Long (really long!) awaited update

Knightley: 1 year 10 months 1 week 6 days old
Apollo: 9 months 4 days old

Apollo and Knightley together recently.

Well, it has been many months since my last update. That is because on December 26th last year I started feeling dizzy, tired, finding it hard to speak and would also pass out occasionally. I was in hospital for over three weeks, but even after then was unable to walk or do much for another couple of months. I couldn't concentrate, or even get out of bed without feeling like I would vomit or pass out.

I am somewhat better now, months later. I still feel dizzy but not as much, and I still pass out. It is quite likely I have developed narcolepsy (uncontrollable sleeping episodes), but there is still some question. I am waiting for testing up at one of the big hospitals in Sydney. I still spend quite a lot of time in bed as I can fall down suddenly, anywhere, unconscious. I am not able to sew or see to my business (although thinking about opening shop again soonish maybe??), and for a long time just stayed in bed. I've been doing physio since I got back from the hospital and can now walk reasonably well - but I still pass out and bruise myself... sometimes daily, twice a day, or only several times in a week. I wear a helmet for protection after I concussed myself when my head hit the floor. So things have been pretty terrible in that sense. In all the testing it was found out I have 'mixed' sleep apnoea, and now use a CPAP machine which has helped my terrible fatigue and has somewhat lessened my sleep episodes. However, all this passing out business is on top of my immune issues and migraines. SIGH!

Apollo learning to do an assistance retrieve for me. He's holding
a comb in this photo. He's taken to retrieving well.

So, due to all this, Apollo had to go through nearly a month with me away in hospital, and didn't deal with it well - he became pretty destructive and bored. Two months or so ago I got a mobility scooter which finally gave me the ability to get out of the house safely and take the boys for walks again. Since then I have been able to up Apollo's socialisation dramatically and he is doing well. We spend a little time inside our local shopping plaza, but spend most of the time outside it - still learning the basics of ignoring people, ignoring dogs, loud noises and strange objects. We do some basic obedience too, but mostly I'm concentrating on the basic socialisation at the moment as he missed out on a lot of it for months. I did swap him to a new vest today from a small one I've been using since he was quite young. He looks quite official in his new gear - which I had made many months ago before I got this passing out problem.

Apollo at the shops in his new gear. He is still smaller than
Knightley by quite a bit, but I hope he will be a large dog
too.

My happy Knightley with Apollo in the background. I spend
quite a bit of time with them on my bed looking after me.

Knightley is unfortunately going downhill quite quickly due to his hips. The vet hoped we'd have a couple of years of good function left, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I recently got some 'Neo Paws' boots for him to help his hips, and they do seem to help quite a bit. We love Knightley so much, and he and Apollo are the very best of friends. I think Apollo helps keep Knightley feeling young. I take Knightley out to 'work' occasionally just on a trip to the shops because he LOVES it and just gently wags at everyone. It breaks my heart that his hip dysplasia was so bad that he can't do what I trained him for. Even just a trip to the shops leaves him close to limping.

Apollo has turned out to be a natural alerter - he lets me know when I'm about to pass out. I have from between 20 seconds and two minutes warning. Enough time to find somewhere safe to sit or lie, or pull the scooter over to somewhere safe where I can pass out in peace! It is a massive blessing that he can do this, although we definitely need to work on his response to me being passed out. I want him to try to lick my face to help wake me up, and he'll do that if I'm on the floor.... but if we're in public or I'm in my wheelchair at home, he doesn't get that he has to stand on his hind legs and lick my face. But nevermind, he's only 9 months old so there is plenty more training to go.

So, things are going better than they were. Poor hubby is my carer these days, as well as the boys, and it stresses him out. But the boys are pretty great most of the time. They make me laugh (especially my clown, Apollo) and snuggle up to me when I need it. I want to get Apollo to professional standard as fast as I can since he's proven to be quite a reliable alerter. Having him with me is massive reassurance, as well as when you drop things from wheelchairs and mobility scooters it's handy to have someone/something else to pick up those things for you. We've done a bit of door closing training, and I really want to train Apollo to push those big metal buttons for me so I can cross the road. So there is a lot of work to be done. Thankfully he is super food motivated!

Truly though, all three of my boys are absolutely wonderful to me, and whilst so far this year hasn't been anything to boast about, they help me through everything day by day and never fail to make me smile. :)

Will try to write an entry now and again, but I find text hard to read (and type) due to dizziness and double vision. I hope everyone in the blogosphere has been well and is looking after themselves. *hugs to all*

An upsetting setback, canine first aid, therapy dog requirements and bonding time with Knightley

1 year 2 weeks 3 days old

So, there's been a bit of a setback in getting the new pup. As I've been struggling with a migraine on and off for a week or so now, I sent her an email instead of phoning the breeder again. Email did seem to be her preferred contact method on her website anyway. I didn't anticipate a problem, I had offered to put a deposit on the pup, so she knew I really wanted one of them. In my experience many breeders are rather poor about returning emails, so I rather assumed she had got the email but hadn't returned it. Anyway, I finally get a response from her today saying she has already let people pick puppies from the litter and there aren't many males left! So much for first choice. She said she'd been away at a show over the weekend, hence not getting the email. But that doesn't wash because I sent it well before the weekend. I'd also told her I couldn't choose until I temperament tested at 7 weeks when we were on the phone, and yet she went ahead and let people choose at 5-6 weeks of age. Very shortly after we talked actually. GRRRRR. I tried not to respond with an angry email but I was very upset. I don't think I was too rude at least!

Knightley snapping at the water from the hose. We've changed
our routine a bit since his diagnosis and since his symptoms are
becoming still more obvious. We spend a lot more time playing in
the backyard, and our walks are shorter so that if he looks like he's
tiring we can come home quickly. He loves the bite the water game.
Is this a dog that should be put down?!?!

Maybe it's for the best. I didn't get a 100% good vibe from her, especially when I told her about how bad Knightley's hips were.... she said "you know what you should do with that dog?" and I said.... "what??", and she replied, "you should put him down now." Pretty final huh. She thought that he would never really be happy as he'd always be in pain to an extent. Talking to my hubby later he made a good point which I should have thought of at the time and pointed out to her, that I'm always in pain but should I be put down?? Knightley may be showing a lot more symptoms, but he still has a LOT of fun, and is a very very happy dog. I wouldn't even think of putting him down until that completely changes.

So, now it's back to the drawing board. I gave a golden breeder/golden showing steward a ring earlier this evening who lives here in Canberra and we had a really good chat. There's a possibility of a litter way up to the north (Taree - for those Aussies), even slightly further north than we went for Knightley, although it may be slightly quicker on faster roads. But instead of having the pup in 2.5 weeks time, it'd be more like 3 months as the litter isn't even born yet. It may not even have enough males to get a good choice. I had a really good talk to the Canberra woman though, and she is going to ask around the golden networks for me and see what litters are coming up. I am acutely aware that every month more I have to wait is another month without that increased independence I was beginning to glimpse. It's just so very annoying.

On the other hand, it means that we won't be going away this coming weekend, and there is a pet first aid and CPR training session that I would like to attend. There is really only one organisation that does this training, it only happens once every six months or so, and I've watched this date come closer and closer. I was quite annoyed when I realised that the testing of the puppies was going to stop me from going. No longer I guess. I'll see if I can register for it tomorrow. I think that people who own working dogs who have a higher chance of being hurt because they are out in public more often should know a bit more about dog health care, especially first aid/CPR. Also, because I feed raw - and the new pup will be on raw from day 1 - I'd like to know how to clear obstructions etc, just in case. I am careful to feed big chunks of food, rather than little things like chicken necks which are quite dangerous for all but the most tiny of dogs, as they can rather easily get stuck and be choked on. But very very occasionally a dog can choke on a bigger bit. Or even a toy. So that's another reason why I want to go.

