Wet Dog

Today we went for a walk to the river, I love this place, such an ideal spot for a spot of sniffing the grass, hedges and where feet have been. But best of all is all the play mates I find when I get to go in the river; which is more like a stream with access into it by a muddy slope.

Today was best of all though, my human owner came in with me and paddled with me up to her knees to get to the middle huge boulder; and 'set up camp' there. We took a snappy there, I made sure my human owner was as wet as me by the time we left; would of been rude to not include her:

We took a lovely one of us together also, but not for public viewing.

Once we got home, Human owner made me all wet once again; I had just started to dry again. With a thing called a shower. How dare she?! Although I was very good and stood very patiently for her to rub in my oatmeal shampoo, and rinse it all out; then I had a comb too. I love having a pamper.

But there was that wet dog smell again.

Its part of summer when you live in the countryside, right?

The Oddest Things......

Sometimes awareness comes at the oddest times; when you least expect it.

On a breathtaking walk today among many different types of trees, a lake and sandiness under foot too. There were cyclists doing their rides, tractors and lawnmowers doing their work; yet not disturbing the peace.
Many dogs could be seen in the distance too, yet each person seemed very polite, and either had the dogs under control when met on the path; or they put the dogs on lead.

Well today I didn't put my assistance dogs jacket on, as we were only in the forest; and he didn't need any proof for entrance to places. So he had blank lead and cooling jacket and was 21 C. H looked like any other ordinary dog; if you can get an ordinary dog?

We were walking around the lake when approached by a dog, the woman shouted ahead to check I was OK with it (yes as my dog wasn't 'working').
She had a female golden lab retriever (my favourite - sorry to my dog). The owner had two golden lab retrievers; she is so lucky as they had lovely temperments. They were both gentle with my dog and had a little play near the lake.

We got talking, and it came up that he was loyal to me; and I mentioned he is an assistance dog. And for the first time in months to whoever has asked about him; something different happened which shocked me.
Usually people ask me what he does for me, I would tell them a few small tasks like dropped items, door tugs, lift calls.And then they always have said "oh I need one of those, can I have him?"
I've always felt as though people don't understand why I have him or the impact to a disability of having an assistance dog. The independence but still have the disability. Do they want my disability?


BUT this time the woman asked what he does for me, and I thought oh here we go again (but you never know who people are; maybe potential sponsors or donations; so got to be nice!).
So I started to tell her, and she seemed really interested so I said how he will strip the bed and put it in the washing machine too; and get my epi pen too. So more than I would usually say.
I was waiting for the dreaded usual response.....

Then I got a shock,
"Wow that's amazing. Its so great what they can teach to these assistance dogs. your'e very lucky to have got a dog who can do all of that"

She went on to ask about the training involved of my dog, and myself and how I keep training him too; and why I have him in first place.
Ideal time to raise awareness of vEDS (Vascular Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) and POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome).

I always carry awareness flyers on me, so I gave her some about EDS UK and about Canine Partners (where my assistance dog is from). (I don't have any about POTS UK).

Felt such a positive talk with her, maybe this is the way forward considering we been partnered seven months now; and he has calmed down a lot now.

And now it is movie time for us both to rest.
What will our next adventure be?