littlek wrote:So, last friday I recieved a boomobile. I tried to stuff Boo into it friday night, but I thought I needed two people. In order to use this wagon, Boo needs a strong front end and it's just not that strong. This morning was beautiful - sunny and warm - so I tried it out solo (well, with my 2.5 year old nephew).
The blue band across her ribs is a frontal support until she gets stronger (if she ever does). The back is fully supported by metal poles, but the front is not. She needs practice, for sure, but she progressed in the short time she was in the contraption today.
My mother had a similar `wheelchair' for our old German Shepherd. She (the dog) quickly developed muscles in her front legs and shoulders. Eventually, the degenerative nerve disease reached her front legs too, at which point she couldn't walk at all anymore and got enormously depressed about it. That's when my mother put her to sleep. But before that happened, the dog lasted about a year, during which she was perfectly happy.
The following routine might help you put your dog into her wheelchair by yourself -- at least it worked for us.
1) Let your dog sit and position the wheelchair so it rests on those two long poles pointing forward. The dog sits between the poles.
2) Lift your dog's behind and slide the wheelchair under it. If your wheelchair is like ours -- I don't quite see whether it is -- her hip should now be supported by a horizontal pole or a strap.
3) Pull up the long, forward-pointing poles If your wheelchair is like ours, pulling up the poles should put it in a stable position where it already supports the dog.
4) Strap the blue thingy over her upper leg, and put your dog's feet into those slopes that keep them.
Hm. This kind of stuff is much easier to show in real life than to write about, but maybe I got the idea across anyway. Good luck to you and Boo!
But she does look like she's doing well. Boxers are persistant, stubborn animals, as you well know, and I have recently found out. 
I love their expressions. 