Several days ago I looked up a bunch of info about training Knightley as a therapy dog and getting certified through the Delta Society Australia. He looks like he'd do great on all the temperament testing part, and pretty well on the skills section. However, he needs to be able to heel perfectly in just a fixed collar and lead, and also come on first call with other dogs around in a new place.... and I think those two things are his biggest challenge at the moment. Just because he so wants to be with other dogs/people he pulls too much, and won't come to me in case I take him away from the exciting place lol. Other than that we would be fine. So I know what we have to work on in the next 6 odd months before he is old enough to take the test. I never did do enough recall (come) training with him from day 1. I really needed hubby's help with that one, to play what Sue Ailsby calls the "Come Game". It helps fix come in the dog's mind as the greatest most fun thing ever throughout every level of training. Knightley is good about coming to me if there are relatively few distractions, but we continue practicing with distractions. He's too friendly for his own good!! All the sociability training I've done with him will stand him in very good stead for those parts of the tests.... like being patted by 4 people at once, being patted by someone very clumsily, being bumped into, walking through a crowd, having someone throw their arms around and yell in a very loud and upset voice right in front of him and so on. All that early public training will pay off. I have been doing loose leash work with his fixed collar on and he is pretty good outside .... until a dog turns up, or a bird, or the postman....... *melodramatic sigh*

My beautiful furry boy only a couple of days ago. He's been lying
down outside chewing eucalyptus sticks a lot recently. I think it's
because his 1yr wisdom teeth have been coming in, and sticks are
quite soothing. I also have a sneaking suspicion that he quite likes
the taste of eucalyptus, and at least it makes his breath smell
quite nice!

Knightley and I are spending some good time together bonding at the moment. I am quite aware that sooner or later we will be getting that new puppy, so am making the most of my lovely loving Knightley. Also, because I've been pretty unwell with migraine, fever, and lots of joint pain, I like to have him on my lap for the comfort. Not that much of him fits on my lap anymore!! It really doesn't seem like that long ago we brought him home... and yet one just has to look at that great big furry beast to know time has indeed raced on! He is becoming an extremely furry golden, and still has a couple of years until his coat is fully grown to its maximum length. It remains beautifully soft from his raw diet and regular brushing (the brushing in attempt to slow down the rain of fur that goes EVERYWHERE... especially on any black clothes we are tempted to wear!).

He's a good boy, my Knightley, and continues to pick up things for me in the home. I just miss him terribly when I go to the shops and he never comes along for a training run anymore. His hips are making more and more clicking noises, proof of his hip dysplasia if I needed it... and while he doesn't seem all that uncomfortable I know I am doing the right thing by having him take it easy. It's just very difficult to lose the independence I just began to glimpse.....

Must find that new puppy!!!

My new website, new vest complete, hormones, our postie, outside training!

11 months 5 days old

So it's been a while since my last post! There are reasons though, so I am sure that you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

The main reason it has been so long is......trumpet rally and drum roll...... I have a new website, http://www.ozworkingdogs.com.au which I've been doing a lot of work on!! You still can't actually buy equipment on there but we are getting very close! Take a look and see what you think. Of course it's only a start, but I have to start from somewhere. It has taken a fair bit of work just to get it to that stage. It's only a day or so away from when people can actually start ordering products. I need to get my 'sewing room' in order just in case!

My other excuse is that I got conjunctivitis a few days ago. I woke up at like 4am with my eyes glued shut and went and looked in the mirror at a red eyed angry beast. It was actually slightly better at 8am when we arrived at the free (got to love nationalised health care) drop in clinic, but I've been putting drops in for the last couple of days and while they are mostly better they still feel a bit sandy. Not very pleasant, but I know I've been going through a low immune period with all the aches and pains and funny skin rashes that come and go in a matter of days or even hours.

Knightley's new vest! You can purchase it from
http://www.ozworkingdogs.com.au It has a Y shaped chest with
a padded chest plate which you can't see in this photo because of
all Knightley fur (and his leash), but have a look at the website for
more photos. Oops at cutting off his nose.

Knightley seems to really like the new mobility vest I've made him,and my other designs which I have been busy testing out. We've had several training trips into public, some really great, some lacking a bit in focus. By and large he continues to do really well. I've started to do some more work on his retrieve, which I just haven't been using enough as it isn't perfect yet so sometimes it is easier to hurt myself by picking things up instead of calling Knightley over, especially if he is drowsing. So we are doing a bit of a refresher course on his assistance retrieve, which seems to be quite needed! He is great at holding things though, really just awesome. I did some work with a knife the other day - just a blunt butter type knife - as he isn't keen on metal in his mouth and despite not wanting to hold it at the beginning he was happily holding for up to 10 seconds by the end of the short session. Good boy!

He remains completely full of energy, bursting at the seams every morning... and very hormonal too. Hubby went out to a movie with a work friend last night, and the work friend dropped by our place before they went out and said hello to Knightley. Well, let's just say that Knightley was *very* hormonal..... He does very occasionally hump hubby, but never me thankfully. 34kg + (75lb) of dog clinging onto my already sore leg does not sound very pleasant to me and maybe he realises that. Or maybe he realises mummy is not to be messed with ... at least, I hope so! He was very very excited to see someone new, or more or less new, so I think that was part of it. Still, I was quite shocked!! I think I should probably try to get people around here more often that Knightley doesn't know and work on his manners. Because last night they were quite atrocious.

The uniform posties wear in Australia - although this one is not
'our' postie and appears to be a postwoman, which is certainly
rarer! You can see why I was bursting with pride when he was
14 weeks old and happy to have that thing with the yellow creature
on top roaring right up to him. What a good boy he is.

Speaking of people Knightley knows and doesn't know.... Knightley has a favourite postman. Here in Australia our 'posties' deliver our mail from lightweight Honda motorbikes. Our postie has a real thing for Knightley and we get along well too. It has meant that since Knightley was a little puppy he is not at all scared of motorbikes, because they mean one of his favourite people! He won't flinch at all as our postie rides straight up to us, and will jump straight up onto his hind legs to say hi to his favourite postie. It's pretty impressive when you consider the noise, smell, heat and the uniform and visibility clothes our postie wears. I am so proud of my pup at times like that, he really isn't scared of anything! Saying that though, a funny thing happened a couple of weeks ago. We were out on one of our walks, me walking sloowwwlllyy with my crutch, and Knightley dashing around me in circles on his flexi lead (still can't trust him if he sees another dog or a flock of parrots), and our favourite postie appeared going down a nearby street, across an expanse of grass from where we were. Knightley was curious but not instantly transfixed like he usually is if the postie is anywhere near our house. Anyway, our postie saw us, and after delivering some mail to a few houses, came blaring across the grass area towards the trees where we were walking. Knightley just didn't recognise him and was a little unsure.... tail down, moving closer to me, until the postie talked. Then suddenly it was like he slapped himself in the face and said "OH!!! It's HIM!!" and became a different dog, racing towards his friend. It was very funny, he just didn't see him as the same person because of the different environment. Dogs really are poor generalisers.

I did some recall and focus training outside on our walk today with Knightley. Boy does he need it. His 'work' such as it is is much less attentive when he is outside, and when he isn't dressed and I allow him to just run around outside he likes to virtually pretend I don't exist. If I have an interesting object in my hand I exist straight away though! All the smells, dogs and people in the distance exist a LOT. So we did recalls with the reward of ROAST chicken (naughty to get cooked meat, but it did the job), and did eye contact (focus), but he was so hyped up and usually is in the morning for his walks, that we couldn't get passed a second or two. So I switched tactics, and for the rest of the walk, gave him chicken every single time he looked at me. That worked nicely and I should be doing it much more. Do I need to bold that for myself??? Lol.

