10 months 3 weeks old
So, if you are observant you may have noticed straight away that there is a new tab up the top of the page that says Assistance Dog Designs. I just spent a heap of time making rather horrible drawings of each of my designs, and doing non-horrible descriptions of them (well I hope they are non-horrible lol). That way if any of my Aussie readers (and I know youre out there even if you dont comment!) are interested in some of the capes/vests/harnesses etc that havent been finalised yet, they can just wait for what they are interested in.
I will be offering this gear to overseas customers but not until I am more set up, website, PayPal etc.
I have been quite busy, going between actually doing things and falling asleep on the couch... hence the lack of real entries. I took Knightley on a training trip to the shopping mall on the weekend, as I needed to buy some better needles for going through many thick layers of webbing and nylon fabrics - as I broke a needle a couple of days ago after it having struggled to sew the handle onto the vest. Knightley was pretty great. There were some fluffy feathers on the floor of the sewing shop and he DIDNT GO FOR THEM!!! Shocking!!! Amazing!! Usually he would break focus and scoop them up in his mouth... Not this time. We might be getting somewhere. We then went on and got some fish for Knightleys evening meal (I try to feed fish once every month to six weeks), as well as three huge ox tongues to freeze. There was a little girl, about 2 years old, who couldnt stop looking at Knightley. Her parents were telling her that Knightley was a special dog and wasnt scary - obviously she was scared of dogs. I asked her parents if she would like to meet Knightley. So they came over and I told Knightley to visit, and he was very good, stayed in a sit (no flopping onto his back for a belly rub as he likes to do!) and very polite. The little girl was still quite timid but her parents thanked us for allowing the opportunity.
Knightley is getting very close to opening the door/cupboards the whole way now, by holding on to his shower scrub and backing up. Sometimes he only goes several steps and it doesnt get enough momentum, sometimes he gets in the way of the door. It isnt as simple as it sounds! Once he has got the idea there are still further things to deal with. Still, we are getting really close. While I dont need it on a day to day basis, I do go out in a wheelchair if I am am flaring or if its a long distance, and opening doors in a chair can be a big pain in the behind. Previously I usually go with someone if I am in a wheelchair, but I am looking into getting a much better wheelchair that I could move easily myself, and when Knightley is fully grown he could help me too. So thats why I am teaching this. That and there is one cupboard in the kitchen which is very low and it would help if he could open it for me.
Anyway, time for me to do something today!
