New Leash on Life
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Liz Rubinstein Co-Founded GingerLead Dog Support & Rehabilitation Harnesses to help her dog, Ginger, recover from orthopedic surgeries and to stay mobile when she had arthritis. They have helped dogs around the world with mobility problems since 2008. Liz is also an attorney and mediator. As a mediator, she helps people resolve conflicts outside of court and especially likes to help people with conflicts about animals.
Hi there dog lovers! Let's learn something new today as I chat with Liz Rubenstein. And Liz is going to cover the topic, New Leash on Life. And we're going to chat about helping dogs that have orthopedic issues. And that includes surgery, injury, arthritis or any other conditions that impact mobility. Liz, welcome to the show.
Thank you Krista. iI's great to be here. I appreciate you having me.
Well, we've had this on the calendar for quite some time. So I am excited to get into this topic. Because many of us have faced or are going to inevitably have to deal with mobility issues with our dogs. So Liz, could you please introduce yourself and share why are you so passionate about addressing these mobility issues and needs?
So it's really out of experience. My husband and I adopted littermate Golden Retriever puppies, and we had a male and a female and the female one always seemed to be on the bottom to be kind of struggling against her brother. And at first we thought it was just because she was a female and she wasn't muscularly as strong as he was. And then over time, we started noticing things that were struggles for her. And really it was when she started struggling going up our stairs at just four months old that we took her to the vet and said there's something wrong here and it turned out she had severe hip dysplasia and had to have major reconstructive orthopaedic hip surgery at six months old. And that started a journey with her throughout her entire life of mobility challenges. She had a second surgery when she was four years old on the knee on the opposite side. And then of course, when she was older, she had arthritis. And through that journey, we ended up creating a business out of creating something to help her recover from her orthopedic surgery. And so we've been in the business of helping dogs with orthopedic problems all around the world since 2008.
Oh my gosh, and that was Ginger, right? Poor Ginger.
That was Ginger, right.
Oh my gosh, that's so many issues. Well, this is not uncommon. And first thing that comes to mind, for me to be ahead of any of these issues is diet. And we know that it is an epidemic that so many dogs are overweight or obese. So do you want to talk about that a little bit?
Weight Control
Oh, yeah. So the very first surgery that Ginger had when she was just six months old. One of the things her surgeon told us after that surgery was that one of the best things we could do for her for the rest of her life and she had already started out with such bad orthopedic problems was to keep an eye on her weight to make sure she was at a normal weight or perhaps even a little bit less than what most consider a normal weight. And she was a big golden retriever. She was about 80 pounds. And but she was a thin 80 pound golden retriever she had a big frame and that was just a huge benefit for her going forward in her life. She did develop arthritis when she was 10 but she had knee surgery at six months old or knee surgery at four years old hip surgery at six months old and She was solid on both of those joints up until we lost her at about 12. So keeping her weight down was key to that, she also was on some special diet that we went to a holistic veterinarian, and she gave us special things to give to her to help maintain her health and mobility. So that was key for us.
That's great. Another thing I wanted to hit on was exercise. Because a lot of people think as our dog's age, maybe we do not exercise as much. But I know that there are studies that show that aging dogs that get regular exercise, that actually helps to reduce the pain that's caused by arthritis. And arthritis can actually be caused by the lack of muscle movement or atrophy. So what did you do with exercise with Ginger?
Exercise
Yeah, mobility is very important, and you want to keep them going. So as dogs age, sometimes if they're very active, and this is applied to Ginger, it applies to my dog that I have right now. My dog’s about to turn 9, and we were noticing is starting to have some mobility problems. So instead of doing the longer outings that are more intense with him, we tend to do more shorter outings to keep him moving, that keep him moving in a safe manner. So yeah, as dogs age, just like people, you know, if you don't move around, and you have arthritis, your muscles will atrophy. And that doesn't help. And that doesn't help with the pain either. So to keep the dogs mobile, you can do all sorts of things. There are places if you're not sure what to do with your dog, or what's appropriate. One of the things that we found was dog physical therapy, and rehabilitation. That's one of the things we did after Ginger’s surgeries, and also when she was older with arthritis. So there's this whole professional group of veterinarians and professional animal physical therapists, that can help people understand what's appropriate for the dog. So for example, for Ginger when she was older and arthritic, they not only had us take her for more frequent, shorter walks, they taught us exercises to do at home. So since her hips were an issue, they taught us these exercises where we would have her go around in a circle to make sure she maintained the muscle mass to support her joints in her hips. That had been a problem from the very beginning.
