Well, after much trial and error I've finished Al's lift harness. I was using the Front Range harness and it works well, except I wanted something with a handle on it and covered straps. He wears it almost 24/7 and the nylon rubs just a little. I tried the Webmaster harness and the handle was too far back to be useful to us. I wanted something like a step-in wrap harness that I could alter. Unfortunately most wrap harnesses are made for Chihuahuas, lol. Al is skin and bones, but he has a chest measurement of 27-28". I finally found one at Bentley's Pet Stuff in an XXL. The chest was, and still is, just a bit big for him. I made two tucks in the front to tighten it up a little. I bought a step in harness from Target that was on clearance and took it apart, leaving the nylon webbing in the center chest piece and sewed it to the inside of the step-in so the chest area was sturdier. I then took heavy nylon strapping and sewed it to the inside of the harness to provide structure. Then I covered it all with fleece and added a handle. Overall I'm very pleased. It's very sturdy and fits him well. The handle makes walking him so much easier. I'm going to try to make a pattern so I can make my own wrap harness that fits him better.
Al's doing well. He's so sweet and funny. Walking him is like walking a rubber dog. It's ridiculous. Newborn foals and giraffes have nothing on Al for the wobblies. His pain in pretty well controlled with the prednisone and gabapentin. I have to make sure to keep strictly to the 12 hour regimen. Mornings are more difficult, but I think that's to be expected. I'm encouraged by how well he's doing. He's also putting on some weight. The hardest part for him is pooping. We have to walk a long time to get things moving and then everything just falls out. Unfortunately he can't walk that long so we take breaks. Far too often he ends up pooping in the house and totally freaks out, hurting himself in the process. He's very ashamed and upset when this happens, even though we don't make a big deal about it. He's also having a problem with the top of his toes. Specifically the foot where he has a skin tag on the top. Those things bleed like crazy. He was walking around on his last bad day with a foot covered in blood, lurching all over. He looked like he should be on The Walking Dead, lol. He didn't care at all. He was just happy that I was laughing at him and calling him by a new, loving name - Zombie Dog.
Here's the finished harness. Maybe it will give someone an idea if they're in a similar situation and can't find a ready made harness to suit their needs. Please excuse the mess, we're in the midst of replacing windows. This was the beginning of Zombie Dog day. You can see his bloody skin tag foot.
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This is a close up of the stitching where I put the straps for structure.
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And this is the inside. It's not prettily done, but without taking the original harness apart it was the best I could do. It's soft, and that's what matters. The purple is the chest piece from the step in harness I got at target. Oh .. and the toes of my magenta toe shoes, lol. I'm very stylish.
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