So you can see that it’s a joy to have these dogs because it’s really hard to feel sorry for them. (They’re full of life. They’re just full of life.) I know they’re just full of life.

Hallo, warm-hearted viewers, and welcome to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. On today's program we’ll travel to the quiet hills of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, USA to visit a company that greatly enriches and improves the lives of disabled animal companions.

For the past decade Eddie’s Wheels has been manufacturing wheelchairs for animals with disabilities, thus transforming their lives. They sell over 2,000 carts per year with customers in the US, Greenland, Australia, Namibia, South Africa, Indonesia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Armenia, and a number of European nations. Founded by Eddie and Leslie Grinnell, the company builds a wide array of carts custom- designed to meet the animal’s specific needs, abilities and anatomy.

While most of the company’s clients are dogs, Eddie's Wheels has also supplied wheelchairs for cats, goats, sheep and even a pot-bellied pig. Ms. Grinnell now explains how the business was inspired by their beloved Doberman.

Twenty years ago, we had a dog. She was a Blue Doberman and one morning she woke up paralyzed. I high-tailed it to the vet with my paralyzed dog and was told that I had two choices: A US$10,000 back surgery with a 50% success rate or to euthanize her. Neither of those options worked for me, so I brought her home, and I was on the phone with my husband telling him what our options were. And the dog was listening and she started barking at me from her bed by the wood stove, and she definitely seemed to have an opinion about euthanasia that we should take that option off the table.

So he came home a few days later and consulted with our vets about how to make her some kind of a mobility cart or a wheelchair, because she weighed 80 pounds, and carrying the back end of an 80-pound dog around was hard work for me and wasn’t giving her much of a life. So he looked at the skeleton of the dog and said, "We’re going to support her in a bio-mechanically sound way” and design and built the first “Eddie’s Wheels” wheelchair, never thinking that this would be a business.

This was something he was making (Yes) for his own, individual, wonderful dog. So she used it and just as the carts now it supported her under her pelvic floor and had a yoke over her shoulder blades. And she went for walks every day through the woods. She took six months to heal, but after six months, she started walking again on her own and that was our story. So we thought a miracle had happened.

But our vet said, “Well, what you did was you kept her alive long enough for her spinal injury to heal on its own.” So this gave us a huge insight into an animal’s ability to heal and that the important thing was to give them a good quality of life while healing took place.

One thing we did know from our experience was that there were many people who had been faced with the same sort of critical decisions that we had been faced with. People would stop us on the street and say, “Where did you get that dog wheelchair?” and proceed to tell me about the heart-rending story of the dog that they put down only because of a disability, not because of an illness.

Ten years passed before Eddie decided to leave his job as a mechanical engineer and start a cart business. The Grinnells soon realized that their decision to start the enterprise was right for them. Everything seemed to fall into place.

And then there were so many synchronicities that told us that we were on a path that we needed to follow. We would be sourcing materials. We would tell people what we were doing. People would extend credit to us. Our metal supplier had a policy at his business of allowing dogs to come to work.

When he found out what we were doing, he made sure that we always had metal and he would deliver two sticks at a time, (Wow.) no minimum order, (Yes.) and drop it off at our house. So we were given all of these very encouraging signs from the universe that this was something that we were supposed to do.

Through the years the Grinnells have heard many wonderful, heartfelt success stories about dogs who could become active again through use of their wheelchairs. It fills them with great delight to know they are helping so many disabled dogs to lead happy lives.

This cart was built for a dog named KD. KD was actually a neighbor’s dog. It was the first cart we ever got paid for. And KD became disabled when she was about six, had an unsuccessful back surgery, and as she aged her spine curved more and more and more. So this was her last cart and we made a cart that conformed to the curvature of her spine. So this is our scoliosis cart.

So her hips were here, (Oh, dear.) her body was here (Yes.) and she used this cart for the last year of her life and she died at 16. I have pictures of her chasing a red kickball down the street. She lived a block away from where we did then and she would race behind her red kickball in her wheelchair.

Initially, Eddie’s Wheels manufactured only two-wheeled carts, but over time they’ve developed four-wheeled carts for dogs who are quadriplegic or who have only one working leg.

The first full-quad cart that we ever built was at the behest of a woman who had a 90-pound Basset Hound who had had a devastating injury to his cervical spine. (Right.) She had gone and had the US$10,000 surgery and the dog came out of surgery with only one functional leg. (Oh, dear.) But she loved that dog, Jake, and she said, “He is not in pain and he can hold his head up and he can bark at me and boss the whole house around, and I need help; I need something better than a red wagon to give this dog a quality of life and to give me quality of life.”

So she drove out and brought him out to us. We took measurements and Eddie designed a fully supportive, quad cart for a dog that would have a headrest and a toe handle. And this was one of the first times we saw that miracle of what happens when you posture a dog (Right.) because we put him in the quad cart and all of a sudden he started reaching with one of those back legs that we thought was completely paralyzed. And at the end of a few months he was actually able to move that cart with one rear leg and one front leg.