What are some What are some of the steps because we know when dogs actually show signs of arthritis and joint pain, that it's pretty far along? If they're showing that because a lot of dogs hide their discomfort as we know. So if somebody is starting to realize our dogs are struggling a little bit more, they're not as active. They don't want to jump up on the couch or hesitant with steps. What are some steps that you suggest that we take to make sure that we keep them in as little pain as possible?
How to Assist a Dog with Mobility Issues
Yeah, so And actually, that's exactly what happened with Ginger when she was 10 and became arthritic, we worried that it was actually her other hip and she was going to need surgery again. So we took her back to her orthopedic surgeon. And what he told us and He sent us a study about was that a multimodal approach is what he recommended. And he said, you know, some things work better for some dogs in some circumstances, and other things work better for other dogs. So we took the list of potential things to do, and started with the first one, which was going to the dog physical therapist. And what they did with her first was let her go in an underwater treadmill, where they can see her and monitor her and the water makes her somewhat buoyant. And they can control the speed of the treadmill to help her maintain as much mobility and strength as she could. They also taught us those exercises like the circle exercises, and they gave laser therapy. And that would all happen at the same place on a regular basis. I think we took her for about five treatments and she was dramatically improved, we could tell by how she would get up and lay down how she would go up and down the steps to move around how much she wanted to play. We could tell she was definitely doing better. So then we tried acupuncture. And that quite honestly we didn't see as much improvement with but we did see her gait improve and her posture improved and she loved it. So we kept doing that as well. And eventually we also worked in some chiropractic care for her which also helped with she had a funny gait from that very first surgery and that did help her gait even more. So what we ended up doing was we called it spa day. And every two weeks, we would take Ginger to one of these treatments, we would do the physical therapy, and then the acupuncture and then back to the physical therapy, and then the chiropractic based on where we saw the best results for her. So that underwater treadmill and laser therapy, and now they also have Soundwave therapy that's offered too. So it's really a multi modal approach. And we took it one step at a time, so we could see the improvement from each thing. Now, granted, we did the first thing when she had the biggest problem. So it might have been partially that that was just the first thing we did. But we wanted to be able to evaluate each one so we could figure out which things were the best for her. And we were able to have her improve her mobility over a period of two years, and she was on virtually no drugs. And she did amazing and there are all because of products out there that you can use. For example, Ginger started having a struggle and a lot of older dogs have this getting up on our hardwood and tile floors. So we discovered a product called Toe Grips, which are little rubber cylinders that you can put on your dog's toenails. And it gives them more traction when they push to get up from lying down on a slick surface. And we'd also tried runners, you know, all over the place rugs with rubber backing, she didn't want to lie on those. She was very furry and it was hot. And she would always try to lie on the slick surface. We bought the toe grips, and I was skeptical at first, but I was stunned the first time we put them on her at how much it decreased the effort needed by her to get up from lying down on those slick surfaces. It was an amazing improvement.
You mentioned that Ginger had issues at a very early age. What are your thoughts on? Why, you know, Golden Retrievers obviously are a very popular breed. Do you have to think that there might have been an issue with the lineage in her breeding? Do you think that had anything to do with it? What should we look out for as far as especially the purebreds?
Yeah, yeah, I suspect there was an issue and we did contact her breeder and we had littermates. So we had a male and female dog from the same litter, the male dog didn't have orthopedic issues at all. But we did contact the breeder and let them know. And her hips were “certified” at the time, so she was supposed to have been checked out for that. So yeah, and we took her to the vet when we first had her and had her checked out. And yeah, it wasn't until weeks later that we discovered the problem and they did full x rays. And we took her to the orthopedic surgeon to fully diagnose what the trouble was. And with Ginger too, she was kind of an odd case, because on her left knee. Normally what dogs of her size would have would be a CCL like an ACL in human problems. Hers was a luxating patella. And that's something that you see often in like chihuahuas, smaller dogs, so she had odd joints, but her littermate did not. So I wish I could give you more insight into that. I know purebreds sometimes do have more issues with that. But since I had two littermates from the same breeder from the same litter that didn't have the same problem. I'm not sure that was it, but we did notify the breeder to let them know but I would say with any dog just watch your dog and if you see trouble, find the people that can help. Go to your veterinarian, go to the specialist if need be so that you can figure it out and help the dog.