So it has been pretty busy getting this business stuff done, getting a business registered, getting the name registered, getting a business PayPal (only way to pay so far, sorry), then getting hosting for a website, buying the domain name, and finally making the website and actually getting the shop working. Phew, but it's nearly done - to a rudimentary level. Let's hope it isn't all for nothing!!

I have an event to go to tonight at our Arts Centre. Our Executive Director of 3.5 years, the one who has been so good to me and given me casual work, is leaving suddenly and has a farewell tonight. I am pretty sad about it, it won't be the same without her, and my loyalty to the place slips a bit. If my business does take off, it means I have less reason to put in as many hours, as there are really only a couple of people I push myself to go in every week for - aside from the work itself. That is, when it is only volunteer work and not paid! Either way, I am very sad. I am wearing a nice black dress that should easily fit as I bought it when I was at my biggest and I have now lost a little over 6kg (nearly 14lbs) on my mission to become well enough and fertile enough to conceive and prove that doubting obstetrician wrong!!

Hope you are all well - or as well as can be. Take care, hugs and enthusiastic doggy smooches from Knightley.

Mud everywhere! A life reward for Knightley

10 months 2 weeks old

For being such a good boy yesterday Knightley had a treat today - what trainers call a 'life reward'. We went to a dog park we had never been to before, which is rather different to our usual one. It has separate small dog/large dog areas, and a muddy little stream running through both fenced in areas. It also has a bunch of pine trees and lots more to explore - simply lots of interest.

Sitting down in a massive pool of mud. He ended up being a
black faced, black legged dog. He certainly didn't look like his
normal beautiful cream colour!! And I only washed him earlier
this week!!!

He had some fun playing with the other dogs, running around exploring at first... and then he started discovering the mud. Oh dear. Really really oh dear. At first it was just the paws, but when two labs eventually joined him they started running back and forward along the muddy little stream getting absolutely disgusting. The final 'nail in the coffin' came when he started digging in a deep pool of slick mud, dipping his face right into the mud.... and then sat right down in it. Everyone watching just groaned. Hubby was in two minds of being horrified and finding it funny.

Digging in the mud. He was so so so very happy and pleased
with himself. He really deserved today. You can't even see his
head because it is so black with mud!

For me it was just great seeing him so carefree and having so much fun. I really didn't care that he was getting so dirty - although it just wouldn't have been possible before our new car. Although in the future we will be prepared for this dog park by bringing water and towels.... we didn't realise it came equipped with mud baths!! Anyway, he raced back and forward with the labs, getting more and more mucky and I thought sooner or later he would lie down in the mud. So we decided to leash him up and leave. But he was just too dirty to go in the car, so we walked the short distance down to the big central (and unfortunately very polluted) lake here in Canberra and Knightley had a quick dip to get the worst of the mud off. Then as soon as we got  home it was time for his second bath this week. I had heard that Golden Retrievers are drawn to mud like flies to honey but this was the first time that Knightley had access to real honest to goodness sticky gluggy mud - and he absolutely adored his time. He was still galloping round when we decided to go - I think he would have kept on going for ages.

His other muddy playfellow. Unfortunately Knightley with the
long fur got a much worse dose of mud..... or fortunately if
you asked Knightley!

I believe it is very important for dogs that are getting a lot of training, especially in public access training in high stress situations like supermarkets which Knightley had yesterday, that they have ample time to relax and just enjoy themselves. Dogs are dogs after all! If dogs do dream, which judging by the funny noises Knightley makes while he is sleeping he certainly does, he'll be dreaming about his wonderful day tonight. I also found a four leaf clover while I was there, so it was a good outing all round. Hopefully I will indeed get good luck!

A couple of days ago I received some top quality grain free, single meat ingredient kibble in the post. I plan to use it only for treats and in the Manners Minder, and Knightley actually loves it. So that's really great. I will minimise its use as much as possible but it's nice to know there is something there if I don't have time or the opportunity to cut up some raw meat. We've been working on his retrieve some more as it has become a little sloppy - sometimes when he picks up things for me he won't walk all the way towards me to put it in my hand, or he won't lift it right up to my hand level. It's going nicely in the training sessions though. I'm trying to keep our sessions short and upbeat so raise his enthusiasm level, especially with his recall, which has never been his most enthusiastic behaviour unfortunately. I'm also planning to start working on different types of retrieves - with his lips on delicate objects. His retrieve is one of his most important tasks for me so I want to train it well. Another thing I really want to work on is his mat behaviour. Specifically on the mat beside me while I am on my desktop computer. I want to look for a really portable mat to buy - one that would be easy enough to roll up and take with me to various places. He certainly knows what "on your mat!" means, but I want to extend his time on the mat from a minute or two to half an hour and more.

Anyway, all is going well.

Knightley a lovely boy, lots of offal, comments in lieu of posts, life been busy!

9 months 1 week 2 days old

Firstly, you may notice that I've played around with the design of the blog. Hope you like the change. Also, there are buttons DIRECTLY under each post where you can tell me whether you liked the post or not and more. Please use these as it will guide me in what I write. I take note of what posts I write get the most hits, but this would give me more direct feedback, as most people don't comment (hint, hint).

Things have been very busy, and I was pretty exhausted by my marathon of a last post.... so that partially explains the lack of posts. I've also been responding to a lot of comments recently, most notably to this one on raw feeding about the associated risks (or not) to humans, which I think are extremely minimal unless you are very ill with a compromised immune system and/or have very poor hygiene habits. Which was backed up by my GI specialist when I asked him about it. He actually told a funny story about a child of one of his doctor friends who kept on getting a mild stomach upset again and again, and came to him for answers. After a lot of investigation gave no answers, finally the child's mother caught her drinking from the dog's water bowl. He said something like water is likely to keep the nasties alive (anything wet really), whereas a bare surface isn't so good. Of course bacteria and viruses are another matter.

I've had to take down a few of my more popular posts, just in case anyone has been looking for them. I've been receiving a lot of spam pageviews (and I mean a lot), so I just took those pages down for the moment because it's only three posts and the guestbook that are being spammed. Rather odd, and even more odd that the spam is coming from Canada! Not what one gets to expect.

Knightley and I have done a little public training. We got permission to take him to a big factory outlet mall, and got our very first access challenge from security there, who asked if he was a pet. I mean really, did he look like one?? - he did have all his paraphernalia on. Thankfully due to having permission it was cleared up quickly. They also need to train their staff better that guide dogs aren't the only serving assistance dogs in the world. What if I'd had an invisible disability and Knightley was fully trained so I hadn't needed the permission? I also got assumed as blind for the 10000th time. People in Australia just aren't used to assistance dogs like people in North America are. The person in question actually asked if Knightley had accidentally led me into any light poles today... I mean... really! Anyway, he did well and was called cute/beautiful for the billionth time. We also managed to drop into a butcher and get brains, tripe (not green tripe, more's the pity, it isn't allowed to be sold by butchers in Australia), and spleen!!

I seem to be getting over what seemed to be a flare, and so have been volunteering some more at the Arts Centre. We took Knightley in for the first real time yesterday. He ducked inside the entry way once before months ago and found the ultra slippery floor difficult to manage because he was excited at the time. However yesterday he was good and we walked around the exhibitions briefly with him in control nicely. I'm proud of my boy - we just need to work on our task behaviours some more in public. When I asked him to hold my sunglasses while out at the factory outlet he dropped them instantly.... so I guess I need to take him up to the local shops with my clicker, sit down and just work on the basics of an assistance retrieve from the beginning.

