Sitting at home, having an injured leg can be daunting. But what’s even worse is having an injured leg while you have to take care of your dog. Dogs need to be walked each day, and if there’s no one else to do that while you’re recovering, it can be a severe issue for your pet.
4 Ways to Take Care of Your Dog
In this article, we have prepared some helpful tips and general advice on how to take care of your pet while injured without taking away from your recovery period or causing even more harm to your leg.
Get Help from a Pet Sitter
Pet sitters can be of great help when you cannot take proper care of your dog. They can walk and wash your dog, feed it, take it to the vet and take care of other general tasks around it daily. A professional like this can be useful in the first few weeks after the injury when you’ll probably be feeling the weakest.
While this can be an enormous relief, it does come at a high cost. Hiring a professional that can be devoted to your pet at any time will require you to pay a considerable amount of money. So, if your budget does not allow it, you can get your neighbors or grandchildren to help around while you recover.
However, if your dog isn’t trained and does not behave well around strangers, getting professional help from someone trained will be better suited.
Hire a Dog Trainer
Consider hiring someone who will train your dog with the “Mobility Assistance Dogs” program. If you struggle with a severe injury over a longer period of time, then it’s best to get your dog trained for the basic tasks like carrying stuff for you, helping you up the stairs, bringing you needed things, and simply being of help in general. A trainer can teach your dog all these things in a month or even less if you’ve already taught your dog the basic commands like sit, down, stay, or come.
A properly trained dog will help you in any situation, get help when you need it, or bring you something you point to.
If you know more about training dogs, you can also train them all these things and save money in the process.
Use a Wheelchair When Walking
After the initial resting period, the recovery process is also essential for you to take care of your leg and let it heal properly. Once you start walking again, you cannot put too much strain on your leg as you might injure it even further. So, when walking your dog, it’s best to get a wheelchair for added security.
This is especially important if your dog isn’t well trained yet and may run towards cars or get excited at people or other animals while being on your crutches won’t have the strength to control it.
You may lose balance and even fall in such a situation, leading to more severe injuries, losing control over your dog, and releasing the leash entirely.
Wheelchairs can be rented per day and don’t cost too much, and the best part is that most providers offer multi-day discounts when renting over a more extended period.
Other Helpful Tools
Numerous types of leashes are made to help you control your pet better, no matter how big or active it is. The best kind, in this case, would be a hands-free leash that will help you maintain your balance by absorbing the shock from any sudden movements. Their effectiveness comes from the fact that they were designed for runners, so you can easily use such a leash to have your hands free for the crutches.
Among other super-helpful tools are those automatic ball launchers that your pet can use by themselves or with minimal assistance from you. This way, your pet is entertained when in the park, while you can sit and rest without much activity. You can find more advice on food & pet products on this website: https://petfoodreviews.online/
Methods of Taking Care of Your Pet: Final Say
Going through an injury can be a pretty pesky thing, but luckily, there are many methods and ways of continuing to take care of your pet even when you’re not as mobile. Hiring a pet sitter or training your dog well will make your life easier not only during the injury but in the long run as well.
There are many tools to aid in walking your dog once you are up on your feet again so that you can fully recover without any additional injuries. Remember that you should always prioritize your needs and health above all because only when you are healthy can you take care of your dog and all the people around you.
