hallo,i hope i dont come across as too pathetic,here,though its a faint hope,because i know im pathetic!(especially as you all have dogs and possibly wont understand) Is anyone else worried about walking their dogs?I seem to have spent years psyching myself up to take them out,and its getting worse the older i get-ive now got a bad hip too which hinders me walking,sometimes i have to use a stick,which can be awkward with 3 dogs.

I try to avoid other dogs,as mine arent particularly sociable types-2 i can keep focussed on a ball or toy,one not so much,shes likely to break off mid chase and run to bark at a dog if its too close in her opinion-the other two dont suffer fools gladly but dont go looking for trouble,and are happy to stay with me to be  played with.

   so i realise theyre not too bad,but im so paranoid about avoiding others-its very hard round here,-there are so many dogs-that ive found myself standing in a safe place for ages till the coast is clear! of course-not walking them is not an option,i just try to get on with it,they always get walked at least twice a day
ive tried going out early,before its light-everyone else has the same idea-if im really bad i will walk them on leads round the streets,not ideal but better than nothing

Its worse now i cant walk very well,when i was young and fit,i didnt worry the dogs might pull me over,and i could stride or even run to avoid trouble,now i feel trapped.there are some good,less populated walks near me( i dont drive) but i cant get there as often as id like anymore,though we do still go quite often.
My tentative plan is,when ive had a hip replacement,and can walk properly again,im going to start doing some
training with them,probably one at a time(i tend to walk them together to cut down on pain!!!) like ive said,i know i sound pathetic and i dont know what i expect you to tell me,exept maybe,stop moaning! thanks for reading this far,anyway xxx

Have you considered a mobility scooter

My obedience friend used one fpr a gew years when walki g became difficult ( she is recovering from hip replacement surgery).

Don't know if you have any dog walking fields which you can hire your way. Then you know it's only you and your dogs in a secure field. Might be worth looking into.

Or possibly a trustworthy walker who will take just your dogs somewhere remote to walk them when you need them to

What about getting a dog walker and that way you can either do short 1:1 walks or if you have a garden can play with them and train them in the garden.  It won't be cheap with 3 dogs but the anxiety you are feeling will pass to your dog's and increase the difficulties you are facing.

> Have you considered a mobility scooter

Be very careful about this - a women in the town here walked her Basset riding one until on one occasion, he happened to tug in the wrong direction and overturned the scooter, tipping her out on the pavement.   I've not seen either in ages now.

My husband is concerned, as am I, about walking both of ours together (Basset and Whippets don't necessarily mix) and with his stick which he needs for balance since his stroke many years ago now.   I don't want to stop him because going out keeps him fit and active, meeting people too (and it gets him out of my hair for a while ).   But he takes 'two strings', not both at the same time or for the same distance.

If you have a driver, I would go for the secure field option.
Google Freedom Fields, and put your post code into the box to come up with the nearest ones. They are usually around 10 pounds an hour, but I find you can get a lot done in half an hour.

If you are lucky, which I wasn't!!, the Cinnamon Trust have people who might be able to help?

Don't know if you have any dog walking fields which you can hire your way. Then you know it's only you and your dogs in a secure field. Might be worth looking into.

Or possibly a trustworthy walker who will take just your dogs somewhere remote to walk them when you need them to

my friend got one-even did a track at a working trial once! i dont think i could afford one to be honest,and my house has two steps down,but it would be a great idea,i could spend all day whizzing about,take them out one at a time-oh,youve set me off,now,i will look out for secondhand ones,thanks!xx

im not sure-i ll google it and see if there are any within reach.i have a friend who rents a field,i could ask if she d let me use it,for a charge.i think i ll be ok for the couple of weeks after the op,my son will walk them for me.once a day,he doesnt know it yet,though!thankyou xx

yes,i see your point,its good for him to exercise,and best to take one at a time,he does well! i did wonder,if i had a scooter,what would happen if they saw a cat!but the freedom must be nice! xx

Im daft-but i dont think id trust anyone else to walk my dogs!one of mine is such a scaredycat,id be worried she d run off,and another even ran away from my daughter,who she knows well,and shes quite a hard type! and i know youre right,i reckon ive caused most of these problems myself from being such a wuss!i plan on doing things with them once ive"been done",such as training sessions outside,,or even inside-they love "search" games for instance- i ll have to get inventive!thanks! xx

thanks,i will xx

colliepam
Once you have recuperated you will wish you had the operation sooner!  Honestly.  It is great, and I have never heard anyone say they wished they'd never had it done. 

