Travel Preparations



Madison has handled her age very well, at thirteen and a half, she still has a "can do" attitude!

Dave and I are headed out to Missouri in the motor coach soon for vacation with the dogs.  We will be gone for eight or nine days.  It's the longest trip we have taken the dogs on.   For the most part, Stetson and Maddie travel really well.  However, with age, Madison has a huge deficit in depth perception, along with a little dementia.  Combine those two things with the typical geriatric hip and shoulder stiffness problems, and travel can become uncomfortable for her quickly.

Navigating steps or curbs is a huge challenge for her and creates a stressful environment when we travel in the rig because there are two external stairs and two very steep steps inside.  Every time you leave, or enter, you must use these four steps.  Some days she's fearful of the steps while others she just tries to launch into "la la land".  You never quite know which dog you'll get on the other end of the leash.  It can be scary to manage, so we've learned to keep the harness on at all times to give us a "handle" should we need it.  The stair challenge becomes even more difficult when we are unlucky enough to land in a lot that has a slope off the front of the rig and we have to use the leveling jacks to significantly raise the front end - that can add a good six inches to the already daunting entry.




The final challenge is the steepness of the stairs - the first step into the coach is almost to her chest; it can make for a sore dog over an extended trip

I believe we have two separate challenges here.  First, I cannot remove the entry steps from the coach, they are what they are so I'll have to condition Madison to be able to tolerate the climbing.  We'll begin with getting walks in regularly, regardless of the heat.  It will help her endurance tremendously.  I'll support her further with stretching (as much as she will tolerate, she's my hyper sensitive to touch dog).  I'll also will work on strength training to help support her shoulders and core, which are going to have to pull her up.  I will also work with our Veterinarian support team from Union Hill to make sure I have the right type of medications and alternative support on board.

Secondly, we have the visual problem.  To manage her vision deficiencies, Dave is installing LED lights on sides of the stairs which should help her at least be able to see where she needs to go.  Then we purchased a ramp that we can use to take the outside steps out of the equation all together.  My challenge with the ramp is that she has always loved to jump a contact zone in agility - so I'm actually going to train it like a dog walk contact with the target at the bottom.  My hope is this will keep her from "launching" into never never land at the bottom and crashing. The ramp is a great piece that folds, only weighs about ten pounds and has a really super duty skid proof surface on it.  It is sixteen inches wide, so I'm not going up or down it with her, but I think I can walk sideways up the stairs next to her, with a grip on her harness to make sure she doesn't attempt to leap up or down.



Starting out with a low incline to teach Madison the concept of using a ramp




 

This is the goal - hopefully she will learn to navigate the ramp and eliminate two of the stairs that seem to work on her shoulders and hips.