Salinka in her dog wheelchair from PetMRC / K9 Cart West

Salinka was your typical 13 year old Siberian husky. Six years of 4H training had mellowed her into a dignified senior. Yet, on some days that grace and dignity was replaced by a mischievous gleam in her light blue eyes and she would gallivant like a puppy chasing tennis balls and giving our local rabbits some exercise. Salinka appeared to be a husky that would surpass the typical life expectancy of 14 years. Then trouble happened. During the 4th of July, 2008, a large firecracker went off near our house scaring Salinka. In her sudden flight to get away from the noise, she stepped into a small hole and wrenched her left rear knee. Seeing her suddenly limping had me worried. Being a vet tech for six years my mind began running through all of the possible injuries that could have happened; the top two that came to mind were either her hip or knee had been injured. I took her to my vet the following day and the vet confirmed that her knee was blown out. I was faced with a dilemma. Salkina was an old husky and the ACL surgery that a specialist could perform would put her in harms way of dying under anesthesia. The cost of the surgery would be over $3,000. Surgery was out of the question. The other option the vet offered was to keep her crated, not allow her access to the stairs, and drug her to minimize the pain. I was not happy with that option either. Fortunately for me, the Pet Mobility Rehab Center had just hired me to help build wheelchairs for disabled pets. Honestly, I was a bit curious and a bit skeptical about the wheelchairs and about someone wanting to put a disabled pet into one. Well, I now had a disabled pet in her crate, miserable, and whining to get out and play. I spoke with Barbara Parkes, the owner of Pet Mobility Rehab Center, explained what had happened to Salinka and the options I was given by the vet. Barbara told me to bring Salinka in for an evaluation the next day when I came to work. In less than an hour we had my husky in a used cart to see how she would take to it. Salinka found the novelty of wheels exciting and trotted off happily. The wheelchair took the weight off of her blown knee and, after 2 weeks in the wheelchair, the muscles in her left leg had strengthened enough to accommodate the blown knee. She was now able to walk around the house with only a slight limp. We still used the wheelchair for our usual walks. One month later Pet Mobility Rehab Center asked if I would be willing to put Salinka in a new wheelchair model that they were developing. I was more than willing to see how well my old girl would do in the new model. The cart was fully adjustable, fitted her well and, with a bright green paint job, Salinka became a spokes dog for Freeland, Washington. Salinka loved her wheelchair and would eagerly wait by it when it was time for her walk. Pet MRC gave her back the mobility she had lost and made the rest of her senior years happy. Sadly, Salinka has passed away. June 2009, 0ne sunny morning, she n