Dogs with disabilities living with DS

[DaHawaiianDS]

I have an elderly Dachshund, he's been placed around 14 years. He has food and grass allergies along with IVDD, Invertebral Disc Disorder. It means that it's possible with pressure put on his back he could slip his disc and become either a temporary or permanent paraplegic. No use of back legs, help with expressing bladder and held up while expressing along with pain meds and crate rest up to six months when down. (I'm very used to this care) So WTF are we doing having a DS? Let me explain.

First, he needed a friend. And my husband and I are very active and can't expect my Dachshund to be the wild and crazy guy of his youth. Second we realize training a puppy with an older dog will allow them to pick up similar behaviors which we love. Third, my weenie is doing fine now to spite the vets that told us to put him down (once for grain allergy, once for back injury both survived and completely oblivious to on his part). With finding the proper pain meds and Dodgerslist.com we know how to manage it and at this point it is to use about quality of life for him.

If he goes down again and doesn't get up which could happen from anything like a stair to a couch jump, we get a wheelie and I continue his care. Vets that know about and treat IVDD have always said hes perfect weight with muscluar structure because of how active we are.

So here's my question, for now they are very conscious of eachother and my DS Kapena cares when he seems tired or hurting. Has anyone trained a DS around another disabled dog that can give us pointers? Things to expect as they grow in the future? Commands or training that are imparative to keep the whole pack happy?

[TimL_168]

Wish I had insight for you, but I don't. It sounds like you are already expecting the posts about prey drive and general hyperactivity. What you're looking for is probably more related to service dog training. Best of luck to you!

[DaHawaiianDS]

Yeah. And Kapena's four months now, my Doxie is honestly sometimes the wilder of the two. We decided since he is older and healthy and happy now that we should maximize his quality of life. There's a ramp on big furniture and he does a lot of swimming to maintain muscle so it doesn't happen again. But I'm not going to keep him in a box for the rest of his life in fear it will happen again because it inevitably will, and that would make him miserable. So he's allowed to run and jump and play, he gets a lot of vet visits to monitor his back. And the DS honestly backs off him for now because Shorty has let him know from a baby puppy age when it hurts and what not to do. Yesterday I caught them napping together and Kapena did a funny thing. He was hard sniffing his back. Lol. I wonder if he can't tell?

[DaHawaiianDS]

Wish I had insight for you, but I don't. It sounds like you are already expecting the posts about prey drive and general hyperactivity. What you're looking for is probably more related to service dog training. Best of luck to you!

Thanks Tim! Just wondering if anyone has any preemptive training we could do to her as Kapena gets older!