Elbow pads

[ggarbo]

My Malinois recently lost use of his rear legs. I managed to get him a cart, but of course, he's not in the cart 24/7 and when he's "loose" in the house, he has developed his own method of moving around. Unfortunately, he's rubbed the hair off his elbows on this berber carpet. It's literally carpet burns.

I didn't think finding elbow pads was going to be difficult -- and I did find them, I just cannot afford the ones that I found. I've attempted a number of different designs using a host of different materials and every bandaging, wrapping product on the market -- or close.

Let me add here -- I can barely sew a button on, and do not own a sewing machine.

Has anyone found a more reasonable way to keep the elbows safe?

Thank you in advance for any help!

Tess

[critters]

Hmm... Have you tried hard-shell knee or elbow pads for human kids? I don't know how small they go, but a hard shell would make dragging easier.

[ggarbo]

The hard shell types are far too large. And I have not found actual elbow pads for children, I think people who say they sell elbow pads, it refers interchangeably to knee pads. And even the diameters on those are, again, too large. Last night, I took a boy's small tshirt and sewed some lambskin rectangles inside the sleeve where his elbows hit. Thus far, they seem to be effective, but I withhold that opinion until today is over.

Tess

[critters]

I found elbow pads for kids, but they were at a yard sale. Hmm...interesting thought...

[ggarbo]

If I were just a wee bit more adept with a needle and thread or owned a sewing machine, I could put a seam in most any size elbow pads and make it work -- alas, no machine and my sewing abilities are mostly limited to replacing a button. And that's on a good day.

I find a lot of places selling knee pads -- and I never saw anything labeled "elbow" on these sites. I'm guessing they refer to them interchangeably. Not sure.

[CarolC]

When I first read your post I thought of http://www.dogleggs.com/. Then I saw they were $142.00, which I had no idea. I'm guessing those are the ones you found but could not afford. Gads! I didn't know they were that expensive. Do you have any friends who can sew and dogs?

Here is a post where Joanne made leg protectors for her big dog and kept them on with velcro. Maybe you could get some kind of elbow pads or sports braces secondhand at the thrift shop (they have a bin at the thrift shop I go to with all kinds of medical stuff like that) and hold them on with duct tape or velcro rather than trying to sew them for a perfect fit. A men's nylon or acrylic sock might even work if you cut out the toe and put it on, then taped or velcroed it above and below the elbow. You might even be able to get some close to his coat color.

http://handicappedpet.net/helppets/view ... 515#p75515

Or here is an idea. What if you go to the thrift shop in the children's section and find some little girl tights. Cut them like in the picture below. In the picture below the 2 legs were removed from the tights. Then the toes were cut out. You slip them on the dog's front legs and the loose ends tie in a knot over his shoulders. I haven't tried this so I don't know if it will work, but it is kind of a cheap version of dogleggs, like $1.99.

[ggarbo]

Hey, I do love your creativity! And I may try the tights thing. I managed to sew rectangles of an old piece of sheepskin I had onto the insides of the sleeves of the boy's tshirt and so far, it's working. So thus far, I have invested the $3 for the shirt at Goodwill, the lambskin was an old crate pad that had seen better days -- and though it took forever for me to thread the idiotic needle, I managed. Quite proud of myself. Now, if I had been thinking, I'd have bought very large snaps so that I could snap the pads in and out for washing. But honestly, I was quite proud of my seamstress "skills." So far, anyway. I like the tights idea anyway and would be good to have more than one method here.

Thanks so much for the suggestion.

Tess

[CarolC]

The tights require zero sewing, but they don't provide any cushioning for his elbows. I think you might have a better idea!

[critters]

Hey, I do love your creativity! And I may try the tights thing. I managed to sew rectangles of an old piece of sheepskin I had onto the insides of the sleeves of the boy's tshirt and so far, it's working. So thus far, I have invested the $3 for the shirt at Goodwill, the lambskin was an old crate pad that had seen better days -- and though it took forever for me to thread the idiotic needle, I managed. Quite proud of myself. Now, if I had been thinking, I'd have bought very large snaps so that I could snap the pads in and out for washing. But honestly, I was quite proud of my seamstress "skills." So far, anyway. I like the tights idea anyway and would be good to have more than one method here.

Thanks so much for the suggestion.

Tess

You'll be surprised at the skills you develop around here!