Bent Over Your Dog Every Lift? 5 Reasons the Straps Weren't Made for You
For anyone who lifts the back end of a big, heavy dog several times a day and feels every lift in the lower back. Here is what is really bending you over, and where to start.
It starts first thing in the morning. He tries to get up, his back legs fold under him, and he looks at you. So you bend down, slide your hands or a towel under his belly, and pull. Again at noon. Again at night. Once more if he wakes you in the dark.
You have tried what everyone tries. The bath towel, which leaves you folded in half while he still sags. Your bare hands under his hips. Maybe a sling with handles, which helped him and hurt you, because the handles stopped somewhere around your knees.
None of this means you are weak, or too old for a big dog. It means the lift is happening at the wrong height. Here are five reasons your back is taking every lift, and what to look for before you buy anything else.
1. Bent over him, your lower back does the lifting
When you reach down to his hips, your legs drop out of the job and your lower back takes his weight, lift after lift. Spine researchers at Ohio State looked at people who lift other people for a living. Lifting a body by hand overloaded the lower back even with two helpers, and the riskiest lift was the one done alone. That work is on caregivers lifting people, not dogs. But the posture is the one you are in every morning.
2. Cutting his trips outside is not failing him
Owners in your spot take the dog out morning and night only, wait for a husband to get home, or call a son to come over. Then the guilt sets in. But look at what you were handed: a towel has no handles, and too many slings are cut for someone taller, so you tie knots in the straps or fold yourself over them. You were never the weak link. The gear was built for someone else's body.
3. A grip you set to your own height
That is why Canine Assist is a rear harness with an adjustable lifting strap. His back legs step through two openings in one panel, and the strap rises from his hips to a grip lined with an elastic mat. A slide buckle sets the strap length to you, not to the factory: from about 12 to 24 inches on sizes S to L, and up to about 22 inches on XL and 2XL. Check that range against your own reach before you order.
4. Myth: a rear-only harness slides off or isn't enough
Truth: the slings owners describe sliding off are often a band under the belly with nothing holding it to the legs. Here each back leg goes through its own opening in the panel, and the waist closes around him with hook-and-loop strips and one side-release buckle, adjusted to his size. Is rear-only enough? If his front legs still carry him and it is the back end that quits, it is the right tool. If his front end is going too, you need a full-body harness, and we would rather tell you now.
5. Sized by his weight, with a free exchange
If you have ever ordered the size a chart promised and got the wrong fit, you know why this matters. Canine Assist is sized by his weight, and for almost every dog that is all you need. Five sizes, S to 2XL; the 2XL covers dogs of 56 to 100 lbs. If it still comes out wrong, we send the right size at our cost, and the fitting guide shows you how to set the strap to your height.
Pick his size, set the strap to yours
The Canine Assist rear harness, with a free size exchange and a free fitting guide, so a wrong size is our problem, not yours.
Wrong size? We ship the right one at our cost. Delivery takes 5 to 8 business days.