Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Follow-Up Friday – May 30, 2014

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the post where I highlight reader’s comments, answer questions and generally wrap up my week.

You Make Me Smile – May 25, 2014

Jan K said, “Cricket and Sheba often fall asleep with their chins resting on a toy. But my favorite is when Cricket falls asleep with a ball still in her mouth!”

Now that would make me laugh!

Jackie Bouchard says, “Cute! Sometimes Rita falls asleep on top of her bone – and I can’t imagine that’s comfortable!”

I notice my dogs sometimes sleep on things as well and I often wonder how they can.  Delilah is notorious for changing the television channel because she laid on the remote.

I Didn’t Know

We were both exhausted that first day.

We were both exhausted that first day.

Val said, “It’s amazing how they find us isn’t it?!?!!”

It is.  When I think of all the dogs we were turned down for and then there was Delilah.

Jan K said, ” What a wonderful story…it’s not always easy, but it ends up being worth it.”

With Delilah, it’s almost like she knows she was in a high kill shelter and got a second chance, this dog has a zest for life and grabs every moment she can.  I think that’s her gift to me, to learn to grab at the ring.

Lauranne said,  I hope there was cake and a pawty, if not let me know and I will have words with your mum!!”

I shall let Delilah answer this. 

“Um NO. A resounding NO.  In fact I got absolutely NOTHING but a pat on the head and a Happy Gotcha Day Delilah.  You can commence to scolding my mom now.”

Hey in my defense, I did take her for a lovely walk on the rail trail.

Solvit’s Telescoping Ramp

Callie, Shadow and Ducky’s mom said, “Closed up I imagine it would fit in the trunk.”

It is 39″ at the smallest, I would think it would fit in a normal size trunk.  It fits across the back of my SUV (which is a Hyundai.)

2 Brown Dawgs said, “That is a nice sturdy ramp. It looks so easy to use.”

It is super easy.  Even for an uncoordinated clutz like myself.  Although I did scrape my knuckle on the surface because I hadn’t latched it properly.  But that was operator error.

Slimdoggy said, “I admit we’ve bought a couple of those ramps – including this one. The dogs are fine with them and they are sturdy, although I did pinch my fingers in one that rolled up more than once. Luckily Jack & Maggie haven’t had to use them yet, because they are a bit of an inconvenience…lugging them around, setting them up, etc. and I’m kind of lazy ;(”

I admit there is some work involved, but with a big dog like Sampson it’s so much easier than anything else I’ve found.

Sue said, “We borrowed a ramp from a friend for Tucker… he refused to have anything to do with it. Luckily he was light enough that the dog daddy and / or I could pick him up.”

If I could pick Sampson up, I would.  He is about 90 pounds.  I think in an extreme situation I could probably manage briefly, but I don’t think I could lift him into the car.

Emma said, “We are never allowed to jump in or out of the car/SUV. Mom lifts us in and out…says it is good for her arm muscles.”

Mom is smart, I imagine you are fairly light, yes?  I get my arm muscle workout setting up the ramp and walking Sampson the Puller. 🙂

Jen said, “I’ve been looking fora pet ramp for Sherman. It’s getting harder on him to jump in the Suburban. Actually he doesn’t jump in anymore, he puts his front legs up and waits for me to lift him the rest of the way in which has been hard on my back!”

Sampson used to ALWAYS get in the car that way, then I trained him to jump in and now he can’t.  I did try having him put his front paws up, but with a bum leg, it doesn’t work so well.

Gigi Bell said, “We have one if these & they are awesome! Digby is a Newfoundland, so we trained him to use the ramp since he was 6 months old. He is now 2 years old and just had TPLO surgery for a torn cruciate. Good thing he is used to the ramp!”

That was super smart to do Gigi!! I wish I had started training Sampson on these things sooner.  He just had ACL surgery and it has been a huge adjustment! 

Jan K said, ” I can see us needing one of these some day because of Sheba’s arthritis, and this looks like great quality.

Start now, before you HAVE to!! 🙂

Things Aren’t Always What They Seem to Be

Hmpf, it's just a piece of bark.

Hmpf, it’s just a piece of bark.

Flea said, “I’ve done that so many times. FYI – gators aren’t too quick on land. Water?”

From what I’ve read they have short bursts of speeds up to 20 to 25 mph.  I don’t think I can run that fast, although with a gator on my ass…..Run Forrest, Run!

You all had some great stories, aren’t imaginations wild?

That’s it for this week, I hope you all have a great weekend!

Things Aren’t Always What They Seem to Be

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Just about 10 years ago, Hubby and I made a trip to Florida to help friends of ours celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary.  As sometimes happens other friends of ours were out of town and needed someone to care for their dog, Woody.  Hubby and I were arriving late and agreed to watch Woody, in exchange for a place to stay.  Woody was a Golden Retriever, and at that stage I’d had no real experience with caring for a large dog.

Our friends lived on a canal and as often happens in Florida especially for those who live around water, you get the occasional ‘gator.  I’m the type of person who doesn’t care for confrontations, but when they are inevitable, I prefer to meet them head on and get it over with quickly.  Unless of course, I’m dealing with a wild animal that has the potential to be deadly.  Then I’m full on chicken, turning tail and running.

