FuzzyBear....new problem with Skyway

Fuzzybear · March 24, 2005, 01:39:36 PM

Oh man, I'm really sorry to hear about Skyway this way Olds, it's a big ol' tug on my heart.

I really wish you best with him and please keep in touch.

I am sorry I've not got to the board to much with all my traveling on the new job.

Thanks for asking about our kids...Cookie does not take the cold well at all and shivers quite a bit - we keep her in a foam bead and wrap her in a blanket (kinda like your pork and t-shirt routine!)to try and keep her warm. She's a warm weather dog for sure and when it's warm outside she loves it! Last night we had a fire in the fireplace and she was in heaven (sometimes we also call her our "firedog").

Stella, like Skyway still has her compressed vertebrae problem and hobbles around but has a very strong constitution like him too! Two weeks ago we had to have the vet pull 4 molars out of her tiny face (tooth decay/gum disease)Two days on pain pills and one week of soft food - you would never know that little dog had anything wrong with her at all - or any pain.

The dogs (although not pointers) go on point or alert when they are outside on those 10 acres - Stella bolted for a herd of deer several weeks back and Cookie chases the birds when she can get a head start on the Robins foraging on the ground.

I have been trying to build them a fenced area around the house so they could run and play and snooze in the summer heat but have been having problems getting enough wood locally here at one time (I need about 185 linear feet) 19 4x4x8' posts/38 1x4"s/and about 300 give or take a bit 1x4x3' slats. (remember, I have a "houdini" dog with Stella and I've seen her squeeze her body through a 4 inch opening so I've got to have no more than 2" spacing between the slats.

Anyway, that's about it up here - keep in touch.

Fuzz

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Chattaroy, WA - USA!

Oldman · March 24, 2005, 03:59:55 PM

Ok all the cart is finished and it works. Skyway is not crazy about it as it limits his normal speed in the house. However, let someone come to the door and he is a dog on speed wheels. That boy can move in that cart.

Next, we got around the problem of padding that leg when he is not in the cart by using old knee high socks of mine. We wrap the leg in paper towels and sponges. Lightly tape them closed, but not where that main blood vessel is. We cut the foot off of the sock. slide it up from his foot to his upper knee. The sock hold the padding into place, but is not so tight as to cut off the blood to his foot. Thus the foot does not swell up due to the lack of blood.

I knew if I held on to those socks from the old days that one day I would find a good use for them. [:D] I have 20 pairs of them which is good as these have to be changed out several times per day.

This is what it looks like without the harness. Basically his butt sits toward the front edge with his legs sticking out towards the back. In the first picture you can see that I made the bar adjustable so I could fit it to his harness/ and him correctly.
click to enlarge

click to enlarge

The first one I made was with the front cut at a 45 degree angle--left and right sides. But when he really took off his "knees" would go past that area. So I had to made it square.

Fuzzy, I hope your dogs adjust. I did read a couple of items years back about protecting "Southern" dog's feet when you moved them orth.

Hope all is going well with your new job~~! Cheers ALL~~~!!! [^]

Olds

http://rminor.com

jaeger · March 24, 2005, 04:27:45 PM

Looks like a nice job on the cart Olds!

Doug

Oldman · March 24, 2005, 04:31:36 PM

Thanks~~!

Here are a couple with him in it.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Olds

http://rminor.com

whitetailfan · March 24, 2005, 05:06:32 PM

[:D][:D]LOL[:D][:D]
Hey Olds, how fast can Skyway go when he lights up those yellow rocket boosters on the sides?

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

manxman · March 24, 2005, 07:06:27 PM

Hey Olds,

I have had pets all my life, currently live with 2 dogs (4 legged, not a couple of Chez's trollops![:D][:D]) including a chocolate labrador plus 3 cats, 2 of which have 3 legs!

One of the cats has come through soooo much recently, think one of the reasons that animals can show so much fortitude is because of the love and attention they receive, guess Skyway is in that category.

From the pictures it looks like he gets, and gives, a lot of love!!

Hope things work out for you all. [:)]

Manxman.

JJC · March 25, 2005, 02:05:09 AM

Hi Olds,

You, Susan and Skyway are all heroes in different ways! I hope Skyway gets through this episode in good health and good spirits.

John
Newton MA

Fuzzybear · March 25, 2005, 11:36:54 AM

How cool is that? Skyway has "JATO"!! LOL! That boy would find a way to get around even if you wasn't a good pappy, building him things with wheels on them!

I don't think our dogs have a problem so much with the feet getting cold as their bodies - virtually no hair on the underside and what's on top is pretty short - they practically shiver at any temp less than 65 degrees.

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Chattaroy, WA - USA!

Oldman · March 25, 2005, 02:40:06 PM

Hey all thanks for the good words~~!
<hr noshade size="1">
manxmansaid: "...3 cats, 2 of which have 3 legs!<hr noshade size="1">

Years back we had a cat name #259. Someone threw her out of the window of a passing car in front of my house. It busted her jaw up pretty bad. After checking her over I wrapped her in a towel and took her into the house. She begin to purr and as she did she was blowing blood all over me. That was it. Took her to the animal emergency hospital. They said that friends of strays would pay the bill. Long story, short story was I had, had a good 4 or 5 brandys and I said Hell no this cats gone enough. Whatever it takes I will pay for it. You see her left front leg missing. It was from mis-treatment. You could feel a perfect sock where the leg had been ripped out. The emergency doctors agreed with me that her leg had been ripped out as a kitten and she was not born that way.

