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.

Stunning drawing of my assistance dog mobility harness plans!

10 months 2 weeks 1 day old

So, I'm lying in bed right now at 20 to 4 in the middle of the night on my laptop writing this. I've been fiddling with designs for a heavy duty mobility harness, which I wouldn't consider manufacturing for a good little while - if ever. Having said that, it would be nice to have it on the market and have that option.......

Anyway, I thought my absolutely stunning artwork deserved to be shared with the world at large. Do keep in mind that I did this on my laptop in complete darkness on a trackpad!

My plan for a mobility harness. It would be a Y chested harness, with
padded nylon straps, a padded cordura saddle, D rings for a foam or
padded webbing handle, and a static handle for balance and support.
It would have the additional belly strap that sits just behind the chest
for additional stability. It would also have a padded cordura chest plate,
for safer more comfortable pulling. This harness could feasibly be used
for limited wheelchair pulling.

I think the smile is quite delightful! It really did come out quite horse like, but I was aiming for a golden retriever, lol.

The only Y chest mobility harness I know of is the Bridgeport harness, which has a reasonable amount of negative feedback. I'd really like to give another option, and if I can make it a reasonably cheap harness, that would give another cheaper option (unlike the nearly $400 Bold Lead harness, plus $50+ for postage to Australia). The only thing I am stuck on as part of the design is what to make the static handle out of. At the moment I am thinking aluminium would be easiest, but I would have to get it custom fabricated for me and I have absolutely no idea how expensive that type of thing is. The other possibility is plastic, and that has more possibilities perhaps - I don't know whether it would need fabricating in one piece or whether it could be somehow made into that shape with three bits..... So as you can see it would be a more complicated design than the others I am planning. It could possibly be the most popular though.

Anyway, while I am writing a fairly frivolous post anyway, I may as well say that I actually have a confession to make. I've been spying on you. Blogger comes equipped with some basic monitoring software to let you know who is visiting your site, but I've been using some more advanced stuff for the last couple of months. They just updated their software and it has made me realise I actually have quite a few regular readers from all over the place.

Mostly I find this revelation really nice. I just wish you would all come out of the woodwork and say hello. Some of you out there are reading for months, often, and just keep to yourselves! I am glad you enjoy reading my ramblings and looking at horrible drawings of dorses (dog/horse), but Knightley really likes it when I pass on hugs from his fan club, so don't be shy.

Ooops just dozed off for a bit there. I actually have more success sleeping sitting up than lying down these days, I think it's just a less painful position.

Anyway, time to try sleeping properly again! Hope you enjoyed the dorse, and I hope you don't mind a bit of spying.... it helps me produce a better blog.

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.

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!

Wish me luck! Temperament testing time again, dog alerting to migraines?

Pre pickup 7 weeks old

So we're off on our temperament testing jaunt tomorrow. Cross fingers this time we find the puppy we want. All this travelling, extra nights everywhere has turned it into a rather exhausting not to mentioned expensive venture! It will all be worth it if in 9 days I bring home what I hope will turn out to be my assistance dog. I have to keep up my standards though. I know that if they aren't suitable - then they aren't suitable. I can't just hope and take a semi ok puppy. I want to start with the best possible blank canvas. The pup will certainly change as he grows up, but so long as I start with a pup with no perceivable problems and lots of positives at least I am giving myself the best shot at this.

I have Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt to finish on the trip, and also Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening our Relationship with Dogs by Suzanne Clothier. I'm not going to take a novel, just to make sure I read doggy stuffs.

I've also been wondering about the possibility of the dog alerting to my migraines. I know it's a bonkers idea, but I can actually trigger a migraine if I want (lol lol lol lol never thought I would *want* one lol lol lol), so I've been wondering whether I could train some sort of alert. I was reading about how they get people to breath on a cotton swab when their blood sugar is very low in order to train diabetic alert dogs (then bag and freeze the swab for training in the future). I guess I would have to actually *get* a migraine to train with it. It's a bonkers idea, but I could probably maybe abort the migraine if I knew it was coming with medication. My migraines are primarily cervico-genic (ie, caused by neck problems), so by doing certain things to my neck I usually cause a migraine. Would it be worth it to cause a series of minor migraines in order to train an alert? Is it even possible??? I'm not sure.

