old dogs getting up from slippery floors


 

Bob Correll

R.I.P. 3/31/2022
Our 11 year old lab loves to lay on the cool floor, vinyl in the kitchen, and vinyl plank in the family room.
We've been worried about her when she gets up and her hind legs splay out.
There's a large area rug in the family room, and no slip throw rugs in areas she likes to lay, so we try to keep her on those.
I've placed an order on Amazon for some stick on non slip paw pads, pretty sure she wouldn't tolerate socks or boots.
Have any of you had this problem, and if so find a good solution?
Thanks!
 
Keep her nails trimmed is all I can offer. Heidi our 12 yr old GS is going thru the same. She has her good days when she's like a pup on protein, than some headscratchers where she just misses a step and plants herself.

She is still the matriarch and keeps my other two GS in place:)

Tim
 
Bob, we went through this with Maddie in her last 2 to 3 years with us.
We put runners down all over the place... it got to the point where she would avoid all bare flooring as much as possible.
In fact, there were times she'd sit on the rug or runner until we slid another close enough for her to reach to walk on.
Scared to death.....

it was sad.
 
Went through what Jim did when our last golden retriever was about 11-12, lots of runners and such. Another hint although I don't see a lot of hair between Abby's Pads (our black lab). With the golden there was hair between her pads and the floor and our vet trimmed all the hair so none got between her pads and the floor that really helped a lot.
Our problem now is that our two pups they really love each other and love to play. Our hallways and bed rooms are carpeted, the living room is hardwood and the kitchen is tile. Last night the were playing in our bedroom and Abby took off down the hall with Whitney in hot pursuit and when she hit the hard wood she lost it and slid right into our wine rack. Really scary knocked a few bottles off but nothing broke and she wasn't hurt.

Wish I had more to offer Bob, been there way to many times and it isn't fun.
 
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Thanks so much to all for the advice and experiences.
She's not afraid to walk on slick floors and prefers to lay on them most of the time. We freaked out a bit this morning when she was limping on her left rear leg. She seems better now that we've kept her on rugs all day and blocking off the smooth floors.
We replaced carpet in the family room and hall last year with vinyl plank, had we only known..........
 
Funny, the timing of this thread.
My 11-12 year old female doxie, Daisy, has decided that the first step coming upstairs is scary and she can't do it!
We took all the carpet out 14 years ago and replaced it with engineered hard wood.
I replaced the plain wood stair treads with hard wood treads stained to match.
This has been a recent occurance.
I grab her little 12 pound self by he harness and put her front paws on the bottom step.
She then goes up like nobody's business, even stopping to look out the window and make sure that no one is out there!
But that first step, nope!
 
Bob, my daughter is a vet and she recommends the rugs/carpet runners and yoga mats. The yoga mats do not slide around like the area rugs do. The rugs though do not provide a cool place to lay, so you might try pet cooling pads. The AKC ones linked below are the ones my daughter uses and they are gel and would provide a soft squishy surface for your dog to get up from. They are vinyl so could still be slippery, but there are many others so browse Amazon or your local pet store.
They have had good success with Toegrips as they are more tolerable by the dogs than booties. And advice for those with younger dogs, get them occasionally used to booties as a pup. It not only makes it easier when they get older but if they have any foot issues like cuts, sores or surgery throughout their life, they are used to wearing the booties which can be worn as they heal. They are also good up North here where they spread salt on the sidewalks which is really hard on their pads. Painful too if they have any cracks or cuts in them Gotta take care of our furry Friends! hope this helps.

Richard.

https://toegrips.com/

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07NRD4466/tvwb-20
 
Our whole house is hardwood and tile. Our golden that we lost a couple months ago would not use runners, area rugs or dog beds. She liked lying on the wood floor. The last year and a half of her life we put adhesive paw pads on her. She did not try to pick them off and they gave her much better traction. The sticky pads worked for us because the old girl only went outside to do her business and we live in a dry climate. Under different conditions, they fall off too frequently.

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07437MW52/tvwb-20

Richard, wish I had known about the cooling pads and that's a great idea about getting young dogs used to booties.
 
I'd like to try those pads but I don't think they'd work on Heidi.
She's a clean freak, constantly licking her paws, to a point it got so annoying we asked our vet for help.
He suggested a no wheat diet, so we changed her food, but she still licks, but not as much.
We've had her on Tru Dog as a supplement for the last few years and that has helped her joints, esp her hips which can be a bad condition in older GS's.

Tim
 
Thanks Richard and J for the advice, just now saw it.
The pads linked are what we have for her, but a different brand.
Plans today were to clean ears, trim nails and hair between her pads, then apply the sticky pads. Plans changed when see saw the bottle of ear cleaner, went back to her bed in our bedroom and wouldn't come back out. The rugs and runners we have placed here and there are non slip, it's still a battle keeping her from laying on the hard surfaced floor areas.

Tim, I'll post here once we get them on her, and see how well it goes.
 
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LOL, Bob. Heidi sees the ear cleaner and runs like were gonna kill her.
She is such a baby, but she's old and entitled:)

Tim
 
That's funny Bob, Abby our black lab loves to have her ears rubbed, but if I try to look into her ears to check for any redness or wax buildup she freaks and takes off to the bedroom and her bed, not to be seen for quite awhile.
Hope the trimming of the hair and the pads help. When we trimmed the hair on our goldens pads it really helped she could pop right up as soon as she could get her feet planted on the tile and hardwood floors.
 
Jo works on her on our deck.
Brooke just now mosied around the backyard and got captured on the deck. She is not a happy pup at the moment, but will get a nice treat when it's over.
 
So far so good. We cut the pads out individually, as suggested by some Amazon reviewers. That way if she loses one or two she can still get traction. Put them on hind paws only. She's been getting up from slick floors without her hind legs sprawling out, and she has paid them no attention at all. Fingers still crossed.

 
That's great Bob, and I'm sure Brooke is happy about her new found traction. Abby and Whitney gave her a two paws up.
 
A little update.
Going on day 4 and she's only lost one small pad from each hind foot, the other four on each foot are still sticking well. She's walked in wet grass a few times too.
She's loving her cool floors again.
 

 

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