Using a Dog Wheelchair
About 2 min read
(updated 18 January 2022)
If your dog can’t walk or has weak hind legs, you can use a dog wheelchair for your pet. It will help your dog to get the exercise it needs to live a happy, healthy, active life. Your dog can use his or her front legs to move about, while the back legs are lightly touching the ground or safely held up in stirrups.
Questions you may have include:
- What is an example of using a dog wheelchair?
- What does it look like?
- Where can you buy such a wheelchair?
This lesson will answer those questions. Animal Health Disclaimer
Example of using a dog wheelchair
A friend, Mary, adopted a female German Shepard as a rescue dog. Poor Sammy had been abused and was basically skin and bones from not being fed well. Her hind legs were very weak, such that she wobbled and sometimes fell down. She was also very timid and was even afraid to take an offered treat.
After a few months, I saw Mary in the park with Sammy. She had purchased a dog wheelchair and was strapping Sammy in. It was so amazing to see the change in Sammy. Once strapped in, she was ready to get going.
Sammy walked ahead of us, stopping to look back as if to say, “Are you guys coming? Hurry up already.” She seemed to happy and confident in herself. She was a dog again.
Picture of dog wheelchair
You can see that Sammy enjoys her new way of getting around.
Cost and choices
An inexpensive alternative is a support harness that goes around the dog’s abdomen. You hold the harness while walking your dog. The disadvantages are that you have to hold up the dog’s rear legs and that the dog does not have the freedom as with a wheelchair.
Love and be loved