> Im daft-but i dont think id trust anyone else to walk my dogs!

Not daft at all, I am exactly the same.  My dog sitter is the only person in the world I trust to look after my guys when I'm away and even she's not allowed to walk them!

oh thanks for that! i am a tad worried!xxx

there are just too many accidents waiting to happen! and i imagine them all!xxx

colliepam

It's natural to be apprehensive, anybody who says they are not worried are lying.  After all, it's major surgery.  I live alone too so had to be meticulous about my planning.  Everything in cupboards that needed bending was removed and put on my work surfaces.  I normally cook dinner, so all my pots and pans were on the cooker.  Plan ahead, it's worth it. 

You won't be able to bend or twist for 12 weeks.  I'm an impatient bugger and I managed it.  You will too.  Oh yes, the most important thing.  I had been told about the pain after surgery.  It was nowhere near as bad as I had expected.  And certainly not as bad as the pain I was having before surgery.  You will have to sleep on your back for 12 weeks, as twisting and turning would dislocate the hip.  I had a total left hip replacement as I had advanced osteo arthritis, the x-ray didn't even look like I had a left hip!  Are you having a total?

Jean  xx

My friend bought hers second hand very reasonably.

Contrary to popular belief you don't have to walk your dogs every day. I have always believed that was necessary but since having my reactive rescue collie I have found, for him, that a walk every day doesn't help his stress levels. I don't walk him at all on a Friday - he does agility on a Thursday evening and, although he loves it and practically drags me into the training venue  each week, he needs a day off just chilling the next day to give his stress levels a chance to lower. He was a car chaser when I first had him but can now walk him along most streets but noticed that he was more reactive on a Friday after he had been to agility. I did lots of research and joined a fb group for people who have reactive dogs and the advice was to let him have a day at home to bring his arousal levels down again. I do brain work instead on a Friday and don't walk him at all and it has made a huge difference to his ability to remain below threshold by the time he goes out for a walk on a Saturday.

I also only let him off lead when I have 360 vision and can check there are no other dogs around - he is popped back on lead if I spot other dogs. Again I worried that not always having an off lead walk wouldn't be good for him but the opposite is true for him - he is more relaxed and able to ignore other dogs as long as they don't get in his face. My other dogs go off lead and it doesn't bother him at all. He can go off lead with dogs he knows and will happily accept walking with other dogs as long as we do some parallel walking first of all. He is very ball focussed but one can't always throw a ball for him if other dogs are likely to chase it as well - he isn't bothered by my other dogs wanting "his" ball but I wouldn't risk it with  unknown dogs around.

Doing extra brainwork with him on a Friday evening, instead of his walk, tires him just as much as a walk does, maybe more. On the other days of the week my dogs have long walks 4-5 miles on average and I thought not having a walk would be a problem but it honestly isn't. You could perhaps try having one day a week when you don't walk your dogs but do other things with them instead. I totally understand how difficult it can be at times but having rethought how I exercise my dogs has made a huge difference to his quality of life - through allowing him to have a stress free day following a very active one - and I was definitely one of those people who had always been convinced that all dogs need a good walk each day but now I know that isn't necessarily right for all dogs.

harley,thats a very interesting and encouraging post,thankyou.ive been told,but never believed it,that not all dogs need miles and miles of walking,my ideal dog walk is one where theyre off lead over different terrain,for miles.then you realise there are loads of dogs that rarely get more than a toddle,but are fine,and are loved-maybe its ME that loves the extra long walks!
thankyou for giving me a different perspective.could i ask about brainwork?mine love doing search,which i could increase as my mobility decreases,and i have a girl whose party trick is taking the lid off a saucepan,bringing me the toy inside,then putting the lid back on_that kind of thing? thankyou so much xxxx

Yes anything that makes their brains work. My dogs do agility so I do lots of training in my living room. I use a wastepaper basket and send them off to go around the basket with either a right or left command. I hide a toy in the house and send them off to find it - my Golden loves this game and has a memory like an elephant and will look anywhere where the toy has been previously hidden before he starts to air seach for the toy.  Another favourite is to put the dogs in a down or a sit and release them in a recall one at a time - only the dog who is being recalled is allowed to come the others have to stay put until they are released. My eldest dog - 12 - has a whole repetoire of tricks and loves a brain training session.