Good advice. Well, Liz, I think this is a great time to go ahead and take a commercial break. So hold on everybody. We'll be right back back.
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And here we are with Liz Rubenstein. And we are talking about a New Leash on Life and the issues with mobility. And Liz unfortunately has lived with her dog Ginger that had all of these mobility issues and surgery and arthritis. So Liz, you already told us about some of the treatments that these dogs could benefit from. We talked about the physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, there's also cold laser therapy, and sound therapy. And did you do massage at home with her as well?
Yes, they did teach us some massages. And the physical therapy also came with massage. I didn't mention that. But that was part of her treatment there as well.
Great. And besides the toe grips, and I know you mentioned the rugs with a rubber backing. I know some people use yoga mats throughout their houses for better traction. What other products are there out there to assist dogs with mobility issues that you like?
Car Ramps
One of the key ones for us was to get a ramp for the car. (I recommend this one and have a 20% discount with code WOL) So Ginger was a very exuberant dog, as many of them are and jumping in and out of the car with the joint problem she had was just not good for her. So we bought a ramp and anyone buying a ramp, I would also encourage you to do some training with the ramp and to just if your dog is having these problems, kind of look at it from their perspective. So we bought a ramp for the car. And at first, we just laid it out in our yard and taught her to just walk across it because it's a strange experience for a dog. Ours was a metal thing with grippies on it, and it sounds funny. So we would just put treats on it and have her walk across it. And then we have a short step up to our patio. So we put it on a very slight incline and, and repeated it. And then a little bit more and then we took it to the car. And then she used it with our car for years to help decrease any problems she might have caused or injury she might have jumping in and out of the car. So yeah, I used that car ramp for a long, long time.
Well, you mentioned in and out of the car, what are your thoughts with dogs throughout their life? Jumping on and off of furniture? That impact has to come into play? Right?
Yeah. Oh, and I see that a lot with Dachshunds, in particular dogs that are prone to back problems. And yeah, I would suggest having those stairs or ramps wherever you can or teach the dogs not to get on the furniture, whatever works for you and your household and your dog. But yet the same thing that applies to the car would apply to the couch or the bed anytime a dog is jumping up and down like that.
So if you had to put a price tag on Ginger’s surgeries, as well as her ongoing therapy, do you know how much all of that came together to be?
Wow, I don't I can think back and this was years ago. So let’s see… her first surgery would have been in 2004. So even the cost that we incurred would be way out of date. But I'd say between the two surgeries and the therapies. We were well over $10,000 Definitely. Yeah. And today it would be more because it's been so long ago.
So what are your thoughts on prevention? You know, there are so many products out there joint supplements, do you feel they help to start at a younger age to you know, there's ones with collagen or chondroitin or glucosamine?
Prevention
Yes, so Ginger. That was another thing that Ginger’s surgeon recommended not only for her, but also for her littermates since they were genetically the same was Glucosamine and Chondroitin their entire lives. And that was about all that was available back then. Now I know there are some products with green lipped mussels and other things like that. And I would say talk to your veterinarian, see what they recommend. I know they're seeing really good results with those and we did have Ginger and her littermate on that and maybe that helped with her littermate not having those problems. Because we definitely did that their entire lives and Dasuquin is out there. Yeah, there are many, many supplements that can help with that.
Yep. You are an expert in all of this because you lived through it, and you even developed a product to offer support and assistance for dogs that either need temporary help if they've had surgery or if they need long term help, if they're aging and have arthritis. So why don't you tell us about the GingerLead and how that came to be?
