Home alone with a big dog who can't stand up? 5 reasons it feels like a 2-man job

If you feel weak, or guilty that he has to wait, read this twice. Researchers who study nurses moving patients found that lifting a heavy body by hand puts too much load on the lower back, even when two people share the lift.¹ Those are people trained to lift, working in pairs. You're doing it alone, bent over a towel, several times a day, with a dog who can't tell you when his legs will give. Of course it's hard. Of course you call your son. That isn't a failure on your part. It's the method. A towel puts your hands down at his belly and folds you in half, and no amount of willpower changes that.

Look at him from above. Big chest, strong shoulders, skinny hips. PetMD describes this pattern in older dogs: the muscle stays in the front half and thins out in the back end.² That's why his front legs can still pull him to the door while his back legs quit at the steps, on the grass, or halfway through a squat. So stop picking up all of him. Hold up the half that quits, and let his front legs do the walking. That's a very different job from carrying a whole dog. One caution: if his front legs are failing too, he needs full support, front and back.

The same spine researchers found the riskiest lift is the one done by a single person, and that handles took load off the people lifting.¹ That's the idea behind the Canine Assist rear harness. His back legs go through two openings in one panel that wraps his back end. Straps rise from that panel to a single grip, so your hand holds the grip, not his belly. The strap length adjusts with a slide buckle: listed at 30 to 60 cm (about 12 to 24 in) on sizes S to L, and 30 to 55 cm (about 12 to 22 in) on XL and 2XL.³ How that length meets your height is the one number to check before you order.

Myth: a harness for the back end slides off, or isn't enough. Truth: it depends on what holds it on. A belly sling or a towel has nothing around his legs, so it slides down the moment he moves. Here, his back legs go through two openings cut into one panel, and the panel closes around his waist with hook-and-loop strips and a side-release buckle. The waist adjusts to him. Now the honest part. Rear support is for a dog whose front legs still carry him. If his front end gives out too, or he can't stand at all, a full-body harness is the better buy, and we'd rather tell you now than after you order.

His back legs step into the openings one at a time, like pulling on shorts. Then you close it at his waist and pick up the grip. You choose the size by his weight, not his breed, and for almost every dog that is all you need. Sizes run from S to 2XL, and the 2XL covers dogs of 56 to 100 lbs.³ Caught between two sizes? Your first size exchange is free, and we ship the new size at our cost. The fitting guide that comes with it shows you how to set the strap to your height.