ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Well it seems as if it's really been a long haul, from the day that Nigel went down in the rear until today.
It hasn't been, actually, that long.
However in the time that has passed I have gotten good at certain aspects of dog care that I never thought I would be doing-- in fact things I said I would NEVER do: not that it was unpleasant but I thought any dog that needed those particular things to survive had no quality of life.
And also here is Nigel, hauling his pretty useless rear end around like a seal-- another thing I said I would NEVER tolerate....here we are, doing those things and watching that rear end slide across the floor....

The moral of course is, never say never at least where your dogs and family are concerned.

Yesterday was the first day that Nigel was willing to share my bed with EVERYONE. Conley was actually on it first, then Nigel, and then Llewis crept up. Yesterday I think Nigel felt the best he has, and I backed off on the Tramadol. He woke up this morning surly and snarky and I think I let him do too much sliding around the house, and I did put him back on Tramadol for the day.
He has never been the Happy Happy Basset in the house and is perfectly willing to show his displeasure to the other dogs especially.

And then today, it happened:

His Wheels Arrived!!!!
Eddies Wheels sent their amazing wheels. I am stunned at how lightweight they are and what a feat of engineering. I am not a techie but even I can see the care and precision that went into making this device.
I know in this photo Nigel looks very unhappy. He had been in the cart about  three minutes. His next move was to try to get up on the couch wearing the cart.

We took him out in back into the yard, but the others were so freaked and excited about the cart that I believe it frightened Nigel just a bit. He surely knows he cannot move quickly and feels very vulnerable with the others. So when they went in, I opened the gate, and when he saw the gate open, Nigel took off.
He hit the sidewalk at warp speed and his tail wagging a mile a minute. I CAN MOVE I CAN MOVELOOKOUT!!
Unfortunately I was unable to let him go very far. Partly because he has not had any exercise for several weeks, and partly because about 300 LITTLE kids were about to descend on him. He is not a fan of children. These are little kids-- 4, 5 yrs old. They tend to grab. I had very bad visions of Nigel feeling trapped........

So we turned around and came home, but he seemed very pleased. Tomorrow I will try to get some photos of him looking happier. Eddies Wheels wants one for their calendar!

Thanks again to all the wonderful people who have supported, encouraged, advised, laughed and cried with us on this unexpected and enlightening journey.