Another thing I need to work on for him is when occasionally allowed to meet people in public for practice, instead of remaining in a sitting position, he will flop to the ground, wanting attention and a tummy rub...... not so good. Practice, practice, practice!

One thing I do love is the way people's faces light up when they see Knightley in a place they don't expect to see dogs. He gives other people joy just by being with me, and he gives me (and my husband too) so much joy in our day to day lives too.

9 months old today!

9 months old

I can't believe Knightley is 9 months old.... that's 3/4 of a year!! It isn't long at all until he's a year old. If I were a puppy raiser there wouldn't be all that much time left, assuming I was giving him up at a year old like with most programs.

It has been a good long while since I have posted many photos of Knightley, so today I went and took a bunch to record his 9 month birthday. All the photos can be enlarged by clicking on them. The main change recently has been in sheer bulk - he has really filled out in the chest and doesn't look all that much like a puppy anymore. His weigh in last weekend put him at 31kg (68lbs), so he's certainly getting up there in weight. The other change has been in his feathering and coat in general... especially his tail and hind legs. He is certainly going to be a well feathered and furred dog, as he is definitely very furry already!

These are a couple of photos comparing Knightley now to how he was at 14 weeks old.

Knightley today lying in much the same place as
he did nearly 6 months ago in the next photo.

Knightley all fuzzy and cute at 14 weeks old, lying in the same
place as the previous photo.

Knightley sitting today, 9 months old.

Knightley sitting at 14 weeks, he was so cute... what happened!

Knightley may not be so cute anymore, but he is becoming quite
  the handsome dog. Today was a beautiful day, it's really starting
to cool down here and the leaves on the deciduous trees are falling
(it's autumn in the southern hemisphere).

You can see in this photo how furry our Knightley is beginning to
get! Especially his tail and hind legs...! His coat won't be fully grown
until he's at least two years old, if not three years old.

Knightley gazing at birds as he sits in the sun.

Trotting around happily in the sun as I struggle to get a good
photo!

He's really really growing up now, as you can see. Very soon he will be a year old, it will be time for hip x-rays to check for signs of hip dysplasia, and I'll know if it's full steam ahead for more advanced training. I had heard of so many dogs owners that had horrible times at the 7-10 month old period, and I was worried that we would go through that with Knightley... especially because Knightley is still 'intact' so he is going through some pretty severe hormonal change at the moment. However, so far things are going well.

We still have some resource guarding issues, although they are less than previously. While he doesn't care at all if I put my hands near him if he is eating kibble (he has eaten kibble recently once or twice), big chunks of red meat are another matter (as he is raw fed), although we are working at it and things are definitely improving. Occasionally he'll also grab bits and pieces inside that house that he shouldn't have that he doesn't want to give up (although he is giving them to me more readily now). While I know how to deal with it, it's a little hard to convince the hubby to never just reach for whatever Knightley might have. Instead, I'm trying to get hubby to trade for whatever Knightley may have got.

We're doing lots of practice with assistance retrieves, and I think giving up items as part of a controlled retrieve gives him opportunity to get over this bit of resource guarding. He has absolutely no problem when it's part of his 'work', so I'll just keep practicing. He is getting really good at helping me when we're inside, and he's able to pick up all sorts of tricky items - although when he fails several times in a row on a new item he will starting barking with frustration (which is actually kind of amusing when you see the look on his face, ie. 'how DARE you defy me you stupid shiny flat thingy, why won't you just GET IN MY MOUTH ALREADY!!!'... the barks are mixed in with all sorts of moans and grumbles too, it can be so funny, it's like he's trying to talk - oh and the shiny flat thingy was a hand mirror he had trouble with yesterday). It stops when he figures out the item, though, and he's always seems to be happy to be able to work out how to pick it up more easily. To those people who still don't believe that animals have emotions... they should look at my teenage pup!

Anyway, it has been a wonderful 7 months with Knightley so far. He has made a huge difference to my life, and I'm looking forward to a lot more time with him.

The Knightley effect

This blog post has been written for the 7th Assistance Dog Blog Carnival! Please visit this page to access the rest of the Carnival and read more blog posts about the effect of assistance dogs on those people around them.

My husband and I brought home Knightley as a fluffy and very inquisitive Golden Retriever bundle at the age of 8 weeks in September last year, with the express aim of training him to be my assistance dog. I'd scoured most of the eastern half of Australia looking for a suitable litter, and I rejected 10 other male puppies before finally finding our Knightley, the last puppy to be temperament tested in a second litter. While he's only 9 months old now, he has already had a massive effect upon my life and indeed, my health; well before I thought he would.

As for a little background, I've been sick for nearly four years, the first year of which was pretty hellish as no one had any idea what was going on and I spent months in hospital. My specialist still doesn't quite know what I have - at first it was thought I likely had Lupus, but now he thinks I could have an 'auto-inflammatory' disease, which is similar to autoimmune, but much much rarer, and hard to diagnose and treat. I have mobility problems that vary in severity from day to day. When it became fairly obvious that I wasn't getting better in a hurry, I started looking for ways to make my life easier. I had trained my previous dog to a reasonable level, so I consumed vast quantities of literature on assistance dog training, clicker training and just training in general before realising training my own dog was indeed feasible.  I did research the option of seeking a dog from a training program, but for various reasons discounted it.

The effect of Knightley in those first couple of weeks in September last year was to cause me to almost rethink what I had done! Unfortunately, at first it was not exactly a positive effect. Previous to Knightley's arrival, if I felt too sick I would just stay in bed most of the day. However, an 8 week old puppy needs a lot of attention, and while I could manage a day or two like that... after a couple of weeks looking after a baby puppy I was just about falling asleep standing up and having to take a lot of medication to make it through every day. Raising a baby puppy is meant to be hard for people who are well, but for me, it was completely earth shatteringly exhausting. However, as I was so very tired, I didn't really notice that Knightley was effecting another change in me. When you have the luxury of lying around in bed feeling sick, that is what you do. With Knightley's arrival I gained structure. I simply *had* to get up and feed him, no matter how I felt. Then since I was already up, I had to play with him, I had to do that early training. I knew what was at stake in getting the right start for early puppy raising, so pushed myself despite my utter exhaustion and sickness.

Slowly Knightley's needs became less: the feedings went from four to three times a day and I didn't have to take him outside as often. As the exhaustion started slowly receding, I started realising what an effect he had already had on my life. Three or four weeks in he made me laugh and smile, stroking him distracted me from pain, the warmth of his little body eased cramps, and he gave me a reason to get up every day, no matter how awful I felt. We were doing a lot of training, just basic stuff that would one day be the basis for his assistance work for me. It was wonderful seeing him soak it all up, knowing that if everything worked out, he would truly be able to help me one day.

Things got better and better. His effect was felt in every facet of my life. Our training sessions gave me a real high when we worked well, and after he got all his shots, we took slow meandering walks together. He gave me a reason to get outside, whereas without him I would have just continued my pattern of not having been outside since I had got sick. I loved seeing his joy in discovering the world, and simply seeing him so happy always had a positive effect on my mood. The fact that I was his trainer, and would be his main trainer throughout all his learning, gave me a lot of inspiration to get going each day and get training. With every breakthrough we made, I got back self respect and self confidence that I had lost with the dramatic change in my life.