Creation of the GingerLead
Sure. So the same story, Ginger having her orthopedic surgeries, she needed something to help her recover. So when we would pick her up from surgery, just like if you imagine yourself having surgery on a hip or a knee, you go home and you would normally have crutches. So when we picked her up, they said, Okay, we broke her hip in three places and put it back together with pins and screws. So take her home and for a little while, she needs to only go outside to go potty, and not run or jump or spin. Well, this was a six month old puppy and the surgeon took her pain away for the first time and it was her first snow here in Colorado. So all she wanted to do was run and jump and spin. And at that time, the standard was and often is still used, a bath towel, they handed us a towel and said sling this under her belly and support her weight when she goes outside to go to the bathroom. So we were trying to support her weight, hold a wadded bath towel, hold the leash in the other hand to keep her from running around. And it was like a rodeo at our house. There's no way in and out of our house without stairs. And she wanted to run down the stairs and we worried we were all going to end up in a heap at the bottom and she wanted to chase squirrels and snowflakes and her brother and oh, it was just crazy. So when she was at her second surgery, and we had been through this once, we were determined to find a way to make it more comfortable for her because the bath towel would bunch up under her belly like a rope kind of and easier for us. So what we created was a nice padded belly sling. And for male dogs it has a cutout in it as well. And it has a height adjustable handle for the person to hold on to. And the handle also has a leash attached. So you can attach the leash to a collar to keep the dog from running ahead of you. Or when Ginger was older, we would attach it to a chest harness so that if she stumbled going down the stairs, you're not pulling on a collar we had her under the chest and under the belly. She was essentially a dog suitcase. And we didn't create it initially to start a business. We were just helping Ginger recover. But then my husband and I, some of the veterinary technicians at the specialty hospital, having the same struggle with her she went running down the hallway at the hospital. They were chasing after her. So we decided to show her surgeon and he helped us get our patents and we've we named it after her. It's called GenderLead. And we've been selling it all around the world since 2008 now.
Yes, and it is a fantastic product. And what would you say differentiates the GingerLead from similar products on the market? Is it the built in leash? Or are there other aspects of it?
The leash attachment, the padding, the cutout for the male dogs, our mini size for all those dachshunds is unique out there. Yeah, there are a number of features that set us apart.
Well, I can I can just think of off the top of my head. So many uses. Not only, you know, to help rehabilitate after surgery, but I think you said this works on cats as well, right?
Yes, we've helped several cats, we have a picture on our website of a little kitten using it. We've had goats, pigs…
Anything goes. And then we just had Jim and Rene on a previous episode from Tripawds. So you know some dogs that unfortunately have to get a limb amputated, this would be great for them to use in the beginning until they get used to living on three legs. And yes, to your point, you know, helping up and down stairs or in and out of your car. So it is a great product that makes life so much easier, not only for the dog or whatever animal we're talking about. But for us as well. I mean, if we're trying to pick up a larger dog to go outside, let's say, we could hurt ourselves our own backs.
Yeah, vet techs are some of our biggest fans because their backs hurt trying to use a towel and whether it's a big dog or a small dog, a big dog has more weight, but a small dog is lower to the ground. So imagine these dachshunds that have back surgery oftentimes have paralyzed hind legs while they start recovering. And imagine trying to bend down to the level of dachshund to support them to help them get their legs moving again. So our mini size is much more petite and has a really long handle so you can still stand up straight so yeah, it is it does definitely help take the strain off the person's back while assisting the dog with their balance and mobility.
How many sizes does the GingerLead come in?
Seven, but three of them have male/female versions. So it's really four but male, female, the mini size is unisex, and the rest of them have a male/female.
Great. Well, so they fit every size dog. And we wanted to make a great offer for anybody that would like to buy the GingerLead. I am an affiliate. And as you guys know, I only affiliate with manufacturers of products that I've tried, I know, like and trust. So if you would like to get a GingerLead for your dog, the affiliate code is WOL and that gets you 10% off at https://www.gingerlead.com/ . So Liz, as we are wrapping up here, what would you like to leave us with today?
I would just say that if your dog is having trouble, think about it. The way you would think about yourself and talk to your veterinarian, do research. There are so many services and products out there to help dogs. And also be aware of how your dog is looking to you. One of the things that I did when Ginger was recovering from surgery is I felt bad for her. So I would say Oh, come on, come on, come on, let's go. And she would sense that in the change in my voice and I didn't even know I was doing it. My husband pointed it out to me. And as soon as he pointed it out, I conscientiously went out and put the GingerLead under her and said heel in a regular tone of voice and everything was much better. So sometimes we humans can help a lot by doing the research and looking at it from our dog's perspective, but they also feed off our energy and our tone. So try to help them by being conscientious of what they're going through and also of how they're reacting to us.
That's great advice. Well, Liz, where can everyone find out more information about you and GingerLead?
On our website at https://www.gingerlead.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gingerleaddogsling
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gingerlead/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gingerlead
Wonderful. Well, Liz, thank you so much for being here and for creating such a wonderful product. We really appreciate you.
Thank you for having me, Krista. It's been a pleasure.
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Hey Winston was that another tail wagging episode?
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