The ABC of Home Improvements To Support Your Dog Around The House - A

Your dog is a family member.  If one of your two-legged family members had a mobility issue (and that includes crawling babies) you’d do the best to make things safe for them. 

The same should be for your four-legged friend. 

When we make our AchyPaw Canine Physical Therapy home visits, we don’t just offer massage and exercise advice, but also give advice on appropriate home adaptations which might help their dog feel more comfy and safe.
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Here is the first of our simple A, B, C to help make some improvements.
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A is for ACCESS 
How many steps and stairs does your dog walk up and down daily in your house just to get around or to get in and out?  Are they human sized steps? 

How many steps and stairs does your dog walk up and down daily in your house just to get around or to get in and out?  Are they human sized steps? 

You can make simple and inexpensive improvements to ease their access.

If you’ve got full sized stairs, buy some Half Steps (they are used for human mobility aids).  We’ve got an old house with clumsy sized steps.  No more – we have half steps everywhere which are more dog sized.  Some are bought, some are home made. 

The dogs don’t seem to care how expensive they are, just how safe they now feel.  And they must work as when we have canine visitors to our house, they always go straight to Sarah’s Steps rather than the bigger ones. And Corkie’s Dad even built a special Corkie Stair Left to help get him up all the flights of stairs from the ground level to the top.  

Sometimes, a ramp might be necessary.  There are many varieties available but check the size and weight they can hold – and how manageable they are for you - or you might not use them.  You could even make your own. 

To get from our back door to the car, there were many different sized steps. We made a ramp by cutting decking planks to size, fixing them to a frame, and placing it over the offending steps. If your dog goes up and down stairs on their own but is now getting a bit wobbly, buy a stair guard to put up when you’re out so they don’t try to climb and fall down.
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About AchyPaw - Home to Supple Dogs

We offer a one to one physical therapy treatment session for the needs of your dog. This includes massage, exercise advice, home adaptation advice and individualised reference workbooks.

We also deliver classes and workshops on a group or individual basis teaching you how to massage your own dog at home.

​We use specialised knowledge and training from both canine and human massage skills and experience to detect and target troublesome areas in your dog. Regular physical therapy for your dog offers a drug free form of pain relief that can help to prevent recurrence of the conditions that caused the pain, keep your pet in top condition, help to maintain their health and comfort and improve their quality of life. 

By being able to offer this multi-modal approach of massage, complementary therapy, myotherapy, exercise and advice, we offer an integrative and affordable holistic mode of care for your dog. 
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Visit our website here   https://achypaw.com 
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