Yes, I am alive! So is Mr Knightley!

1 year 1 month old

Woah, so long since I did my last post! I am sorry my devoted (and not so devoted) readers! That will at least change when we find a new puppy. This will be my least posting month for over a year. Shocking.

There are four or so reasons I have been so tardy in my postings. Firstly I continue to be pretty rocked by the whole situation of 'losing' Knightley in that way, and then losing the choice of that last litter was upsetting too! It is hard to find another litter that I am happy with. Secondly, not much has been happening really. I do some training with Knightley but probably not as much as I should, and no where near as much as I was doing. In a way I'm just waiting for the new pup. Thirdly, I've had a nasty bout of laryngitis for the last week, although antibiotics have helped me get over it much faster than I would have otherwise. And lastly, I have been doing a LOT of work on my Oz Working Dogs stuff, specifically the website. I used to work in the website industry quite a few years ago and my skills are very rusty, but they have been just enough for the package I have been using. Unfortunately my skills are extremely out of date. However, if I was to pay for the site I now have to be done professionally it would cost thousands of $$.

I also now advertise on Google for Oz Working Dogs, and Facebook, and that takes some time as I learn those ropes. On that topic though, go to the Oz Working Dogs Facebook Page and like me! You'll get discounts from being a friend of OzWD and can keep up with new products.

Knightley with his head chopped off in my new no pull
harness. It comes only in black - apart from the handle which
is red and black and quite sturdy and semi rigid. This was my
prototype and I am going to change the design a little but by
and large I am extremely happy with it. The straps are wide
enough to sew patches to.

In addition to vests, capes and harnesses I am selling all sorts of other bits and pieces now, from leather collars and leads, to Musher's Secret (protective paw wax), treat pouches, clickers, dog whistles and more. You gotta check it out for yourself to see! I've also developed my own no pull harness, which also doubles as a working harness. It has a handle, and O ring on the back, and is made of wide belt material. I'm also soon going to be selling patches from my site, which for many Aussies will be a great relief I am sure as they are very hard to get in this country.

So you can see why that has been taking up a good deal of my time. I very much enjoy developing new products, especially ones that work well and I can use! I have stopped using my Easy Walk harness in favour of my own.... not because I just want to use my own stuff, but because it works better for us. Actually I should come up with a cool name for it. I find the versatility of it makes it much more useful. We use the handle to help him up into the car, and I use the back O ring quite a bit, such as on his Flexi, which you don't want to do on the front O ring.

Another photo of my working no pull harness.

Knightley continues on his supplements and by and large is doing ok, but we overdid it a couple of weeks back and he limped out of the dog park. Very upsetting to see but it's hard to manage so he doesn't get himself to that level. I am a little worried about his elbows now too. His hips are cracking regularly and I thought I had heard his elbows occasionally cracking too but it's hard to ascertain which joint is cracking sometimes... but tonight he was on hubby's lap (and mine too partially, he's a looonnggg dog!) and hubby said his elbow definitely cracked. Sigh, here's hoping he doesn't have elbow dysplasia too.

He had a new meal tonight as part of his raw feeding diet - wallaby tail! It was a big hit. Sometimes I give him a large amount of meat and let him 'self regulate', ie eat as much as he thinks he needs and then he'll stop when he has had enough and I'll remove the rest. So I put down 1kg (2.2lbs) of wallaby tail tonight and it all went! And this was AFTER having maybe 200g (a little under 1/2 a lb) of pork earlier. So it seems wallaby tail is a go. It is important when feeding raw that you give your dog as much variety as possible, and wallaby is something very new.

I probably shouldn't have given him that much when giving a new meat for the first time - but there was a lot of bone in the meal and bone is a constipating factor so it should take care of any runs that may eventuate. I think I'll try to source some entire kangaroo tails. These wallaby tails were chopped up - not so small that Knightley would choke, but smaller than I liked. I would love some entire roo tails, although freezing them could be a challenge!!!! I am assuming you know what a wallaby is by the way. It is similar to a kangaroo, just smaller with different colouring. Some are endangered, but some are not. That is why a larger roo tail would be even better, if I can find them somewhere. Surely a farmer somewhere must want to get rid of some tails? So long as he took the skin off first though........ lol.

A photo from last year up at the snow. We were
at the very end of the ski season last year hence
the patchy cover. I had been looking forward to
seeing the surrounds with a proper dump of snow
on them.... but oh well. Everyone gets sick but I
can't risk getting sicker. Next year hopefully!

One major annoyance from being sick was the big snow trip I had been looking forward to was off the cards for me. Hubby went up without me, and it was really really snowy this year. I am sorry I missed it. I was pretty ill though, and my parents had planned to take care of Knightley while we were freezing our butts off at the snow, so they ended up taking Knightley for two nights anyway. So I was extremely lonely all weekend without my pup and my hubby. It was great having both of them back, although it was right having Knightley leave while I was pretty under the weather..... I was really too sick to look after him. My parents seem to have got on well with him, so it's good to know there is always someone who can take care of him if needed. He can be a bit troublesome, but he is a lovable dog when all  is said and done.

I am still trying to find another litter to temperament test for a new puppy but it is easier said than done. Of course there is always the option of straying away from the Golden Retriever breed....... but well, I would rather wait. I have my reasons, and I love them too!

Anyway readers, take a look at the OzWD site, and let me know if there are any products that need adding, or ones I could develop. I'm going to have a go at for both my vests and for normal guide dog harnesses. Is there anything else the assistance/service dog world needs?

Take care all. I'll try to post more often.