Around the time we got Knightley I started volunteering regularly at an arts organisation. I believe that if not for the structure having Knightley gave me, and the mental application I needed for his training, I would not have made a success of my volunteering like I did - especially somewhere where I actually had to use my brain. Having Knightley in my life had really helped prepare me for the workplace, and he wasn't even a working dog yet!

As we embarked on our training journey, writing my blog and participating in several forums and groups introduced me to an expansive network of dog owners and trainers. It has been great to share knowledge and learn new techniques from the many talented trainers out there in internet land. My blog has also got me writing again, which I used to enjoy a lot - both creative writing and nonfiction. The writing practice too has been good for going back to the workplace as I now do a lot of writing at the arts organisation. While actually owning and training Knightley has has its direct effect, having him around has meant refreshing other indirectly related skills that I haven't used for a while.

Anyway, about four weeks ago I decided the time had come to start some concentrated work on training the first steps of a formal assistance retrieve. Amazingly, within only five days, Knightley was able to pick up all sorts of objects on cue for me. I was absolutely thrilled, completely over the moon, because from that moment started the part of our journey in which Knightley starts truly affecting my life as a working dog - well before I was expecting it too. That won't just have an effect upon me, but also my husband and family as I get more and more independence.  Knowing Knightley is with me already gives my husband peace of mind and he worries less. I too feel much more confident when Knightley is with me, and I have only begun to train him to do the assistance tasks I intend for him to do. Assuming we become a successful assistance dog team, we will be unstoppable!

Now at 9 months old, Knightley goes into a few shops briefly with the permission of shop owners, and has been to a couple of loud busy events for further socialisation and some early public access training. He's not afraid of anything, is very happy to be out in public with people around, and is a cheerful, intelligent teenager growing up very quickly. I am thrilled with the choice I made in selecting him last September, as so far things are looking good. Aside from all the things Knightley does to make my life better, and the help he is beginning to give me, his sheer presence seems to make me healthier. I have not been admitted to hospital once since I got Knightley, due no doubt to my more active, structured and generally happier lifestyle. That is a huge benefit.

'The Knightley effect' is something I am incredibly grateful for, and I look forward to exploring what our future together may be.

Bath day, a public assistance retrieve, and perhaps a holiday coming up?

8 months 2 weeks 4 days old

We took it easy today, apart from a tiny bit of retrieve training. I haven't been feeling well.

However, with even the small amount of public access training we are doing it is important that Knightley stays clean - cleaner than a normal family pet. Before I take him inside anywhere we have permission to be (local shops, the airport the other day, the music festival and its venues) I give him a quick brush to collect any stray fur. Assistance/service dogs must have a higher standard of grooming than the normal pet dog, as they are going places where food is stored, prepared and where people might be that are allergic to dogs. The more I can reduce his shedding the better, and improve his general appearance too.

Knightley happy enough getting a good
wash. He has a lot more fur than he used to!

So, in light of all that, today was bath day. From the beginning of my bath training I have plied Knightley with treats. His very first bath he got buckets of roast chicken! Today we saw this pay off. He was almost happy to be there! He was still a little stiff when it came to turn him around, but compared to his first bath he's come a long way. We are using a do it yourself dog wash place near here - unless he's filthy and just has to be washed at home - and it's very handy and saves my back.

I'm just amazed at the power of positive training like this. Knightley could have been taught to put up with baths in a more 'traditional' style of training, but not be happy with them. My previous dog, Clipsy, hated baths completely and absolutely. It is a shame that only now do I know how I could have made them a lot more pleasant for him.

Knightley, still quite wet and rather excited outside the pet
store where he can't focus on anything at all due to memories
of puppy play!

One thing we have a problem with at the place we are taking Knightley for his baths.... is it's the same place he did his puppy preschool. I think he still remembers the excitement, and getting anything like a loose leash when entering is pretty much impossible. What I need to do is spend like half an hour there going in and out and click/treating constantly for him being beside me. I have to say, our loose leash on a flat collar is not going fast anywhere at the moment - except when he's in his vest, and then he is much better at it. Explain that to me anyone?!

From a bit of a funny angle, but showing Knightley all wet.
You can see his build more clearly. He has so much more bulk
on him these days. Not fat, but just... size. We meant to weigh
him at the pet store, but forgot until he was all half wet, and that
would have been quite a wrong reading. I am guessing about
30kg (66lbs). Definitely not a baby anymore!

I dropped a receipt at the pet store today and got Knightley to pick it up for me. Our first real useful in public retrieve! I am just so happy he can do this at this age - I really wasn't expecting it for a good few months yet.

I've been talking with hubby about the possibility of going away for a weekend in a couple of weeks time, and taking the pup with us. It's one thing that Knightley hasn't done... a longer car trip and nights away someplace with us. There's a farmstay place right near the South Coast of NSW (New South Wales, one of our states, for those of you who don't know.... I live in a very small 'territory', like a state, called the Australian Capital Territory, which is completely surrounded by NSW) that I have been itching to go to for a long while. We meant to go before hubby left for England but it didn't pan out. The farm also has a bunch of working border collies who are also pets, and livestock, which Knightley needs to get some exposure to - judging by his response to cows at the agricultural show we took him to a month or two back!! So hopefully we'll be going in the next couple of weeks, and Knightley can also experience a beach for the first time. In the mean time, his bath is the only water he is getting today. ;)

Good trip to shopping centre, annoying people, retrieve training great!

8 months 2 weeks 3 days old

So today Knightley, husband and I had a short trip to our local big shopping centre. I just wanted to buy some socks, and have permission to take Knightley in, so we made it a training visit.

As I was about to cross the road to enter the building, for the second time now someone thought I was blind and was worried I was about to walk into some cars. I had Knightley in his vest so I guess they just assumed he was a guide dog. Assistance dogs here in Australia are still pretty few and far between compared to places like the US and Canada. Anyway, so we crossed the road after arranging to meet my husband inside (so I wouldn't have to walk in from the parking lot, even though I have a disabled parking pass, it would have meant a significantly longer walk). Knightley and I walked in nice and smoothly through the sliding doors. I know some dogs have problems with sliding doors, but when Knightley was a baby puppy I spent a lot of time hanging around some sliding doors near our small local shops, so he got really really used to them. Now he just doesn't seem to notice. So he walked through smoothly. I do notice though, when we change surfaces from outside to inside (eg concrete to polished floors or carpet), he sometimes tries to start pulling. I don't know why this is - maybe it's partly coming into an area with lots of interesting people. What I need to do is find some sliding doors with a surface change underfoot that aren't used very much, and go in and out and in and out, rewarding him when he sticks with me, and backing up if he tries to rush ahead.

Anyway, we got inside and there were quite a few people around, it being a Saturday morning. So I stuck to the outskirts and walked slowly around with him. As he settled down to his usual assistance dog plod we started to walk more in crowded areas. I stopped several times and asked for sits and the occasional eye contact. I also got him to hold my sunglasses several times, which he did nicely. We then went into the shop I wanted to go to, which is where the hubby joined me. He did sniff a bit at some clothes as we went past, which wasn't great. I think I may need to train a 'no sniff' cue, as he tends to be a 'nosey' dog. I found the socks I was looking for and hubby went to buy them so I could concentrate on Knightley. We did a nice smooth exit out of the shop and continued our slow walk around the area. He is great on polished floors, doesn't mind them one bit.

