Holding Her Hips Up So She Doesn't Fall Every Time She Pees?
If your older dog's back legs give out when she squats, and you are the one holding her up, this is for you. Here is why the usual fixes keep failing, and what to use instead.
Her back legs start shaking the second she squats. So you bend over behind her and hold her hips up with both hands, every single time. If your grip slips, or her legs quit before she is done, she sits right back down into the mess. Then comes the bath, the wet towel, the floor to wipe.
And it is not once a day. It is every pee and every poop, several times a day, in the rain, in the dark, before work. Your lower back aches by lunch. She looks up at you like she knows she let you down. Some days you wonder how long either of you can keep this up.
Here is what nobody tells you: none of this means you are doing it wrong. You were handed the wrong tool for the job. The five points below explain why, and what changes when her hips are held the right way.
1. The towel was never made to hold a dog up
A towel bunches in the middle and slides back toward her legs the moment she squats. A scarf twists into a rope. Homemade straps dig in. A belly band presses right where she pees, and one owner noticed it could make a dog leak. Every one of these takes both of your hands, so you stay bent double the whole time. The problem was never your grip. All of them hold her from under the belly, where she squats, instead of at the hips, where she gives way.
2. Her back legs going first is not your fault
Owners ask themselves the same hard questions. Did I walk her too much? Too little? Did helping her make her legs weaker? Here is what PetMD explains: as dogs age, muscle tends to fade from the back legs first while the front end stays strong. That is why she can still trot to the door, then fold the moment she squats. You did not cause this. She simply needs help with one half of her body, and that half is what the rest of this page is about.
3. Your back was not built for this
Crouching behind a big dog several times a day adds up fast. Owners put it bluntly: it kills your back. Some cut the potty trips down to twice a day because every lift hurts. One woman who swapped her towel for a sling with a handle said she could feel the difference in her lower back. The goal is not to lift your dog off the ground. It is to keep her hips steady from a handle above her, instead of with your hands underneath. How high that handle sits depends on your height and her size, so check the strap length before you order.
4. Move the hold from your hands to a handle
That is the idea behind the Canine Assist rear harness. Her back legs step through two openings cut into one panel that wraps around her back end. It closes with hook-and-loop strips and a single side-release buckle, and the waist adjusts to fit her. Straps rise from the panel to one handle with an elastic grip, and a slide buckle sets their length. At the squat, you hold the handle and keep her hips up, and your hands are no longer under her. There is no separate belly strap and no chest piece. It does the back end only, the half that is failing.
5. Myth: a rear harness just slides off
Truth: a rear harness slides off when it is the wrong size, or when her legs sit in loose loops that ride down. This one is sized by her weight, which is all you need for almost every dog, and her legs go through openings built into the panel itself. If the first size is not right, your first exchange for another size is free. One more truth: if her front legs are failing too, a full-body harness is the better buy. This one is made for the dog whose front end still carries her.
Trade the towel for a handle
One Canine Assist rear harness in her size, plus a FREE size exchange and a FREE fitting guide. Delivered in 5 to 8 business days.
Wrong size? Your first exchange is free, and the new size ships at our cost.