They sent me postcards of him on the beach in the outer banks with his big Basset Hound ears flapping in the surf and this big, doggy smile on his face. He lived another two years. But it was a quality of life issue for both of them because she could put Jake in that cart, take him outside and he could walk around in the yard. All that barking had been going on because he was anxious and knew he was helpless and he calmed down and became a calmer, happier dog because she could tow him around the house and keep him in sight and he could feel like he was her companion dog again.

The first carts built by Eddie’s Wheels were for injured or paralyzed canines. But after several years, the Grinnells learned of dogs who were suffering from degenerative diseases that gradually affected their mobility and decided to help them as well.

Dogs get this disease called Degenerative Myelopathy, which is the canine version of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). It’s a devastating, autoimmune, muscular disease. And we started collaborating to build mobility carts for these dogs. Because what would happen is that they would slowly lose their ability to walk.

And over a period of usually six to nine months they would go from hearing the toenail scraping on the sidewalk to having a dog dragging itself across the floor. And it was incredibly tragic news for me to hear because I was used to thinking I was going to create miracles for everyone; all the dogs would walk again. But this is a disease that dogs do not get better from.

So then our task became: “Well, how do we give them the best quality of life for as long as they are here and design carts that would serve their progressive needs?” So we have. And by working with dogs with DM (Degenerative Myelopathy) we have come up with a line of carts that goes from the early stages of the disease to hospice.

We can engineer a cart now that will take care of it. The dog at the beginning, when their front legs are still strong, that cart can be upgraded as the disease progresses forward and we can take weight off the front end. We can put temporary front wheels on a cart so when they cannot stand anymore they can still be stood up to eat and drink normally. (I see.) And at the very last stage of their life they can have a full quadriplegic cart.

Leslie and Eddie are the caregivers of four doggie family members, Sweet Pea, Daisy, Willa and Webster, all of whom have their own sets of wheels to keep them rolling through life. Join us again tomorrow on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants for our concluding segment on Eddie's Wheels, where we’ll meet these charming dogs, whose vibrant, joyful lives are a testimony to how Eddie’s Wheels has bettered the lives of thousands of companion animals.

For more details on Eddie’s Wheels, please visit:

Thank you for joining us today on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment, after Noteworthy News, here on Supreme Master Television. May all lives be filled with everlasting freedom, peace and dignity.

We also made a cart for a Pot-bellied pig this year. They contacted us to make him wheels, and he did have the miracle of healing. In fact, the day that we delivered his cart, he started using his back legs right in front of our eyes. He went from being completely down to using the cart like a walker.

Halo amiable viewers, and welcome to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. On today's program we present the concluding episode in our two-part series on Eddie's Wheels, a company co-founded by Eddie and Leslie Grinnell that’s dedicated to enhancing the lives of disabled animals and their caregivers.

By manufacturing wheelchairs, the Grinnells have enabled thousands of beloved animal companions to live with greater joy, dignity and freedom. When their own canine friend suddenly became paralyzed at the age of 10, Eddie Grinnell, a mechanical engineer, designed and built their first dog wheelchair, and the results were beyond the couple’s wildest expectations.

I remember she dragged her legs behind her, and that cart didn't have stirrups, so she ended up with wounds on her feet. And I would be bandaging her legs and feet trying to deal with these wounds. And after about three months, she starting picking her feet up again, and using the cart like a walker. And I called my vet, and I said, “She's getting her feet down flat, she's using her legs, she's getting muscle mass again,” because all of her musculature had withered away.

So, I asked the vet, “What's going on here?” And she said, "Well, there is a phenomenon we call ‘spinal walking.’ The body does have the ability to compensate for neurological injuries.” And I suspect that it's something like the Chinese meridian system in acupuncture, where you can find other neural pathways to go around that short circuit in the spine. She never ran again, but she walked.

Over the past 10 years, Eddie's Wheels has provided thousands of wheelchairs to dogs and other animals suffering from paralysis, injuries or degenerative diseases, and the Grinnells are inspired by the attitude of these animals.

What we learn from animals is that they have no self-consciousness. They’re not proud. They’re not thinking about what people are going to think of them. And when we set a dog up in a cart, they turn around, they look at the wheels and they say, “Hmm, look at that, that's standing me up. Hmm, my back end is up where it belongs. Okay.”

And sometimes I have to give them a cue, sometimes I have to pull them forward and then (they realize), “Oh, those wheels are following me.” And then they take off. We call it the “five-second learning curve.” And then they’re outside, down the ramp and ready to go. And, I think they’re so inspiring because they don’t feel sorry for themselves, and they say, “Yes, thanks for the cart, thanks for the upgrade, thanks for this.” They just keep going.

Leslie and Eddie are the caregivers of four happy, vibrant dogs. Let's first meet Sweet Pea and Daisy.

Okay, so this is my dog family, this is Sweet Pea, and she is a 10-year-old Pit Bull that we rescued through the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) in New York City. We adopted her when no one else would come forward to adopt an incontinent, paralyzed Pit Bull. Her volunteers came to us and said, “We really don’t want to see Sweet Pea euthanized.” And I knew her, and I said, “No, that can’t happen.” So she came here and we adopted her and she is just a great dog. And we love her dearly.