I do however have problems with him when people reach for his head (despite a no touch, in training patch on his vest). He will ignore touches on any part of his body except for his head. I tend to fairly sharply say 'leave it!' and that stops not only Knightley but also the people who were about to touch him. It isn't exactly tactful, but I am really talking to Knightley, and that is his cue! However, I need to get him to the point where the cue isn't needed and he won't respond to people reaching for him. It makes me really annoyed that people do it despite three patches saying no touching. Also kids that aren't under control of their parents, and who just come over and start touching him... that drives me mad too. Knightley is a young dog and just starting this type of training. He is certainly not un-distractable at this stage, and I wish parents would heed the patches on his vest because Knightley has a lot to learn still and having kids like that just doesn't help at all. I guess sometimes they figure that 'special' dogs are never going to hurt their children, and it won't hurt the dog to be patted by a child. Knightley isn't doing much for me now obviously, but over time I hope he will do more and more. Having him distracted will impact upon that work, and having him distracted now will mean he doesn't get the practice focusing in public like I want him to.

We then walked back to the car, through the shopping centre. He walked very nicely with his plod plod plod wag wag wag. It's nice when I see him in a reflection and can see how much he enjoys being out with me in public places by his general body language. Judging by how he is at this young age he is going to deal wonderfully well with the stress of public access work, although he isn't doing much at the moment obviously, compared to what I would see as ideal for our future together. Still, the reason a lot of assistance dogs don't make it to the end of their training is because they can't cope with public access stress, and Knightley just loves it at the moment. He is also the most bombproof dog I have ever seen, he's literally afraid of nothing. We took him through a carwash with us today and he just lay next to me panting gently eating the treats I offered. He was absolutely fine, not a moment of worry.

We continue our retrieve training. I'm getting him to hold things in public. A couple of days ago outside the shops we did some work with the dumbell. Just holds, with and without me. I'm not asking him to pick up anything yet as I am re-teaching it from the beginning, as you should whenever you significantly change a behaviour. He is doing good holds though. I am trying to get him to pick up my crutches at home - not entirely, but just raise one end so that I can snag it. However, he really is quite wary of them for some reason. I am focusing on nose bops for now, to get him used to touching the crutches, as well as some more standard classical conditioning (eg scattering food around the crutches, holding a crutch behind my back, bringing it into view and feeding him treats, hiding it away and the treats stop). He is certainly improving, but as soon as the crutches move suddenly he becomes a little more shy. I can't remember ever accidentally hitting him or putting one down on a foot or anything, so I am not sure why he is so wary. Anyway, I'll work at it.

I'm also getting him to pick up the handle of my handbag, and that is going a lot better than with the crutches. We do sometimes have problems as he stands on the handle strap and then finds he can only pick up it a few cm off the ground! I could shape him to pick it up elsewhere on the handle, near the bag itself, but then when he picked it up he would have to take quite a bit of weight of the handbag itself, which isn't good for a dog. So I'm not sure! We'll work at it. Maybe I can teach him not to stand on the handle strap.I'm also starting a wallet/purse retrieve, but we're starting with a nose bop. I'd like to actually use a cheapie replacement to train with so that Knightley doesn't ruin mine! I think his mouth is quite soft (he is a golden retriever, after all!) but I haven't actually tested it with an object. The classic test is with a raw egg, but if he breaks it he may decide he likes that test and break them deliberately if I try it again. He gets a raw egg 4-5 times a week afterall. I could do a boiled egg I guess, but there must be other ways to test how gentle his mouth is.

I am actually using him to pick up stuff for me as a reasonable matter of routine now. I am motioning with my feet to what I want him to pick up (assuming I didn't just drop it, in which case it's obvious to him). I'd like to start training a laser pointer retrieve, but that's certainly not going to be child's (or puppy's!) play. It would be very useful though, especially if I were in a wheelchair and couldn't use my feet.

So things are going well, except I am very very tired at the moment and sleeping very poorly. It's lovely to have the husband back here though, life is so much fuller and easier with company and a helper. Although I still miss not having Knightley on the bed!

Tiring but great Easter weekend, Knightley's a star!

8 months 2 weeks old


So the Easter weekend ended up a great experience for Knightley. As I mentioned in my last post, I had intended to take him to the Folk Festival I was attending only on Easter Monday, but instead took him for a couple of hours on both Saturday and Sunday... and did indeed take him again on Monday as he was full of beans on Monday morning and definitely raring to go. There were so many firsts he experienced at the Festival.  By the end of Monday applause didn't even wake him up during a performance, even though the first time he heard applause he looked around, rather shocked, trying to see where the noise was coming from!

We did have some trouble with flies. He really doesn't like them buzzing around his head (they don't bite, just so you know!) and can't really stop himself from snapping at them - and he caught more than one! I can see this becoming a problem in his working life, as we do have a lot of flies here in Australia, although they do drop off in the cooler months. With this in mind I asked for help on the assistancedogs Yahoo Group I am on and got some good suggestions for dealing with fly problems, so we'll see how that goes. We've had problems with them before at places like outdoor cafes, so I'm sure they will remain a problem during his working life.

One really great thing that happened was I managed to get in some training with the St John Ambulance (SJA) people at the Festival. They are volunteers doing the medical care for all the people attending, and there were quite a few volunteers there, about eight. I read a story recently on the assistancedogs Group I just mentioned about a person with an assistance dog who fell down a steep hill and broke her arm badly. The ambulance team responding tried to get close and separate her and her dog so they could give emergency care, but the dog had got very distressed due to its owners pain and refused to let anyone close let alone go with the paramedics. It got quite vicious, and it had *never* been vicious before.

So I made it a priority for my last day at the Festival to leave Knightley with the SJA people for a minute or so with treats so that he would get that association of medical smells, uniforms and friendly people. They were a bit busy with people when I first approached them, so they asked if I could wait five minutes or so... and then I came back. All of them gathered around and after a brief explanation I left Knightley with them and went around the side of their tent well out of earshot. It felt very strange to leave him and I felt naked and anxious that he would be happy with them. Upon my return he seemed relaxed and happy enough to be with them. Apparently he heard my crutch on the ground as I came back and was definitely waiting for me to appear! Then one of the volunteers said he edited their local newsletter and asked if I would mind having a photo of me and Knightley taken with one of their members for the newsletter. So here we are on Festival day! Knightley is a star!

Knightley, me and a St John Ambulance volunteer medic at the National
Folk Festival here in Canberra.

Now all the excitement of the last couple of weeks is over I think we are just going to take it nice and easy for the next while. I am very very sore after all the walking I did with Knightley during the Festival, even though I spent a good part of the Festival in the wheelchair. I'm actually looking at getting a new wheelchair because I got my current one when I'd only been unwell for a short while and just went for a cheap option. Now I'm more interested in a higher quality, lighter option that Knightley and I could use together and that he could pull a bit when he is fully grown and his joint are completely fused.

We had a good retrieve session last night. Knightley picked up sneakers, sandals, paper, plastic lids, his leash, harness and my keys and more that I can't remember. I tried to get Knightley to put his mouth at least on my crutches as a precursor to lifting them up so I can get a hold of them, but I've discovered he is scared of them a bit!! So I have some work to do on counter conditioning so as to make him not afraid of them. I did get him to bop them with his nose, but he was still reluctant... so I think I will back up a step or two and get him more comfortable.

That's all for me now, time to actually do something today!

Wonderful public training, retrieving awkward objects, hubby back!

8 months 1 week 4 days old

Firstly, for those who missed it, I have a brand new Facebook page, at https://www.facebook.com/DownunderAssistanceDog. Do go ahead and join the page to get my updates about what Knightley and I are up to on a day to day basis, especially when I don't have the energy for a big post here. Also, if you ever want to contact me for any reason, it's a great way to do it.

I'm trying out a new 'thing' on my blog... bolding important phrases and words, so that you can scan an entry and see what is important, what has happened, and get the training messages quickly. Gimme a yell if you hate it!

