Help Needed: Dragging back legs

[Miller's Mom]

Does anyone have any good ideas or methods on how to help my dog re-learn to lift his back paws and take a step? I try to do it for him when he is standing, but then he starts to walk too fast on his front legs and I can't keep up with him. He had disc surgery February 2.

[CarolC]

This is an indirect answer. I used to scarf walk my dog on her front feet (they call it wheelbarrowing) for 30 minutes first, before we did the 30 minutes of back feet exercise. It worked off some of her energy. At lunch we scarf walked for 10 minutes, then worked on the back feet for 10. So she got 80 minutes of exercise a day, 40 on her front feet only and 40 on her back feet. I felt she needed the front feet exercise for her sanity. It was when she got to go wherever she wanted and smell all the smells. She would make me *run* for the first block. Then she would go across streets, up and down curbs, across the grass, everywhere a regular dog went. That made her happy and the exercise was good for her whole body even if it was only her front feet. After 30 minutes of running and doing hairpin turns and smelling all the smells, she was tuckered out and ready to let me work her back feet.

Don't know if this would help, but do you have a clothesline dog run you could fasten the leash to? Have you tried practicing the steps indoors where there's noplace to run? If you can only go 8 feet, it is still helping. What about screwing one of those corkscrew dog tie-outs into the lawn and using a short line and doing your walking in a circle? Don't forget treats!

You can also do something you were taught not to do as a child: grab hold of the dog's tail. The physical therapist taught me this. You hold the root of the dog's tail to support him enough so he can walk his back feet. You do get tired fairly quickly hurrying along bent over holding your dog up by the tail! LOL!

[Miller's Mom]

Hi Carol,

Thanks for the tips. My problem is that he is not lifting his paws at all. I just take the opportunity to do it for him when he has those spastic spurts of trying to move his legs forward, but then he gets excited and just starts to walk quickly and I can't keep up. It's a back killer!

[CarolC]

I had to invest 40 minutes a day getting my dog tired enough to work. I got the idea from quarterhorses. You need to let them run flat out for a distance when you first go to ride in order to have a manageable horse the rest of the way. You have to give them their head and let them get it out of their system. It's the same with your dog. He's been cooped up and bored like a horse stuck in a stall. Ya gotta let him exercise till he's got his energy level down before you ask him to work. It's only fair. Otherwise he'll just take off all eager-dog like he's doing now. The first 30 minutes are his, the second 30 are yours.

If you aren't up to giving him a 30 minute walk using his front feet and a sling, maybe you would consider a cart? It was easier for me, my dog is smaller. Anyway, that worked for us, you may find a different way to do it. Our method did require a pretty big daily investment in time, let's not kid ourselves.

[Miller's Mom]

Hi Carol,

I see what you're talking about, tucker him out then I can walk his back legs and he will walk slower. Thanks!