The Winston Wagon » walks

Panic mode

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:22:50 +0000

I hate to mention this because it is embarrassing but some strange guy scared me last year and I truly over reacted. I didn’t bite but I let him know what he did was wrong. You see, I was walking with Mom and Ben and a kid about 17 years old thought I was really handsome and came running up behind me and gave me a playful jiggle. WOAH! I went right out of my mind. I had no idea who he was or what he was doing or if I had to defend myself. My bark is worse than my bite because it so slow and has a lot of bass to it. That usually does the trick so that is what I did. I scared the kid and he walked away very quickly. Let me tell you, MOM WAS TICKED. What if I had bit someone? I would have been the one in trouble even though I did nothing wrong. If he came up to me slowly and put his hand out gently , then I bit him with no warning…well….I would get the punishment that I deserve. I bet that was a hard lesson for that boy. I hope he treats dogs with a little bit more respect than that. Please remember this when you approach a dog you don’t know. Just because a dog is cute, it does not give you the right to treat it like your own.

Take care of yourselves.

Love, Winston

Uh oh…Ben’s in trouble.

admin — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:46:38 +0000

I swear guy dog is like a goat. He is so bad about eating socks and underwear or anything that has a human scent on it. My mom got a phonecall from Nana. Nana said that Benny has eaten the toes off of three socks and destroyed a pair of bloomers. Can you believe that guy? He gives us all a bad name. We’ve talked about his goat issues. He says he gets terribly bored so he finds something to chew on to amuse himself. He can also open doors too. My mom gets frustrated with him because here she is taking all of these precautions and then boom….another sock bites the dust. Walking helps because it wears him out. After a good exercise session, Ben can do only one thing and that is sleep. Thank God!

Ok kids. We’re off to get some lobster. None for me though. I get to go with my family and sniff around the dock. It’s lots of fun.

Take care of yourselves.

Love, Winston

The Bottom’s up Harness, a handicapped dog’s best friend

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:37:17 +0000

My mom never even knew such a thing existed, but after a very creative google search she found one. I guess the ’towel under the belly’ method was getting a little old. Ever since mom turned thirty, her back has gone to pot or so she says. She needed a little something to help her help me. The hiney harness does just that. As you can see, there is a handle to hold me up and there are two loops for my back legs to go through. I can be supported with a lot less effort. Also, my mom can have a little bit more control too. That’s nice on her end. These aren’t just for handicapped dogs either. My pal Frank down the street uses one too. He’s an older guy that just gets tired when he tries to go up stairs. He’s a lab. Bad hips on his mother’s side of the family are to blame.

So give it a try and hopefully, you and your family will be helped also. When you do ‘google’ this item, please make sure you put in the word ‘dog’ or ‘canine’. Mom got some…well…interesting websites. Let me know how you make it if someone out there is helped by this advice. Mom says it’s worth the money. She visits the chiropractor a lot less often now.

Well, take care of yourselves. I’m off to take my midmorning nap.

Love, Winston

p.s. dated 9/25/09

Sorry Arnie. I got a comment from you a while back about the harness I talked about on here. I didn’t realize that you were the inventor of it. I thought you were kidding in your comment to me. I have since changed the title of this blog to throw some business your way. It’s a nice product.

The first walk with Winston

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:08:40 +0000

Well, we finally have video of me in my chair. What do you think about that? I think the next set of videos that we do is going to be more streamlined. My mom is getting a little bit better at video every time she has to pick up the camera. (thank goodness).

Leave comments if you’d like and tell your friends about me. I love nothing more than meeting new people.

Until then, take care of yourselves.

Love, Winston

A walk with my pals

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:49:18 +0000

I am completely exhausted from my walk with my mom and my buddy Ben tonight. We just got back about an hour ago. Walking in nice weather really and truly makes me happy. I am relaxed and I don’t have a care in the world when I get the right amount of exercise. During the summer though, it is important for me to exercise at the right time. My fellow dogs and I don’t operate at 100% when it is too hot out. As much as I love walking, I prefer to stay inside with the cool A/C. Going out early in the morning or late in the evening is the best time. My mom and I both get to enjoy it that way. My mom is fair-skinned and doesn’t like to be in the sun too long. She burns like crazy and I feel like I am overheated. No one wins.

