'Lifesaver' Pet Sitter Builds Wheelchair that Helps Dog Client Become More 'Alert and Curious'

Before using his custom wheelchair built by Marc Wong, Cody the dog couldn't stand on his own and was carried everywhere

Cody is experiencing some of life's joys for the first time with help from his dog walker.

The 3-year-old Maltipoo has a degenerative disease called cerebellar abiotrophy, which affects the dog's mobility and causes him to have seizures. When Marc Wong first met the canine, Cody could not stand on his own and needed to be carried everywhere.

The pair met when Cody's owner, Cecilia Liu, arranged through Rover — an online pet services provider — for the dog with special needs to board with Wong while she and her family were away.

Wong is pivoting from a corporate job to a role in the dog training field. He is currently a sophomore student at The Academy for Dog Trainers and is working towards a certificate in training and counseling. Offering pet-sitting services through Rover allows Wong to work with animals now, which is his passion.

Over Cody's first six-day stay with Wong in April 2023, the pet sitter realized that Cody's bathroom procedure was taking a toll on the dog and him.

"Being a paraplegic, Cody cannot stand on his own and needs to be carried everywhere. During potty times, he needs to be propped up on all fours in order not to soil himself. This process could take 5-10 min, during which I had to physically hold him in that position," Wong tells PEOPLE. "Day after day, multiple times a day, this took a toll on my back. And so I started to brainstorm some solutions to facilitate the potty process."

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Wong came up with a cradle for the canine which he crafted out of the PVC pipe he had left over from a yard irrigation project. The material is "not only lightweight and strong, but also easy to assemble without the need for special tools," Wong explains.

First, Wong constructed the cradle, which allowed Cody to rest propped up during potty breaks without being held by someone.

"After a couple of uses, we noticed that the previously bedbound Cody was more alert and curious while in his cradle. Despite his head tremor, we noticed that he would orient his head to try to sniff passing dogs. We figured that he was actually liking this new sensation of 'standing' and interacting with the world around him," Wong says.

So Wong "upgraded" the cradle to make it even more helpful for Cody, adding more support and padding.

"Over time, I noticed that he was increasingly stretching his neck to sniff objects just out of reach, and I thought it would be a great idea if he could actually reach those objects on his own," Wong says of Cody. "That's when the idea of adding wheels came about."

"I went to the local big box hardware store and picked up some caster wheels which turned his cradle into a wheelchair," he adds.

After "fine-tuning" the setup of the wheelchair in a way that was comfortable for Cody's long-term use, the dog was off.

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Video of the Maltipoo acclimating to his new wheelchair shows the pup quickly figuring out how to use his front paws to propel himself forward.

"His ability to move around on his own has really taken off. When we first met Cody, he was bedbound and couldn't go anywhere unless carried by a human," Wong says of the dog's journey, adding, "Today, he is able to traverse our living room at quite a brisk pace!"

Not only is Cody moving more, but Wong's inventive gift has also helped the dog be more social.

"We also noticed that his engagement with other dogs has improved significantly. Previously, the extent of his social interaction was basically a quick sniff of any dog that would wander close to his bed. These days he would walk over to the other dogs for a 'butt sniff.' He is now also able to interact with the other pups at face level as opposed to lying in bed looking up at them," Wong says.

Cody's owners are seeing the change as well.

"We can see that his muscles are getting stronger, and he seems to remember that he has the ability to walk. Also, he can use the wheelchair for a long time now," Liu says of the changes she sees in Cody since he started using the wheelchair in April.

The pet parent is grateful to "genius" Wong for adding more joy to her dog's life.

"He is a lifesaver and teacher to Cody," she adds.

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Wong hopes to keep improving life for Cody and the other dogs he will work with in the future.

"The engineer-tinkerer in me would love the opportunity to build more and to further improve on the design," Wong shares of future versions of Cody's wheelchair.

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