Getting a Leg Up

Mommy took me to the vet back in the fall, and I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in my lower back.  [sigh]  Yep, growing old stinks!  While at the vet, Mommy was asked if I favored one of my hind legs more than the other.  I don't know why the vet didn't just ask me.  I could have told her all she needed to know.  Mommy didn't think so at first, but she was wrong.  Right after our visit to the vet, we had our first snow and boy was it telling!  As soon as Mommy saw my prints in the snow, it clicked in her mind and her ears.  She remembered hearing my nails scrape the floor and deck.  The proof is in the picture:

A round of steroids helped for a while, but we have to face facts.  I'm a senior in the canine world and I'm not getting any younger.  Mommy saw a commercial recently and thinks this product may help me.  Stairs are so difficult for me sometimes.  I don't have too many problems going up, but coming down is another matter.  Enter the Acorn Stairlifter:

image from acornstairlifts.com

I bet Daddy could adjust it so that the actual seat could be closer to the ground making it easier for me to hop on and hop off.  Maybe he could add a bigger seat too.  What do you think?  

If you know me well, you are already snickering.  There is NO WAY I'm getting on this contraption.  There is not a single bone in my body that likes anything about this chair.  In theory, this chair is a great idea.  In reality, I don't step foot on the lift table at the vet.  I even have to be coerced to step up two inches onto the scales (and it's been this way for years, not just because I'm old!).  

Mommy, I know you mean well, but get real!  This ain't happening!  The only way I'm going to get a leg up is if you help me.  And thankfully, you do!

If anyone else has any other great ideas, please let me know!

Hunter