Quote: Jo Harker

(And, yes, in case any one wonders, he has a very snug igloo with padding and warm quilts to lie on but I still bring him in when it is very bad).

Man! That was bitchy. My apologies.

I am going to train him to stay in a crate in the house during the day while I am gone to work. (He is used to being in by himself without tearing the house apart, but now, he should be kept safe.) It may take awhile to get him used to the crate, but having thought about it, it is the way to go.

Will it hurt his joints to stay in the crate 12 hours?

I think that would depend on several factors.

1) Can he control his bladder for 12 hours?

2) Does he usually spend most of he day sleeping or resting, or is he used to doing quite a bit of walking, jogging and running?

3) How big of a crate? While small, tight crates are recommened for young dogs during housebreaking, for an older, hosuebroken dog, a slightly larger crate that allows him to stand up, turn around and stretch out completely (so he can flex his back and knees) might be in order.

Is it possible to place a crate in small area of the home? Even a crate in small bathroom, so that he can walk around a very small area to keep his joints loose.

 Quote: alyssa myracle

I think that would depend on several factors.

1) Can he control his bladder for 12 hours?

So far, yes he can. I try not to make him wait that long, but at night sometimes we go to bed early and he can hold it that long.

 Quote: alyssa myracle

2) Does he usually spend most of he day sleeping or resting, or is he used to doing quite a bit of walking, jogging and running?

His activity has decreased somewhat. Mom and Dad (who live across the field) only see him early morning on his rounds. The rest of the time, it appears to them he is sunbathing or lying on his chair on the porch waiting for me to come home. Then, in the evenings, we walk around the yard and in the cornfield.

 Quote: alyssa myracle

3) How big of a crate? While small, tight crates are recommened for young dogs during housebreaking, for an older, hosuebroken dog, a slightly larger crate that allows him to stand up, turn around and stretch out completely (so he can flex his back and knees) might be in order.

I was hoping someone would tell me to get a large crate. Everything I read says "just big enough" but he is used to "space" and stretching out completely would be great!

 Quote: alyssa myracle

Is it possible to place a crate in small area of the home? Even a crate in small bathroom, so that he can walk around a very small area to keep his joints loose.

I would have to take some measurements. I think one bathroom would work, but I would have to learn not to run into it when I walk through the bathroom.

This all sounds promising. I think leaving him outside, at least during the winter, is the wrong thing to do for him, even though he has a igloo. Maybe I am worrying too much, but he seems to WANT to be indoors instead of outdoors and that isn't like him. I think I will defer to the dog on this one.

Thank you so much Alyssa for the questions.

The small crate advice is geared more towards housebreaking (not that there's anything wrong with a small crate for a housebroken dog, per se). The reasoning is that if the dog has little room, it can't pee (or poop) in one corner, and lay down away from it. If the crate is small enough, it won't mess in it, because it doesn't want to lay in it.

With your old boy, he's already housebroken, and since we want to avoid stiffness, I don't think there's any harm to a larger crate, or just letting him have a small room to occupy during the day.

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

The small crate advice is geared more towards housebreaking (not that there's anything wrong with a small crate for a housebroken dog, per se). The reasoning is that if the dog has little room, it can't pee (or poop) in one corner, and lay down away from it. If the crate is small enough, it won't mess in it, because it doesn't want to lay in it.

With your old boy, he's already housebroken, and since we want to avoid stiffness, I don't think there's any harm to a larger crate, or just letting him have a small room to occupy during the day.

I wanted to add a mention of one of the best things I ever did for seniors or any dogs with OA changes or other joint issues: http://leerburg.com/742.htm

That first review on the bottom is me.

If the vet agrees with gentle heat (optional to the dog, with room for being off the mat as well as on), I can tell you that this product is so worth it ... it's sturdy, it's very low to the floor (no stepping up or stepping down), it has no hot spots and cannot overheat, and the temperature is just a warm 100 degrees or so.

I have the large, but the medium might be right for one dog. (I got mine in a LB auction, and it happened to be the large.)

I have it plugged in in a corner of the living room all the time since winter started, and I plugged it in in the cool early mornings even in the fall.

My senior with OA, dysplasia, and two damaged disks uses it very deliberately. It's amazing. He will run out after breakfast to pee, etc., and then come in and position his spine on the heated mat with his head and shoulders off of it. Off and on during the day he will place different angles of his hips and back on it.

I'm sure that I will never be without one of these again, as long as I have dogs who get old and/or arthritic.

P.S. http://www.dogstuff.info/spondylosis_deformans_lanting.html
for an overview of spondylosis.

Do you have any T-Touch (the massage part of the T-Touch "program") experience? The little T-Touch book I have was very inexpensive.

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-TTouch-Your-Dog-Behavior/dp/1570762066/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

http://leerburg.com/974.htm

http://www.nwsam.com/library.html?t=14&id=38&from=

Every evening, I do a little massage on my senior, and also passive range-of-motion exercises (in his case, slow "bicycling" of his back legs).

He likes this a lot, and I think that it helps to get the synovial fluid moving into joint cavities that might otherwise have muscles so clenched around them (in protection) that lubricating fluid cannot move freely.

 Quote: connie sutherland

I wanted to add a mention of one of the best things I ever did for seniors or any dogs with OA changes or other joint issues: http://leerburg.com/742.htm
That first review on the bottom is me.

I remembered about that from another post, thank you for bringing it up. I measured him while he was partially curled up.. .. he is 28 inches "long" partially curled. Will the medium be enough for him? I just checked the pricing of the pad, and I do have 200$ left in his dog fund to take care of him.
The pad is affordable. Added question: Is it soft or do you put a cover on it?

 Quote: connie sutherland

P.S. http://www.dogstuff.info/spondylosis_deformans_lanting.html
for an overview of spondylosis.

Just read the information and looked at the picture. He is stage five at his rear. Not so bad in the upper region.



Edited by Jo Harker (12/15/2008 05:12 AM)
Edit reason: To ask another question

 Quote: connie sutherland

Do you have any T-Touch (the massage part of the T-Touch "program") experience? The little T-Touch book I have was very inexpensive.
http://leerburg.com/974.htm

I will be ordering it this weekend and probably the pad. (I will call Doc's office today and ask if there is any reason he couldn't be on a warm pad.)
He is willing for me to do stretching and massage on him. I just had to find a book on it somewhere and voila! Thank you so much!

Doc said it would be a GREAT idea to get the old boy a warming pad! So, Leerburg, look for my order in the mail!

 Quote: Jo Harker

Doc said it would be a GREAT idea to get the old boy a warming pad! So, Leerburg, look for my order in the mail!

Now that I have that warming mat, Oliver warms up on it and then we do the passive exercises and massage.

That mat gets so much use that it's hard for me to remember when I didn't have it.

You will not be sorry you got it.