feet up. Poor guy!! I found that the best way to get him “aboard” was to stand back a few feet and walk him straight towards (and up) the ramp- not stand at the end and let him try to mount it from whichever way he thought best- because his judgement isn’t that great, LOL.
On Monday (oops, I guess that is tomorrow. Why do weekends go so fast??), Cliff has his first vet appointment at a new vet hospital. I did a lot of research to find the best place for him in our new city, and this place is not only within 2 miles but also seems to have state-of-the-art equipment and have greyhound-savvy doctors. The vet he’ll be seeing specializes in elderly animals and oncology so I have high hopes that she’ll be able to give me some info on Cliff’s breathing and back issues. We’ll see how it goes!
Great photos, Jen! Way to go, Clifford!
I keep thinking that I should be training Winchester to use a ramp even though he’s only 7 (7! Ulp!) – that way when he’ll need it, he’ll already feel comfortable using it. All great plans tho…
And congrats on almost having the Scion paid off. Great feeling.
Sarah- yeah, I wish I had trained Cliff earlier. I think he would have had more confidence (especially since, in his early days, he had much better control of his hind end).
Hope you are well!
-Jen