# Goodbye, Riley Dog **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 7, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262 "2009-07-07T22:32:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/61 "2009-07-10T19:59:06Z")
It shouldn’t matter if you compress his junk - think of bicyclists and their shorts. 😉 Here’s a short video showing a dog in a more official sling, but it’ll help you see what I’m talking about. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvSCJM-d2qE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvSCJM-d2qE) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/62 "2009-07-10T21:48:11Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > It shouldn’t matter if you compress his junk - think of bicyclists and their shorts. 😉 > > Here’s a short video showing a dog in a more official sling, but it’ll help you see what I’m talking about. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvSCJM-d2qE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvSCJM-d2qE) Thanks. If he can mentally come out of this, perhaps we’re bound to a life of toting him around in a sling. How does a male dog pee in such a thing? Is there a hole in it for his penis? ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/63 "2009-07-10T22:55:41Z")
i think if he can’t use his back legs well you can get one of those nifty cart things. he would be in a harness and the wheels would do the work of the back legs. on the drew carey show one of the dogs had one. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/64 "2009-07-10T23:34:42Z")
If this is permenant, this is a dog wheelchair. [Here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0AAcy8nYOU) Dogs seem to be able to run and play in them. I don’t know about elimination, though. StG ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/65 "2009-07-11T00:30:52Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > If this is permenant, this is a dog wheelchair. [Here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0AAcy8nYOU) Dogs seem to be able to run and play in them. I don’t know about elimination, though. > > StG Well, I am happy to say that we brought him upstairs from the spare bedroom (he was ah, kinda covered in his own mess, so lots of anti-bacterial soap and a couple rolls of paper towels later…) and he responded quite well (and more lucidly) to getting some food and water. I gave him the flashlight test and he followed the light with his head and eyes, so I know he isn’t at least totally blind. So that’s good. Then, he got up on his own several times. Granted, he would wind up bashing into the wall after taking 4 or 5 steps, or he would walk over to the tiled area by the front door where no dog can gain purchase and fall down. I would just keep dragging him gently back into the middle of the living room. But _just now_ he got up and meandered a good 15 or so steps into our kitchen, where again, he got himself into a corner and kinda toppled over. This is all without the help of a sling or anything. It’s encouraging. He is still laying there and appears tired from his efforts. Hopefully this progression will continue! Yay for Riley! Score one for the good guys! ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/66 "2009-07-11T00:57:49Z")
Go Riley! _Good dog!_ ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/67 "2009-07-11T01:06:06Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > Go Riley! _Good dog!_ Does one pill make you smaller? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/68 "2009-07-11T01:16:08Z")
I’m glad this thread has not ended up like I thought it would when I opened it and that Riley is still around. Here’s hoping he makes it. It’s bad enough to have to give an old dog his “last ride” without it happening to a young one. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/69 "2009-07-11T01:26:35Z")
That’s not where the name came from, actually, but har har har. I hope Riley continues improving. It sounds like he’s a fighter. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/70 "2009-07-11T01:38:27Z")
Yay! Go Riley! ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/71 "2009-07-11T01:44:21Z")
Oh, what a good, sweet boy! You’ve got a tough guy on your hands. This is all such heartwarming news. I notice you haven’t mentioned any seizing either. 🙂 You might try putting down some old rugs or towels or something on the slippery floors to help him keep his balance. We did that for our old Scout when she had to stay in the tiled kitchen in case of accident. We’ve used baby wipes for pets who were temporarily incontinent. Will you be home over the weekend to be with him? That would probably give him (and you) a big boost. GO RILEY GO!! :):)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/72 "2009-07-11T02:05:02Z")
Thanks again, all. He actually does seem to be improving. It’s a bit concerning that he gets so tired from what for him used to be so little effort. I suppose this is a longer road to recovery than I thought, if in fact he does recover. Signs are positive. I feel bad, having posted this thread with such surety that he was a goner, and now here we are, all rooting on the sidelines. It just really didn’t look good for him at the time. It still may go the other way. He’s struggling, but improving. He walked from the living room into the kitchen again and fell over by the kitchen garbage can…which figures, since he used to flip up the lid on the can with his nose and root through it looking for goodies! ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/73 "2009-07-11T02:23:22Z")
Bet you never thought you’d be happy about him trying to get into the garbage . . . 😉 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/74 "2009-07-11T03:39:09Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Bet you never thought you’d be happy about him trying to get into the garbage . . . 😉 Ha, yeah. The wife and I just used a four-corner makeshift sling from a comforter and hauled him back into the spare bedroom. We are reluctant to put him in his crate, since he can’t practice regaining his feet, but he also cannot in his condition stay up here with us asleep (cable/tv/playstation wires, falling down the stairs…) either. So, after scrubbing his room clean earlier today, we carried him back into it to stay for the night. If he can get up, he can walk in there. But it is messy with his incontinence. Go Riley, before I fashion a diaper for you!. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/75 "2009-07-11T04:14:21Z")
**Bert** , and all the others, are right here! Bill ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/76 "2009-07-11T06:00:48Z")
Hugs for Riley! Hang in there, big guy! ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/77 "2009-07-11T13:46:56Z")
It sounds like he’s recovering wonderfully. I’m so glad. StG ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/78 "2009-07-11T14:10:51Z")
When I die, I want to come back as your dog. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/79 "2009-07-11T14:31:31Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > When I die, I want to come back as your dog. I think I may have to consider changing my career to nursing… ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262/80 "2009-07-12T03:06:50Z")
How’s Riley doing tonight? No more seizures, I hope. StG [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-riley-dog/502262.md?page=5)