Please let me know if you have any knowledge of training alerts like this. Is it possible, or am I going to have to rely on innate alerting behaviour that may or may not be there in the particular dog? I will definitely train migraine response, as sometimes they are very bad.... but alerting is a whole other ball game.

I've also been thinking about my many medical appointments, and taking the dog to them. Australia doesn't have anything like the ADA hotline like the US does. There is no one to phone to find out my rights. I find myself going to appointments, often at hospitals maybe twice a month. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I wonder how people here in this country would take that. Especially considering this dog would be owner trained. I've *never* seen an assistance dog in a hospital. Come to that, I've never seen an assistance dog here at all. My husband saw one in our local shops the other day, so they do exist. I'd definitely have some fights on my hands, taking it into medical surrounds. I guess I would put together a laminated sheet to educate people, and possibly a small batch of 'handouts' so I can show the relevant parts of the Disability Discrimination Act. I don't much look forward to that part though.

The thing that gets my blood boiling however, is that owner trained dogs can't travel in the cabin of planes in this country (well, very occasionally they can travel on Qantas, but you have to have stellar qualifications as a trainer). I know that there are some challenges to that under way, but without some sort of countrywide PAT (public access test) for owner trained teams, I can't see us being allowed in the cabins.

Anyway, enough of me complaining for now, I have stuff to do so that we can get away tomorrow afternoon. I have changed my volunteering day to Friday, so that means we will be short on time tomorrow for getting ready to leave, so I better finish up stuff now!

Wish me luck!!!

Deposit on new litter, dispirited at program self-righteousness

Pre pickup 4 weeks 5 days old


Well, the good news is the deposit is down on the next litter. And I am high, if not at the top, on the priority list. So I should be good with getting my choice of puppy. The only problem is I may have to go to the Hunter Valley to test/pick up the puppy!! We'll see, it depends on timing really.

I have had some feedback from some experienced assistance/service dog trainers on my temperament testing, and it seems it was pretty good - so I just have to repeat it times 8 for this coming litter. I am assuming there will be some quick exclusions though, like with the first puppy I tested this last time. It was obvious he was completely wrong for me!

Despite that side of things going well, and feeling good about the directions I am going with my research and planning, I am feeling dispirited by the low number of owner trainers in this country, and how the programs - and in particular one program - completely dominates the assistance dog world in Australia. I don't think it's a good thing at all. When looking up information on laws, guidelines, training etc in Australia, all you do is find information on this one program. Not only that, they hold themselves to be the most brilliant program in the world, and everyone that doesn't uphold their exact standards (owner trainers would find it necessarily impossible to, so must come under this heading) are worthless. To the program trainer assistance and guide world here in Australia, owner trainers (OTs) seem to be slimy scum from the bottom of a slurry-like green stinking toxic pond, or at least that is general view! I am afraid that unless OTs continue persist and believe that it is possible to train their own dogs, and the government doesn't actually start to make it easier, then eventually we will stop fighting for individuality and just wait our 2-4 years for a program dog from THE program.

Calling all those with Owner Trained Assistance Dogs in Australia

So as the title says, if you're out there PLEASE comment. I'm a member of quite a few yahoo groups and forums to do with dog training and assistance/service dogs, and on one of them, there is a brave person trying to do something about the lack of recognition by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of owner trained dogs. At the moment dogs that are program trained (at least, by the main big programs) can travel on any airline in Australia with basically no questions asked, but owner trained dogs have a much harder, and often impossible road to follow. Basically it's on a case by case basis, and you have no guarantee of being able to prove your dog is sufficiently trained, so they tend to not approve owner trained dogs on principal. If only they could institute like a trainer in each region of the country who could do a relatively brief test to make sure the dog is trained, then they could get a lifelong flight passport or something. I mean, there aren't a huge number of us - yet.