Immobile for nearly three months due to old age, Patch the dog now wheels around freely in a four-wheeled cart put together by the handy workers of Home Depot.
“He’s a regular Ben-Hur!” exclaimed Robert Garrett, Patch’s owner, as the 14-year-old American Staffordshire terrier blazed past the customer service area of Home Depot in Chehalis on Monday.
Patch’s benefactors, two Home Depot supervisors and a master plumber, grinned with satisfaction as the box-headed terrier proved capable of pulling his chariot with just his front legs.
“He’s a totally different dog,” said supervisor Zach Woodford.
Last week, Garrett, 63, came to Home Depot with a design for a cart he could put together that would hold his companion up so the pair could resume taking walks together.
Patch’s hips had given out and the old canine can now barely take a step or two after dragging himself up off the ground. His owner had begun contemplating euthanasia.
“He’s totally disabled,” Garrett said.
Garrett, disabled himself and a retired logger who lives on a fixed income, had shopped on the Internet to buy a cart for his dog but couldn’t find one in his price range. They cost between $350 and $500.
With some drawings in hand, Garrett went to Home Depot to build his own cart. After asking around for some help, he and his dog soon had a crew put together in their behalf.
Michael Peha said it’s not uncommon for Home Depot workers to help customers see their vision through to the end of a project.
“They have an idea what they need, but they don’t know where to start,” Peha, a supervisor, said.
So after one false start, three Home Depot workers in about four hours on Sunday put together a dog cart, replete with wheels that fit a barbecue pit, Velcro straps to keep the dog’s rear strapped in, a foam pad, indoor-outdoor carpeting, and some clips at the front to snap on the dog’s harness.
“We just pieced it together with plumbing parts,” Woodford said.
Store manager Bob Jackins estimates the materials cost $15.
Garrett said Patch was a little bit leery of his freewheeling chariot at first, but once he got moving a crowd of customers cheered him on and petted him with each pass at the front of the store.
“Getting him to leave Home Depot was the hardest part,” Garrett said.
Garrett, who lives in an RV with his dog on homesteaded property in Brooklyn, said he knows Patch doesn’t have a lot of time left in his life. But for now, he and his dog can continue enjoying each other’s company and brief walks on pavement as they visit Garrett’s family in Astoria, Ore., and visit a couple of RV parks.
“He’s everything to me, he’s all I got,” Garrett said.
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Adam Pearson: (360) 807-8208