It was late one night and quite dark and I took Woody out for his last potty break of the night.  I felt like walking so Woody and I headed down the road.  We got about four houses away from where Woody lived, when I noticed something very still on the front lawn of a dark house.  I stopped and stared trying to determine what it was in the dark.  From where I stood it looked like a fairly large ‘gator and so I turned around and began walking quickly but carefully back towards the house.  I knew that ‘gators have the ability to move very quickly when they spot prey, so while I was hustling my ass out of there, I kept looking behind me to see if it was following us and to make sure that my ass remained behind me and not is some ‘gator’s mouth.

If I recall correctly, Woody was taking his sweet Golden time and I could feel the panic rising, but somehow, miraculously Woody and I made it safely back to the house, both of us with our asses intact.

In the bright sunshine of the next day, I realized the ‘gator I’d seen the previous night, was nothing more than a palm frond that had either been cut or had fallen from a tree.  Being human I felt very foolish at my flight from the night before.

Dogs on the other hand, don’t feel foolish, I’m sure it didn’t phase Woody one bit that I dragged him away from a palm frond.

I was reminded of this story last week when Sampson dragged me across the street to inspect, what I thought and I’m fairly certain he thought was a lizard.

What is that?

What is that?

But as the title indicates, and the gator story proves, things aren’t always what they seem to be.

Hmpf, it's just a piece of bark.

Hmpf, it’s just a piece of bark.

And this is Thursday’s Barks and Bytes Blog hop, hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog.  Grab the badge (you can copy the text in my sidebar) and join the fun.

Heart Like a Dog

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Solvit’s Telescoping Pet Ramp

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One of the hardest issues we’ve had with Sampson’s ACL injury and subsequent surgery has been getting him in and out of the car.  Before he fully tore his ACL we did purchase a set of steps to assist him in getting on the bed, but since he can’t be on the bed, I’ve tried using the stairs for the car.

For some reason Sampson does not care for the steps at all.  He uses them but he usually tries to skip one of the two steps, which has resulted with him falling a couple of times, and that really freaks me out.  I certainly don’t want him damaging the mechanism in his leg.

So I was super excited when I was contacted by the wonderful folks at Solvit.  My contact thought after reading my blog, that I might like to try a ramp for Sampson.  I talked it over with Hubby, and went back and forth with the rep and we finally decided on the Deluxe Telescoping Pet Ramp. She was even kind enough to send me a video on how to train Sampson to use the ramp.

Solvit Telescoping Pet Ramp

At first when I looked at the ramp I got a little nervous, while the ramp extends from 39″ up to 72″, I couldn’t see how to lock the ramp in place, but that’s the beauty of the telescoping feature.  When you set the ramp up and extend it to your preferred length, the telescoping feature along with gravity, keeps the ramp from retracting.  There are two little feet on one end that sit on the ground/floor.  The ramp portion the pet walks on feels similar to sandpaper, so it provides traction and prevents slipping.  When not in use, there is a snap to keep the ramp from opening up, and it has a handle on one side to make for easy carrying.

We set the ramp on the floor and left it there for a couple of days.  Occasionally asking the dogs to walk across it.

Solvit-Ramp-Telescoping Pet Ramp

Then the grandkids came over and I had to pick it up, because they kept trying to walk on it and it is not for people or children, only pets!

Sampson walked across it just fine when it was flat on the floor, but the first time I tried to use it, I had the ramp pitched too steeply and he wouldn’t even attempt it.  I discovered that you can adjust the pitch of the ramp by extending it a little bit longer.

My dogs have both taken agility classes and I was pretty sure we wouldn’t have much of a problem, but we wanted to make sure we did it correctly so we started out small.

Pet Ramps- Solvit Telescoping Pet Ramp

We set the ramp up in the room Sampson and I are sleeping in.  Our mattress is no more than 6 inches off the floor.  The first couple of times Sampson walked OVER the ramp or off to the side, but with a few treats, he quickly learned to go up and down the ramp.

So we moved it into the living room to try it on the couch, which is considerably higher than the mattress.  He tried once again going over the ramp, but a little patience, coaxing and cookies and he was off.

Telescoping Pet Ramps by Solvit

I think he was super happy just to be up on his couch again.

After going on and off the couch a couple of times, we moved the ramp out to the car.

Solvit Telescoping Ramps to help pets get in cars

And then brought Sampson out.

Pet Ramps by Solvit-Telescoping pet ramps

Let’s see how he did with the ramp.  (The volume may be a tiny bit loud, fair warning.)

If the video does not play, click here.

As you can see, after an initial hesitation Sampson walked the ramp like it was his job.  It was so easy to train Sampson on the Solvit Telescoping Pet Ramp.  All told it took us no more than 20 minutes from the time we started using the slight incline of the mattress until he was walking in and out of the car.

I think a good part of that is the quality and sturdiness of the ramp as well as the non-slip surface.

When it’s just Sampson and I in the car, I slide the ramp on the floor of the front passenger seat, I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m fairly certain if I’m driving the ramp will fit between the front and back seats.  If Hubby’s driving, he likes to put the seat all the way back to give himself plenty of leg room, so the ramp won’t fit back there.  I think we will more than likely have to strap it onto the roof rack, but I think that would be the case with any ramp we used.

All told, I’m so very pleased with the Solvit Telescoping Pet Ramp, I no longer have to worry about Sampson slipping or trying to jump when getting in and out of the car.

Disclaimer:  I was given a Solvit Telescoping Pet Ramp in exchange for an honest review of a product.  I have received no other compensation for this review.  Heart Like a Dog only shares products and information we feel are relevant to our readers and would never share or endorse a product we wouldn’t use ourselves.

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