Trainee Assistance Dog - Our Great Goals
Hello warriors, how are you?!
Well, its time:
Yep, we are now moving our training to the next level. When she has her harness on she will officially be in ‘work mode’. The bandana is for humans as from what I understand most people with assistance dogs constantly have humans approaching them.
I am worried about that as its so hard to just have energy let alone having to try and explain to people whilst I am trying to walk……please do not pet her or distract her. Now, to be fair….I have never had this issue….I am hoping that in the UK there is a much better understanding of working dogs.
Most of the vlogs I have seen are in America. As soon as I say to people:
Ignore her…she is working (when I say this, my eyes do NOT leave Ollie and I carry on giving her commands or with what we are doing to demonstrate visually to the person…..this is WORK). You know the whole VARK thing:
Also, my really subtle high viz yellow hoody seems to help LOL:
OMG look how little she was! Nat, if you are reading this….that hoody is perfect and people really appreciate it….as they just understand.
I am really excited for Ollie, I think I should have done this sooner as she LOVES to work….so when she gets her gear on….she is READY!
We have an assessment on Tuesday……so we will be practicing a lot more over the next few days getting ready for that!
Achievement of the week:
I got very upset the other day……you know when you well up with tears and they are about to fall? Well, I was at that point and I was with Gav…….I glanced at him and saw his face…..it looked similar to this:
He looks sooooo uncomfortable and scared it made me burst out laughing……which as it caught me off guard…..REALLY hurt my ribs LOL. He then extremely awkwardly patted my knee…..it was hilarious.
He then said to me…..put your big socks on…..and face the challenge. I think he meant ‘your big girl pants on’ or ‘pull your socks up’ but it was perfect…..then I could face my challenges with a smile on my face! Thank you Gav!
This was a big achievement for me as I really did not want to face the challenge at all LOL
What has made me happy this week:
Well, that is easy…..two things….apart from Gav being so awkwardly supportive hahaha….
Here is the first one…..this is my favourite set of movies:
And this just makes me laugh hard and its the vlog of the week:
Books I have read:
Er…..none but I did finish watching these:
And Wanda’s new Netflix thing is out…..she always makes me smile:
Arthritic update:
I am really struggling at the minute and to be honest, its self inflicted (sort of). I have been doing way too many hours.
So, I am cutting back. I have booked some holidays and I am going to reduce to my contracted hours or my body will just shut down and soon.
Here is day 1 of our holidays….well I worked this am but when I finished it was the start of the holidays LOL
What I am looking forward to:
Well, I have my 7th or 8th COVID jab tomorrow….so if it does not knock me off my feet….I am looking forward to:
Working on our ‘pick up’ training (where she is supposed to pick up anything I drop and pass it to me), we have had some er……teething problems:
I think she found the crunching VERY satisfying! I wish I had got me on camera trying to get to her quickly.
I am also looking forward to:
Editing, hopefully loads of vlogs
Filming
Carboot volunteering
My footings are being done for my new home on Wednesday!
Meetings with Martin…..he is my friend in Czech…..he taught me how to edit (he is a school boy) but now he is 18yrs old and is on break before going to Uni to be a very posh Chemist er…..person. He is working with me for a couple of months as I am really behind on YouTube…..so its great for me and eases the pressure!
I have been watching a sheep dog guy…..and his dog….I have been working on teaching Ollie….things like: forward, behind, left….right (come)….its actually going ok….but seeing him with his dogs….its really helpful…..our ‘behind’ is VERY messy LOL and sort of involves me shoving a treat in her nose and trying to get her behind me…..then I get really dizzy hahaha (we will get there)
Thank you!
I just want to say a massive thank you to all of you who read these!
Based on the stats, it shows on here and on YouTube people are more interested in anything to do with Ollie and I….rather than my random ideas of whats interesting LOL. I hope you are finding it more focused than when I started these!
Ollie and I have a LOT happening over the next few months….big changes are a foot!
We are really grateful you are with us on this journey!
Take care
Charlie & Ollie
P.S Thank you Bernard, Fiona, Aimee, Nat and Wendy for reading so many of these!!!!!