Sweet Mitzi

[mitziandjudysmom]

My old girl loves her morning walks but walks very slowly so I take her separately from the others very early in the morning when it's cooler for her, around 6AM for about an hour. This morning it was around 80 at 6AM so I thout it better to skip her walk and take her swimming later for exercise. She was afraid to walk down the steps into the lake. It broke my heart because she loves to swim (whenever Bruno's not there to jump on her). The water on local lakes is down because of lack of rain and the dock is too high out of the water for her to jump. She also hesitates going up and down the five steps to the house. I tried the towel under the belly but she didn't like it. Then I ordered a ramp, but she won't use it. Found out she does better if I have her harness on her and hold it up and down steps to make her feel secure. She doesn't seem to lack strength in her legs to go up and down, but it seems to be a phobia, maybe fear of falling. Anyway, next time I try to take her for a swim, I will put her harness on and take the ramp down, and go in with her.

[tammyhuffman]

Awwww, poor girl. It sounds like you have a plan fo next time.

[Diesel_Dawg]

Aww, poor sweet Mitzi Maybe her depth perception isn't what it used to be? I'm glad you have found a trick to help her out with the stairs, I hope it works to get her into the water again.