Other things I do include treats in a cereal box, inside another box, inside another box etc. Teaching them the names of toys so they bring a specific toy back when asked. Spins to the left and right (although I don't use the word Spin as that is the name of one of my dogs), a down- to stand- to sit in quick succession. Anything at all really that uses their brains. When the weather is suitable scattering their food outside is another hit - I feed raw so it can be a little messy if it is a meal of minced meat but they love it and my garden is separated into different areas so I can control the amount of food each one gets by putting them in different areas ( my Golden teleports his food so he would have hoovered all the rations up before anyone else got a look in ).

If there is a particular trick your dog is good at you could try chaining it with another behaviour so you can get a two part trick. One of my dogs "dies" when I "shoot" him - he drops to the floor and falls on his back with all four legs in the air - and then leaps up again to all fours when I "blow the smoke from the end of the gun" ( the gun is my hand - as a child might make a pretend gun).  My rescue collie - the one who needs time to chill - is better with the calmer games otherwise it defeats the object of having a de-stress day. He is slowly learning a "settle" command where he has to lie on a mat until released and this has definitely helped him to control his impulsiveness. Another game that has helped that is the "whip it " game which you can find online - teaches great self control and is of huge benefit to him due to his high prey drive ( he spent his life on a chain on a farm and had to make his own entertainment).

Having been a Rest Day sceptic I am now completely converted to it - I did feel really guilty at first as I have always walked my dogs whatever the weather and whatever else was going on in my life, and not only walked them but at different venues every day and for long distances. Seeing how it helps my reactive dog get back to under his threshold has been an eye opener for me and I no longer feel any guilt at all as I know it benefits him.

Mine have rest days too and are quite happy, although I do make sure they have something else to do.  Yesterday was one and they had frozen beef mince thrown about the lawn to find - first thing in the morning I thought they'd bother me to go out but they all shot to the back door so that was decided!

My collie rarely gets walked at all, she's had maybe 3 walks this year.  She has many phobias and for her, it can be intensely stressful so they are very well spaced out and there is a list of criteria that must be met for me to be able to take her out for an enjoyable walk, which don't often coincide.  But she's fine.  She gets her treat ball a lot, and I'm working on some self-control work indoors with her.  When the daylight starts extending again I'll be able to do some more stuff in the garden again too.

hi jeansw!im not sure-ive just got to read up on the internet,then pick from cemented or non cemented joint! going back on 13th to tell him my decision.it was frightening how fast the pain and limp came on!i had my first xray in feb this year cos of pain,then it was all downhill from there and now i have a stick!and yelp occasionally,haha!
im on my own too,but i have family close and ive had  promises from 2 of them to help with the dogs-my biggest concern.ive already bought a "grabber" for picking up dropped things,have plans to buy the reccomended long handled poop scoop,i also need a supply of kibble so people can feed the raw fed dogs comfortably while im in hospital!.i agree with you-planning is a good plan! i intend to recover pdq,without being silly.thanks Jean xxx

thanks harley,some good ideas there,i will definately pinch!id love to see the trick where you"shoot" your dog,i bet that looks impressive!xxx

thanks nikita,on a bad day(for me i mean)i can imagine the relief i would feel at not having to go out again!im hoping once ive recovered from the hip replacement my confidence might increase.xx

colliepam

Mine is cemented.  Was recommended by a top surgeon who specialises. 

Have to say my brother in law who is just 58 had a hip replacement in May this year complete right hip, and also due to something to do with the bone, this wa planned before hand (not sure of details) had a partial femur replacement with metal. And he is so so pleased the pain he said was gone when he woke up although still had post op pain, but knew that would reduce daily.
He has been fully weight bearing and back to walking for couple of months now  just waiting for the left knee to be replaced so his message to you is "fantastic thing to have done, follow the instructions, and do the excercises and also put things where you can reach them and accept any help offered"
My message to you, take your time and if you live near B'ham PM me and I will happily help if needed.

Should say, although I had the cement, the metal is still used.

My brother in laws is cemented but the tibia is metal due to the nature of the repair.

i think my chap prefers the non cemented,but apparently i have to choose!he jokingly said"how long would you like to live?"so I jokingly replied,"id like another 20 years,please!"(im 68)so he said "yes,thats what i thought"and said the non cemented would be easier to fix if something went wrong.,with the cemented one itd be the whole joint being replaced,a 4 hour op Im still looking at info,ive got till monday! i think i ll say just do it!!!xx

oh Kazz,thats so nice,thankyou!and thank your brother for me,as well please,i will take note of what he says!very good to know!.im  hoping my 4 kids will rally round-3 will because they live on the same street, and i have grandkids for little jobs!as i say,they dont know it yet,but my youngest daughter thinks she will organise the troops!xxx

Accept all help.........................and wishing you all the best.