This is Daisy. She has been our mascot since 2001. And Daisy was very challenging because she always spoke Spanish when I got her. So I had to learn how to speak Spanish. This is Daisy’s cart. Daisy started out totally paralyzed with four herniated disks. And, and she is now 16 years old, and she’s been using wheels for 10 years. She’s getting very old now, she is toothless, but she is still in good health, and she certainly gets around just fine in her cart.

Willa and Webster are recently adopted family members, and are also doing quite well under the Grinnells’ loving care.

Willa and Webster, who are Chihuahua- Dachshund mixes, are 18 months old now, and I adopted them almost a year ago. They were born with no front-legs. And we are the only company in the world that makes a two-wheeled cart for dogs with front-leg disabilities, and we decided to adopt these two in order to learn more about the special challenges of dogs with front-leg disabilities.

We feel like we could give better customer service to our clientele because the front-wheel cart is more challenging than a rear-wheel cart. The great gift that Willa and Webster have given me is that when they came to me as puppies they were seven months old, they had absolutely no self-consciousness about their disabilities. They bounced around like little kangaroos on their back legs.

Thanks to their experience with Willa and Webster, the Grinnells have been able to perfect their front-wheel carts, which are especially beneficial for dogs who have lost one of their front-legs as well.

So what’s really great about the front-wheel carts is we do a lot of tripods and amputees in front-wheel carts; dogs that have been compensating for an amputation will end up with shoulder, neck, elbow and carpal problems.

They’ll end up with arthritis in the spine and then the back legs from being three-legged dogs. It’s a common myth that “Oh, dogs don’t need four legs, they get along fine on three.” No, they don’t really; as they get older they develop arthritis, they have ligament and tendon problems.

So if we can put a three-legged dog in a cart, we can preserve their overall health and the health of their joints and spines. We can give them more freedom, they can go for longer walks, they can stay in good shape.

Because canines differ in their disabilities, weight, size and proportions, the wheelchairs are custom designed and hand crafted for individual clients. Leslie Grinnell now explains the process of how the carts are ordered, designed and assembled at Eddie’s Wheels.

So what usually happens is, people find us on the Internet, when they are faced with the prospect of caring for their disabled animal. And there’s a measurement form there, that they can fill out. And then when we are satisfied that everything’s accurate, we talk about what the disabilities are and how best to address those disabilities. So then we have a piece of paper that is the work order and we bring it down to Ed, and he is the person who designs the frame, and specifications of the cart.

So let’s now meet Eddie, the founder of Eddie’s Wheels!

Hi!

Okay, so this is Eddie, He’s the engineer. And, this is his office where he draws everything and designs all the carts. And what are you working on now, Eddie?

A forty-three pound, Pit Bull needs a front-wheel cart, he has got one front-leg missing.

So, Eddie will make a drawing, and then someone on our crew, we have two people who specialize in front-wheel carts, will, make the cart based on the drawings that he makes today.

I make a full-scale model drawing.

And it’s a lot of work to do this drawing.

It takes about an hour to draw a front-wheel cart.

In addition to carts for dogs, Eddie’s Wheels has made wheelchairs for cats, goats, pigs, rabbits and even raccoons, and recently they’ve expanded their area of expertise by making a cart for Spin, a young lamb.

We are working with a growing sheep right now. Spin the lamb has been in five carts so far. She started out at 12 days old in her first cart. And we have been able to have her come in as she outgrows her carts and my wonderful customers donate some of their carts back to us so we have a deck with different size carts that were built for different dogs.

She belongs to a wonderful veterinarian. And so we have been working very closely with him and his wife to get Spin’s congenital injuries under control so that she can be a sheep. And she is out there in the pasture grazing six to 12 hours a day and having the life of a sheep.

Animal rehabilitation is a fast-growing field that seeks to help animals recover from orthopedic conditions and other ailments through physical therapy. Eddie’s Wheels has designed one intelligent device to help professionals speed up their animal clients’ recovery.

A great deal in animal rehabilitation has been underwater treadmills. But there are some dogs that just don’t like water. So we thought since we have had Dobermans who don’t like water, why not work on land? So you combine a therapy stand and this stand that goes over the treadmill is adjustable and for different size dogs and this allows you to put the dog and create that miracle of posture of a healthy, normal stance.

And then the physical therapist has access to all four legs to do gait training, massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, and work them on a treadmill and it’s about 10% of the price of an underwater treadmill.

Leslie and Eddie feel truly blessed by having the chance to pursue this line of work.

I get thanked every day for coming to work here. We get emails from people who find us who do not even need us just thanking us for being there, knowing us, knowing that we exist. And that if anything happened to their beloved animals this would be an option for them.

Our sincere appreciation Leslie and Eddie Grinnell and staff of Eddie’s Wheels for enriching the lives of our animal companions through your wonderful carts and rehabilitation devices. Your dedication and love provides light and inspiration for us all. We wish you every success in your future, noble endeavors.

For more details on Eddie’s Wheels, please visit:

Thank you for your gentle company today on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Up next is Enlightening Entertainment, after Noteworthy News, here on Supreme Master Television. May all beings on Earth be healthy, happy and filled with inner peace.