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October 14, 2007
Guido's Cart Adjustment - Support
Guido's front end has slowly been getting weaker, so it was time to modify his cart a little for some front-end support.You can see Guido's cart in it's original form here in some pictures taken last year. In that same vein, you can see a short video showing how easy it is to get in and out of the cart.
As I said, Guido's slowly been getting a little weaker "up front" as he ages. A little arthritis maybe, or just general slowing down as his front legs have had to do all the work for the last year and a half.
I stumbled onto a photo of a modification K9 Carts offers, and decided I could do that myself:
What I added are the two supports sticking out of the back, with wheels on them. Here's a close up of one side so you can see what I did:
Unfortunately the original chest strap wasn't really designed to hold the dog up, so we're experimenting with using something less elastic:
The original strap is still there, just clipped out of the way. Right now we're using an adjustable nylon strap, but may switch to something else. The biggest issue is that the strap tends to slip under Guido's rib cage when he tries to lie down.
Speaking of Guido:
The wheels are just "OK". They don't work well in the grass, but anything that would is probably going to be too big to be practical. They do OK on cement, and Guido's actually taken to pulling himself short distances once again. Another nice side effect is that he's standing! It's building up a little strength in those front legs again, and it's keeping his chest out of any puddles that might happen as he pee's.
Posted by Leo at 02:33 PM