1 year 1 week 4 days oldIt has been a very long time since my last entry, I know. My health has been up and down, and I am still... struggling with Knightley's status change, from assistance dog to be, to medically retired - or 'washed out' as people say in this industry. It was so sudden, when everything had been working out so well. The most recent Assistance Dog Blog Carnival passed recently, and I had initially intended to be a part of it. However I just couldn't bring myself to write anything cogent... read more »
11 months 4 weeks oldThis is a short-ish post to report that after contacting several breeders I may have found Knightley's little brother. I have first choice on a litter with 6 males due to go to their homes on August 22nd, so they are four weeks old at the moment. There is a small chance the breeder may keep one of them, in which case I would have second choice, but it is relatively unlikely we would want the same puppy. The parents have excellent hip scores....... but so did Knightley's parents. Sigh... read more »
Well, the last few days Knightley has just been absolutely CRAZY with energy, especially in the evenings. The type of energy where he jumps on and off the couch 30 times and there is noreductionin his eagerness to GO! Hubby and I had a great session of the "Come Game" with him, and he was the most enthusiastic he has ever been about it (skidding around corners, bashing into furniture.... he was running for the reward of chopped up beef heart, his favourite, but still!).For those who don't know it, the Co... read more »
10 months 1 week 6 days oldToday I needed some prescriptions filled, and the shops are not at all far away and Knightley needed some public access work so off we went together. He behaved like a dream!! I can't actually believe what a good boy he was. First I went to drop my scripts off (I had like 7 to get filled, yes I take a *lot* of medication), then I had about 15 minutes to use up while we were waiting. So we went into the supermarket to do some training. He was such a good boy. I had his halter on... read more »
9 months 2 weeks 4 days oldKnightley and I had two really great training sessions today this morning. I'd kind of forgotten how much he loves learning new things, and how much he enjoys closing cupboard doors with his nose! We did some work on shaping the new down (cue is flat), and some hand targeting, sits, stays, eye contact and then moved onto closing cupboards, drawers and doors. His tails just starts wagging so happily when he closes cupboards, I think he'd probably do it all day practically! I thi... read more »
9 months 1 week 4 days old Working on sit stays outside. Inside these things are easy - outsideWell FINALLY today, after about 11 sporadic months of investigation, calls to different government departments, agencies, various call centres and more I finally hit upon the right person for the question. I had been trying to find out how to get a public access permit for Knightley here in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT, a region somewhat like a state that surrounds Canberra, the capital city of Aust... read more »
This is the second post in a series where I answer some of the common search queries I get. I speak only reflecting my own experience, in this case temperament testing two litters before finding a puppy I was happy with._______________________________________________________________It was about two and half years ago I became interested in the idea of an assistance dog (we call service dogs assistance dogs here in Australia), but it took me much longer to research the practicalities of whether it would b... read more »
This is the first post in a series, answering some of the most common search queries I receive on my blog. Also, let me say that I am not sure whether I have Lupus or possibly an auto-inflammatory disease, but the advice still stands.______________________________________________________________________ The basic answer to the question is yes, however it isn't quite as simple as a yes/no answer. In order to have an assistance dog you must be disabled by your illness. This is an accepted definition of di... read more »
Knightley on the new couch, having been allowed up. He'slooking less and less puppylike every day now!Our new couch has FINALLY been delivered after the furniture company messing us around for nearly a week. I am teaching Knightley not to get up on it unless he is invited - and to *never* bring a bone up on it. He is doing quite well actually. Most of the time it doesn't need reinforcing, but I've found the more people on the couch and the more excited he is, the less he remember the rule - or he just th... read more »
So as you might see, I have changed the colour scheme somewhat on this blog. I have been involved in web design and other computer design on and off for ten years or more, and I find it hard to resist fiddling every now and again. When I was much younger, I had a job working on the national Tax Office's website, and that was fun to see your own work up on such an important website. Mortifying when you got bits wrong. Now I just have a lowly blog to mess around with, but such is life. So expect changes in... read more »