The last couple of days have been pretty full on for both me and Knightley! Hubby came home from his 3.5 week trip to England on Easter Friday, and Knightley went to the airport with us having got permission to take him inside. It was his first time to the airport, and was his first time for several other things. He'd never been on a lift before (that went REALLY well! My dad and I repeatedly told him what a wonderful dog he was while we were in there), he'd never been on super polished floors and he was great with those, he'd certainly never seen moving baggage and that gave him pause.... but he was fascinated, not scared! I think he wanted to jump onto the baggage carousel too. He'd never heard loud announcements, and his head whipped around at first when the first one came over the PA system, looking for the source of the sound. Which obviously he couldn't find..... With strange noises and dogs, it is best to just act as if the noise is completely normal and then your dog will accept it as normal too. If you go "oh poor dog, I know, you just got a big fright, are you ok??", then your dog is likely to start getting an issue. Just act as if the noise is normal and your dog will believe it is. Once Knightley saw that I believed the announcements were no threat, he started more or less ignoring them. My husbands plane was late, but Knightley was pretty good (not ideal, shifted around a bit too much) and just rested in a down by my feet. All the work with down stays and relax has been worth it! Once again I felt like a bit of a tourist attraction, with soooo many people looking at Knightley. I can see that when Knightley is fully trained and with me all the time I will get a lot of attention from him. He gets a lot of comments about how beautiful he is, and I would have to agree. :)

Knightley was very happy to see hubby, but wasn't completely unprofessional in his welcome. We did have a bit of a slip up.... everyone was clustered around getting their bags and hubby got his smaller one and threw it towards us. It landed with quite a bang and obviously shocked Knightley quite a bit.... to the point he let out a small rather surprised bark! I was amazed... he hasn't barked before in public like that. So I told him to 'leave it!', and immediately turned around and we walked away from everyone. So that blotted his perfect record. As we were leaving I stopped at the only patch of grass outside and gave him his pee cue, and it worked immediately. What a good dog! A family was right beside the grass and saw me with Knightley, and was completely amazed. "Oh wow.... how did you do that....??! I wish my dog did that!" the mother said. I just responded that it was part of his training and was indeed very useful.

Learning to pick up my sunnies (sunglasses) where I want him to.
 I don't want him to pick them up on the lenses and leave slobber
so I am spending some time teaching him where I want him to put
his mouth. He seems happy enough to play along! When I
compare his behaviour to how he first was when I started retrieve
training there is a *huge* difference. There is almost no comparison.
He's such a good good boy.

That night after hubby came home he went to bed rather early, so we did a bunch of retrieve training with some semi delicate objects. We practiced getting Knightley to pick things up in certain places on the object. For instance, I don't want him to pick my sunnies (sunglasses) up by their lenses.... for while they are not expensive sunnies, I don't want to be seeing through drool when I come to pick them up! So I want him to learn to pick them up on the long arm thingo. So I got him to hold them first maybe 6-7 times, in the place I wanted him to pick them up. Then I started lowering them towards the floor. I would very deliberately offer the part I wanted him to hold, so that he never took the wrong part.

Retrieving a lid, which he has got a lot better at. He struggled
with anything flat at first, but now he seems to be able to
manage most of the time. He will hold it for a good long time
until I am ready to take it, and will hold it with me until I tell him
'thank you!' and then finally, he will let go. It really does come
quite naturally to him. We are slowly starting to very occasionally
do a retrieve without a treat reward, although I will do something
else instead, usually play with a toy or just make a huge fuss of
him.

However, if he did (he has on other objects), I would just wait it out until he released the object and not reward him for it, then give the retrieve cue again ('get it!') with my hand over everything but where I want him to hold. I'd do a couple of short holds, not even letting go, offering the object, then 'thank you!' and he releases, then treating him. I would slowly reduce what my hand covers until he is still holding the right place despite being offered the whole object. Then I'd start letting him get some good long holds by himself, then start  lowering the object towards the floor again before each hold until it was on the floor but I had one hand on it. If at any time he wouldn't reach and hold it on cue, then I would go backwards a step or two and make it easier for him. This is one of the keys of dog training!! Don't be afraid to go back a couple of steps when things aren't going quite right.... or even right back to basics!

Then I put the sunnies on a flat surface at his chest height, all folded up except for one arm open, and asked him to get them. He did, then swung around and gave them to me. Very nice. We did that several times, and then I slowly opened out the sunnies, only paying for retrieves where he picked it up via the arm. Then I put it on another flat surface, close to the floor, with the arms open, and we did a couple more retrieves... and then the floor. Next time I will work on having him things up that I drop before the session... which is our problem at the moment. He will pick things up after I nudge them a bit with my toe to show him what I want picking up... but it takes a little while, and a fair bit of encouragement.

The last several days I've been at the National Folk Festival, with stacks of venues with all sorts of amazing performers from all over the world, awesome food, all sorts of stalls selling clothes, jewelry and all sorts, and lots of lovely food. There's one more day to go and then it's time to recover! I've spent most of my time in my wheelchair getting pushed this year, as my health took a little dip pre-Festival (see post about coming back from shops with Knightley). However, I got permission to take Knightley for public access training and socialisation, so he's gone with me for a couple of hours on one day and a few on another, and while I've had Knightley with me I've walked with my crutch slowly. He has been a VERY good boy!! He has experienced lots more firsts, like at the airport, such as applause, live music, walking beside me in a wheelchair (wasn't for long), lying still for events (needs practice) and having a grass floored venue that must be treated as a normal floor (if you're a regular reader you know that Knightley is a massive grass fan!! It was hard....).

What a fantastic learning experience it has been. I have really seen what Knightley and I need to work on in the coming months. Lots of zen, zen, zen, zen, until it is default and matter of fact. There was quite a bit of food on the ground, and Knightley was good at the beginning of the Festival, but then once or twice ate something from the ground... which is a *huge* no no (there was so much though!). That rather spelt doom. He obeyed me if I told me to 'leave it'... but there was so much stuff on the ground that I couldn't keep saying it continuously, and unfortunately it being the beginning of autumn here, there were leaves on the ground too which *looked* like food, so he wanted to check out every little leaf too. So default food on ground zen is something we need to work on badly. If he hadn't got himself that one or two pieces of food originally then I think we would have been ok, but after that every leaf was a potential snack, sigh. Anyway, lots of work to do!

I can't decide whether to take him back for the last day or not. Every day is another learning experience, and he isn't getting too tired because he is dozing a bit during some of the performances - especially the ones in the dark venues. Also, the last day is a lot quieter than the others. However, I don't want to burn him out as these are some big experiences for a young dog. Either way he is going to have a good long break from any public socialisation and training. Lots of walks and dog park visits for the foreseeable future I think.

Good boy Knightley!!! What a dog!

8 months 1 week 1 day old

So, I went up to the shops this morning (I live very close to my local shops) with Knightley, to get a prescription filled and do some socialisation training. However, I pretty seriously overestimated my energy reserves, because on the way out of the shops after I'd done what I needed to do, the efforts of the last couple of days caught up with me. I started having some serious trouble just putting one step in front of each other and my body was cramping up and in serious pain. I had hooked the foam handle to his training vest before we left, not to use it but just so Knightley could get used to its presence. But when I started to go into exhaustive collapse, I needed Knightley to help get me home. Someone came up to me just outside the shops and asked if I needed help - obviously I looked pretty bad - but I said my dog would help me get home. Unfortunately it got harder the further I went. The great thing is, he did help me. I used the handle and he gave me a little pull the whole way home. He was slow, and very patient as I was stopping really often. Whenever I stopped he leant against my leg and looked up at me. He really knew what was going on. I think if he hadn't been with me I could have had a bit of a panic attack which happens occasionally in situations like that where I feel utterly helpless. When we finally got home I gave him a big hug and told him thank you like a hundred times. He just panted gently, looked up into my eyes and wagged slowly.

