New ride for an older dog

by Dan
(Moody AFB, GA)

Our 15 year old pup now has new wheels... thank you so much for sharing your plans. Ole Hoosier is up and going all over place. We did make some minor changes since he has short little legs and gave him some breathing room since he is a boy. I added the modifications in the pictures.

Dan and Nicci

Hi Dan and Nicci,

It's so good to see that our Dogge Chariot™ Plans have been of benefit to a sweet older dog such as yours. It looks to me like one of the modifications you used was a smaller size wheel (lawnmower type?) due to his short legs, so it's good to know that it is possible to change the wheel size and still have things work well. The other modification I noticed was to the support bar to give him the breathing room you mentioned. We will add the photos to the plans to help other dog owners provide the same for their male dogs.

It is also encouraging to see that just because a dog is advanced in age and losing his mobility, an owner need not choose euthanasia automatically. We know that for many people, the expense of a custom manufactured dog wheelchair - many starting around USD 300 - is too much, on top of veterinary bills and the additional care required to maintain the health of a dog that can no longer get around like he/she used to. We have heard that a relative often puts pressure on the person who cares the most that it is time to let go.

Therefore, we decided to try and find a less expensive DIY option to help folks extend their beloved dog's life if they choose to do so.

At the time we did our trials to develop the plans, custom wheelchairs that people bought were not adjustable and parts were rigid. This meant that often you could not return the wheelchair for a refund if something did not fit right or your dog was not comfortable in it. (We know of at least two dog owners who had this experience, and they paid USD 800 and 1,200, respectively!)

Based on the fact that our test dog, Hope, was not fully grown yet, we decided that an adjustable dog wheelchair was something we needed to have as an option. We also felt that if the owner wanted to pass along or sell the wheelchair to another dog lover, height and length adjustability would be important features.

Anyway, we can't thank you enough for sharing your photo and adaptations of the plans with us. May Hoosier have many more years of riding around in his Chariot!

Jo