Nighty night

So remember this advice from your old pal Winston. We may act like you are taking us to Disneyland when you grab that leash, but you are doing no one a favor when it is hotter than blue blazes outside. We’ll start out on the walk with both guns blazin’, but you might have to peel us off the sidewalk about halfway. Oh, did I mention sidewalks? They don’t exactly tickle our toes when it is hot out. It gets a little uncomfy after a while.

Ok, I must take leave now. My bed is calling my name. I can almost hear myself snoring already. Take care of yourselves.

Your old pal,

Winston

Dogs in Wheelchairs

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:51:15 +0000

First of all, I need to thank you for reading my blog. I hope what I have to say on this topic helps you in your life. We are all on this journey of life so why not hold hands along the way. Well, maybe a paw or two. This is my first blog on my site so I thought it might be a good time to tell the story of how I am now walking with the help of some very nice wheels.

It has been about nine months since this whole thing started. Back in September of 2008, my mom came home from work and noticed that I wasn’t feeling well. She was right. My back end was feeling kinda funny and it made me nervous. When I get like that I tend to drool a lot. This is what tipped her off. She thought maybe that I needed a jaunt outside so off we went. Going out and smelling stuff usually calmed me down but not that day. Things went from bad to worse. I went from being able to walk, to walking completely uncoordinated, to tipping over to my right side, to being lame over the course of a day. I was very scared then and so was my family. My mom just cried and cried and my dad just didn’t know what to do. I was rushed to my vet and he knew what the problem was. It had something to do with my back and I needed help right away. An appointment was made for me the next with a surgeon. What a nice man and what a kind heart. He said that I had to have an MRI done to figure out what the exact problem was. He said if we didn’t act soon, that I was probably going to be completely paralyzed from the hips down. My mom and dad couldn’t bear that thought and were desperate. I was scheduled for the MRI that next day. The doc said that while I was knocked out getting my scan done he was going to call my dad to let him know about what the options were. He could even operate if need be by keeping me knocked out. EEk! I was scared.

Well, the morning came and my dad dropped me off at the vet’s where they whisked me away. The quicker the better. I didn’t like seeing my dad so upset. During the scan, they found the problem. It was my disc. It was ruptured and it was pressing on my spine. This was the problem. The doc called my dad and told him the bad news. It was the worst he had seen. Even worse news. He’d have to perform a hemilaminectomy to correct the problem. This means they clear out the area that was pressing on my spine. My dad couldn’t stand to lose his best friend so he opted for the surgery. All went well and I made it through just fine.

Recovery was hard. I absolutely hate hate hated being away from home. It is just the worst thing ever. I cry a lot and my appetite just goes away. I do much better when I have my family around. I had to spend a couple of days at the hospital before they let me leave. I was very uncomfortable. Because of the surgey and the swelling, I was still just a lame as ever. I couldn’t deal with it. My vet said that this was going to happen and things would improve over time. He was right. As the days wore on, I found that I could sleep better, eat and drink better, and get up a little bit better. It was really tough on my dad because I needed lots of help getting around at first. As I started to feel more like myself, I was a little bit happier.

It took a couple of months to recover from surgery. Each week was a little bit better than the last. I started to get feeling back. It was a slow process. VERY slow. I went from being completely lame to being able to walk a couple of steps on my own. I am still very weak on my back end. It is hard to support myself when I walk unassisted. I usually just end up sitting until someone helps. This isn’t to much a lifestyle change for me. I was always a big fan a resting. I only when out to do my business and to go on my daily walk. After that, I’m all about my bed.

Since I reached a plateau in my recovery, my mom and dad thought that I needed a wheelchair to help me walk again. It is really the best thing ever. They got it from eddieswheels.com. I was scared to get in it at first. I don’t like weird things in my house, but I started to get used to it. I couldn’t go around the block when I first started in it, now I am running with it on. I even outwalk my buddy Benny and my mom. It’s great exercise and I love going everywhere now. It lets me live my doggie rockstar lifestyle again.

This is a really long post so I will end it for the day. Until then, have a great day. Love your furry friends. I look forward to our time together soon.

Love, Winston

p.s. walk your dog. they will thank you for it.