What a good dog!!!!! I can't use Knightley to pull me much at all until he is at least 18 months old and he has stopped growing, otherwise I could risk damaging his joints. But when I am desperate for a bit of help, he's there for me. He was wonderfully behaved inside the shops, and we did a good bit of backing up in real world situations, which went really well too. I am just feeling so lucky to have him in my life today, and he gave me a glimpse of what is to come in 8-9 months.

We had a fantastic retrieve session last night as well. He is making great progress on picking up things like lids straight from the ground, which takes some precision and practice as it's quite tricky. I just have to stop him pawing them, as he does that occasionally to try to get them in a better position to pick them up. I am really proud of what he has achieved.

My legs are still absolutely killing me, so I think I'm going to have a rest now.

Fantastic retrieve training, paw targeting and my favourite new halter

8 months 3 days old

Knightley holding his dumbell nicely. He can
hold things for 15-20 seconds easily on cue,
and when we are on a walk he will happily hold
a stick for 5 or even 10 minutes. He's definitely
a holdy dog.

So, I am happy to report that Knightley is still doing just awesomely with his retrieve training. I am getting good solid long holds, and we are working on him picking up all sorts of objects for me. He has problems picking up things like plastic lids which are too flat for him to get an easy purchase on. Maybe he needs to use the technique they teach for dogs to pick up credit cards with using their tongue to lift it a bit. Maybe I'll try clicking for seeing tongue contact tomorrow (wait until I see his tongue contact the plastic, then I click/treat immediately before he has even picked it up, so that he learns to use his tongue with certain objects). Either way, he often can't get it up, and starts pawing it frustratedly. It sometimes happens with pieces of paper too, leaving the paper worse for wear!! With everything else though, he is doing really well. His holds are in the correct place, just behind the two canines, as you can sort of see in the second dumbell photo. Dumbells are good practice for picking things up, because they kind of force him to pick it up in the middle (good practice for balancing awkward items), and are comfortable for him to hold because they are purposely made for this, and fit nicely behind his canines.

Showing the correct hold position, directly behind the pair of
canines, which is a good secure position to hold something,
and is comfortable for the dog.

It's important that I don't do too much practice with the dumbell. People that were training for obedience and not assistance work would just use the dumbell and nothing else, but in my case it's real world items I want Knightley to pick up. I don't want to do obedience or dogsports, I want him to make my life a bit easier. So we do gloves, spoons, pens and pencils, plastic lids and containers, pieces of paper, letters, his leash (I will train that to a specific cue) and really anything I can think of. He is doing very well and I am very happy and proud of him. It is amazing how fast he has picked it up since I started concentrating on it. It does show the temperament testing I did on him did seem to get it right!

The Infin8 halter from Black Dog. The black part with the two
D rings is where your leash clips onto. You can clip the two
D rings together, or undo the clip to take the collar off very
easily. The thick red part of the halter is the other side of the
adjustable collar that goes around the front of the dogs neck.
The thin red part is the adjustable strip that you wrap under
your dogs muzzle, then over it, then back under it and clip it
to the clip you see in the bottom of the photo. It makes a figure
of 8 when you view your dogs head from below. 

 I am very happy with the new Infin8 halter I got for Knightley. It is my firm favourite out of the Gentle Leader (a rather heavy handed, overly firm halter) and the Comfort Trainer (better, but still bothered Knightley quite a lot). For those of you who have tried halters and think your dog just can't tolerate them, take a peak at Black Dog. They are an Australian company who ships overseas, make a bunch of fantastic quality dog gear, aimed at dogsport people, and I am truly impressed with their Infin8 halter. It is different to any halter I have ever seen - really it's a mixture of a collar and a halter, and it allows a transition back to a collar better than any halter I've seen before. It is a clever design too, when your leash tightens, the collar tightens (it is a martingale collar), and the figure of 8 halter also tightens (also almost a martingale.... one side of the halter is on a running O ring). As soon as the tension is released, the nose band becomes quite lose, as does of course the collar part. The leash attaches to the collar.

Knightley with the Infin8 halter on. I got the red colour
because dogs see red very badly. If they had sold a tan
colour I would have got that, but the red has been fine,
actually. Visual disturbance is one of the reasons
why dogs don't like halters.

When your dog has been wearing the halter for a while you can start to loosen the long muzzle strap until it is extremely loose, and the dog is reacting almost entirely to the collar pressure. It doesn't matter at all if the looseness causes the noseband part to come off as the dog has a secure collar on as part of the halter. When
the dog is used to functioning without the noseband doing anything much, then it's time to slowly go back to your collar. This is partly why I think this halter is so superior - it actually helps your dog learn to walk on a collar, as well as give good head control.

Knightley with only the collar part of the Infin8 halter done up.
The part that goes around his muzzle is shown laid out with the
clip at the end. You can see the martingale D rings at Knightley's
neck where you clip the collar to. These things are what makes
this halter so different from others I have seen and used.

It's actually quite impressive how much more Knightley likes this halter than the other two. From the beginning, there was very very little pawing at it. With the GL and the CT, if I took the leash off him and left him alone he would begin pawing at the noseband until he got it off. With the Infin8 he just completely leaves it alone. So, I will continue to use it until Knightley is not pulling at all around children, other dogs and birds, and then I will slowly loosen the noseband until it may as well not be there. Then I think I will transfer him to a martingale collar from Black Dog. Why, you may ask? Well, firstly I *love* the quality of the halter, and they have lovely martingales too. But if I get a red martingale, it will nearly be identical to the halter, just minus the long wrap around bit. So it could well evoke those no pull memories. I like the safety of martingales too. When they first came out, people used them as a sort of more humane choke collar.... using them to leash pop, but doing less damage to the dogs throat and trachea. These days they are basically seen as a collar dogs can't get out of, even if they try to back out, because they tighten if the dog puts pressure on the leash. However, unlike a choke chain, they can only tighten so far, and they are made of comfortable nylon. The martingale that is part of the Infin8 has great shiny black nylon (see first photo) which means as soon as the dog releases the tension, the collar and halter are instantly loose, and much looser than a normal flat collar. It is great feedback for the dog. So, that's the plan.

The other thing I've been doing is refreshing Knightley's paw targeting. I was quite cryptic before about training an assistance skill I don't need but that would be fun to have. What I am going to do is train him to turn on a foot light (one of those ones that has a round switch that you turn on with your foot) with his paw. We haven't been doing much paw targeting for a while, so at first it was just basic stuff, getting him to target my hand, then a plastic lid, then eventually the switch. He isn't putting any weight on it yet, which he is definitely going to have to do... and I'm not sure how to do that, so I'll have to think about that.

A little bird told me about this documentary (which I am going to watch soon) that talked about the fact that 75% of successful guide dogs are 'right pawed'.... ie like humans, dogs too often have a dominant paw. I knew Knightley had one but couldn't remember which one it was until I did a bit of testing and observations.... and it is indeed the right. I guess this is a good thing, although assistance/service dogs need quite different skills to a guide dog. It's interesting that dogs have a dominant paw though. I always found it hard to get Knightley to paw things with his other foreleg, so I had wondered, but I thought it could have been due to my training just getting him stuck in a rut!

Hubby back in 6 days! Knightley is going to be happy and unhappy all at once..... he's going to lose his sleeping platform lol.....!