Any who the reason I called her #259 was it cost me $259.00 the next morning when I went to pick her up. So manxman I can say you and yours are real fine folks IMO.

Olds

http://rminor.com

Oldman · March 30, 2005, 06:12:52 AM

Well Skyway just hates his day cart. He chews up the harness everytime. I don't see how he can get to it but he cuts it into two. Well that hard wrap I made was not working as well either.

Then I came up with the idea that if I took two pencils cut them in half and place each one on the sides of the blood vessel that they would protect the vessel from collapsing when I applied a standard wrap. Kind of like a splint protecting a broken bone.

Well it works. 18 hours later and his foot is not blown up for the lack of blood leaving the foot. The heart would pump the blood but with no movement in the foot there was nothing to push it back out... Plus he is not restricted in his movements...Phew...this has been a long fight trying to figure something out that worked and something he would accept.

For the first time in days he is sound asleep on his couch--all is good again.

Olds

http://rminor.com

BigSmoker · March 30, 2005, 07:25:43 PM

Olds,
Are you sure your last name is not McGuyver[:D].

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

JJC · March 30, 2005, 07:31:01 PM

Hi Olds,

I wish our politicians (all of them, not just the ones I don't vote for [:D]) had your ingenuity and problem-solving skills!!!

John
Newton MA

Fuzzybear · April 01, 2005, 05:23:26 PM

Dang Olds, change your handle to Mr. Fix it!

Good boy![:D]

Glad things worked out for Skyway - time to figure out how to strap him to a surfboard now, heck, you've done everything else except maybe teaching him how to fish and ski!!

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Chattaroy, WA - USA!

Oldman · April 04, 2005, 05:20:23 AM

You should see him swimming with a life jacket. Plus I have added side floation bars to the jacket [:D]

At first he was a little upset about it until he found out he did not have to swim to float... LOL This year I will be add a another float device so he can rest his head.

We go out to a sand bar and he figured out he can walk with his front feet while the rest is floating. He just loves it. You can see it in his eyes. They just light up and he get that look on his face. I guess it is a type of freedom that even his outside cart cannot give him. The one things we do because of the mass singrays here in the summer is to run them off of the bar before we put him into the water. Even though we have had run-ins with small shovel nose sharks (3-4 foot) generally a hard slap on the water with a cain pole moves them off. Plus we carry a few bang sticks if needed.

Thought a couple of summers back I was going to have to use one as there was a bull shark that swam up to us twice. (If you don't know about a bull shark it kills more people around the world every year than all other sharks combind by a factor of 2 at least.) That was the day I was glad to get Skyway back into the boat. Now that I look back it was kind of funny. My wife was standing in the water just a little deeper then knee high guarding us as I loaded him up with a bang stick in each hand~~!

If that bull had gotten within her reach she was going to kill the chit out of him....LOL!! If you don't know what a bang stick is it is an underwater 357 or .44 Caliber gun. Mine have a 4 1/4" power head and originally overall lenght of 28 1/4". I have modified mine to a 5 foot reach. I have the 44 mag. calibers. While the percussion of the exploding gasses of a bang stick will cause significant and often sufficient stopping power without a projectile I use a projectile that is hollow point and I cross cut the head. I waterproof my rounds by applying a thin layer of nail polish to only the rim of the round.

Many years ago I saw a home made one that used 45 cal. However the most impressive bang stick I've ever seen was another home made one. It was 12 gauge 3" mag shells. The casings were brass. I saw a shark with most of its head missing. His slugs had several 1/8" holes drill into them and were cross cut 2X (into eight parts.) Plus he made his own slugs. There were a good 2" long and he also cross drill them. Talk about shredding power! Understand there is no trigger on a bang stick. It goes off when you stick something with it. So between the gasses and the projectile there is nothing left of the area where you poked it at.

Here is where I got my bang sticks: BANG

Here are couple of image of them:

This just about the size of the one that day--maybe a little bit larger--everything in the water looks bigger [:D]. As you can see it is just a chunker shorter type of Tiger Shark.

BTW You should see the looks we get at the boat ramp as I wheel barrow him to the car. After 5-6 hours on the boat in the sun and water he is ready to go home. I call him my A/C dog!~~~ What is that old saying about a dog's Life?? Heh he he...

EDIT he knows about fishing. If I set a rod to a light drag and a fish hits it and takes off he is all woof about it. He gets right next to me looking at the line in the water. He tries to grap the fish when I bring it in the boat so I have to be careful when it is a saltwater cat as you know unlike fresh water catfish, saltwater cat's 3 points besides being sharp are very toxic/ poison! Not to mention down-right painfull. A small one got me about 20 years ago and I can still tough that spot and feel it to some degree.

When I die and if I come back to this life I want to be a dog~~![^][^][^][^][^]
Olds

http://rminor.com

JJC · April 04, 2005, 08:41:12 PM

Olds, it's always educational reading your posts!

I'm thrilled that Skyway is happier now--you and Susan are to be commended!

BTW, there are freshwater catfish that have toxic spines--up here in New England we have a smallish catfish species called hornpout that inhabit warmer lakes, ponds and rivers. Like their saltwater cousins, they hav e those nasty "whiskers" that cause quite a sting if you touch them!

John
Newton MA