14-year-old Finn is a true adventurer and it wouldn’t be unusual if he wasn’t an adorable canine who lost his back legs. His mom says that Finn was doing 20, 30-mile backpacking trips for years when all of a sudden he couldn’t get up on all four legs. The unexpected change didn’t just affect him physically, but also mentally. That is when the pooch got his first wheelchair.
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Would you smile if you saw this guy bombing down the beach in his wheelchair? I might be biased but he sure makes me smile! Finn absolutely LOVES the beach!! Prior to his accident, when he was still capable of hiking and backpacking in the mountains, he still would choose the beach over that any day! Now, the beach is a great place for him to easily bomb around in his chair so we have been spending a lot of time there for him. While we love camping in the van, sometimes it is nice to have a dog-friendly place to call home for a few days at the beach! For us, we always turn to @vacasa – with 3,000+ dog-friendly vacation rentals there is never a shortage of places to choose from – whether you want beach, mountains, lakes or cities – they have something for the whole crowd! Thanks for making Finn smile, @vacasa – we can’t wait to book some trips for 2020! If more having dog-friendly experiences is part of your New Years resolutions – there is no better time to book a stay! #myvacasa #yestopets #fortheloveofdogs #roadtrip #ilovemydog #dogmomlife #seniordogsofinstagram
A post shared by la•duke•b | Bryce LaDuc (@laducb) on Dec 19, 2019 at 10:18am PST
“It’s amazing to see what they can go through and bounce back from,” his mom told The Dodo . “Finn’s attitude is just all or nothing. We’re truly blessed to be among their company. He’s never given up and it’s just incredible to know that he never wanted us to give up on him. He’s the most important thing in my life.”
Currently, Finn goes to physical therapy and fortunately, after hours and hours of walking on an underwater treadmill, he started building strength in his disabled legs.
If you are curious to see more of Finn’s progress, check out the gallery below and follow him on Instagram for more.
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Finn is living proof that no matter how hard you try, you can’t always protect breakable things. Bones. Hearts. Spirits. Sometimes things break and they can’t get put back together the way they were before, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be wonderfully different. The past few weeks we noticed a shift in Finn. He seemed to be restless, unmotivated and bored. He seemed discouraged and we were discouraged for him. This is why we chose to risk his dependance on a wheelchair. Why we chose to give him that freedom over waiting to see if he progresses with mobility on his own. We are already so happy with the choice! It has been amazing to see his response to his new wheels! While there certainly are many words to describe him now – broken, limited, immobile, disabled… alive is truly the only one that matters to us! Swim, treat, walk, ride, hungry, beach, lets go, sniff, camping and squirrel…. those are the words that matter to Finn! He lights up when he hears them and we are going to make sure he hears them loud, clear and in abunance! Finn is amazing, kind, alive, resilient, immobile, wise, old, happy, awesome and a little bit broken. Like all of us, he is a story made of so many wonderful and sad words that mean nothing and everything all at the same time! He is a good book with so many fun wheelchair chapters left to write! — #ilovemydog #rescuedogsrock #words #dogmomlife
A post shared by la•duke•b | Bryce LaDuc (@laducb) on Jun 19, 2019 at 12:43pm PDT
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MORE FINN, PLEASE! I have been getting a lot of requests for more posts about Finn along with a lot of questions. For those of you who know his story, I apologize for the recap, but I decided it would be easier to address some of them here! + What happened to Finn? In January Finn suffered spinal trauma from a terrible leap he took off of our camper van bed. Since then he has had physical therapy weekly in the form of swimming, underwater treadmill, cold laser therapy and electro-acupuncture. While he does have very limited mobility in his hind legs and we still hope that will progress more over time, we decided that at his age (14) we would risk wheelchair dependence so that he could enjoy some freedom. + Where did you get his wheelchair? We worked with his physical therapist @healingartsvet to get fitted for an Eddies Wheel’s wheelchair. We had it custom made with “off road” durability so he could bomb around the beach, cruise hiking trails and do all the things he loved doing prior to his accident. + Will Finn walk again on his own? Finn can take a few steps at a time – some days are better than others. We are not sure if he will ever do much more than that, but he still full of life, loves playing with toys and doesn’t at all feel sorry for himself about his current circumstances. He is still his same goofball self (this photo about sums that up as he takes a break mid-walk to have a big yawn). In fact, watching how resilient he has been through all of this has been humbling to me. He truly is FINNspirational! + Can Finn lay down in his chair? No, the chair is made solely for adventuring and getting exercise. He can, however, go to the bathroom with it on. + How much did Finn’s wheelchair cost? Finn’s wheelchair was just about $600 for the chair alone and $150 for the fitting and measurements. I do suggest if you are looking into a wheelchair for your dog that you have it fitted and measured properly to ensure it is comfortable and built to your dogs needs! I am sure I missed some questions so feel free to ask any that you have! — #ilovemydog #rescuedogsrock #dogmomlife #thedodo
A post shared by la•duke•b | Bryce LaDuc (@laducb) on Aug 12, 2019 at 12:58pm PDT
