Thursday Barks And Bytes | Walkies

In the summer, long country walks are definitely on the agenda. Today we decided to visit a local attraction Trentham Gardens, it has things for all the family to enjoy including a shopping village a garden centre but most doggy friendly for us is a mile long walk around the lake.

If you are anything like us we make the most of the great weather. So we packed up the car and set off ready for our new adventure around the lake. Doggy free, we have been several times before but have never taken the plunge to include Lottie. She did not let me down one bit and was extremely well behaved and walked to heel right around the lake. She meet some great doggy friends (and humans) and was loved and admired by many.

Waiting in the queue patiently

 

This is just one of the new doggy friends we made. This super cute little chap is called Mush he was so much fun.

My little legs are so tired, time for a sleep.

Who else loves a long summer walk with their dog?

Jessica and Lottie

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Disability Awareness Series Part 3 I bet your never thought of this?

I hope so far in this disability awareness series I have given you more of an insight into what it's really like to be a disabled dog owner.

I want to share with you a few problems that I soon faced that altered the dynamics of owning Lottie due to my disability.

I know I have let you guys know about this before but all my childhood life all I wanted was a dog. Due to long hospital stays this simply wasn't possible. However on my 18th birthday I told my mum I had saved the money for a Westie puppy and had booked an appointment for a viewing that afternoon.

Having an accessible bungalow you sometimes forget all others are not so wheelchair friendly! Once she knew about the appointment she agreed that we could go to have a look but didn't promise anything. I already had the address but stupidly had glanced over the fact that in the address it stated it was a farm! A farm and a wheelchair hardly go together well. Unfortunately I didn't realise this until we got their, however I was that determined to see Lottie's mum who was pregnant at that point. We all teamed together and I did get to see Lottie's mum and I'm pretty sure you're all aware of the result of our first visit.

This is my 18th Birthday. Lottie is just 8 weeks old! 

This is just one of the first small things that altered dog ownership for me, normally the first meeting would be something many of you don't even give a second thought to. For us this was certainly not the case!

I remember a very important statement that my Grandma made before we even collected Lottie, "Dogs normally attach to one family member more than others, its normally the person who feeds the dog".

In our household dog ownership would involve two people. Me and Mum, after the statement my grandma had made panic struck, what about when I was poorly from a fracture, or I was recovering from surgery. Would the dog I had brought to bring so much joy to MY life, be attached to my mum instead. As far as feeding we were using a baby gate when we first brought Lottie home, one I couldn't get my wheelchair over so yet another small obstacle that meant I couldn't 'bond' with Lottie.

It a strange thing to say but I feel that being in a wheelchair actually brought me and Lottie closer together, because each small little issue we faced took so much hard work, there was no way the two of us could not be bonded. Needless to say we the best of friends and actually Lottie responses more to me than my mum. (Don't let her know I told you guys that).

We clearly have no bonding issues now! 

Dog walking is something so many dog owners take for granted. I have been in a wheelchair all my life so am extremely used to managing to push with one hand (and not go around in circles!) when carrying shopping etc. So walking Lottie would be easy right! Wrong, this was more of the reality I faced. I had a very excitable little puppy on the end of the leash. I was trying to juggle holding the clicker in one hand (I was teaching walking to heal), the lead in another, managing treats. and making sure most importantly I was training Lottie correctly and push my wheelchair. I know us women are the masters of multitasking but this was pushing that fact to the limit! I had many walks with Lottie where I thought we would never get their and walks on our own were definitely off the cards for a while! I was however determined this wasn't going to stop us and persisted and I got involved in as many of Lottie's walks as possible. About 6 months later Lottie was beginning to calm down and also the clicker training was well embedded. One day I just decided  "OK today I'm going to take Lottie for a short walk on my own". We only went around our cu-de-sac but it was one of the best decisions I ever made. On our own we learnt to work together and found ways to adapt our walks, we gradually built up the distance which is where I actually started to enjoy walks with Lottie instead of the dread and fear I felt before. We overcome this obstacle and now our walks are exactly the same as yours!

This may look easy, but it took months of hard work! 

These are just two of the small problems I faced once Lottie came home. I will share a few more in the next part of this series. I really want to stress that the aim of this series is not for you to feel sorry for me due to these issues. It's about raising awareness of how a disability can impact so much on a persons life not only in terms of  health issues but simple tasks such as bonding with your new puppy and the simple task of dog walking are such a big milestone.

Jessica and Lottie

If you guys missed part 1 and 2 of my Disability Awareness Series the link to those posts are below. Be sure to give them a read too!

Part 1 - Disability Awareness Series Part 1 | Thursdays Barks and Btyes | Such a precious game of fetch.

Part 2 - Disability Awareness Series Part 2 | Thank you Mum, three little words that mean so much! - National Carer's Week 9-15th June, are you aware?







This post is part of the Thursday Barks & Bytes Blog Hop, hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog. Go pay a visit to the hosts and check out other hop participants.

Disability Awareness Series Part 1 | Thursdays Barks and Btyes | Such a precious game of fetch.

Lottie is such a playful little dog and loves nothing better than a game of fetch with her favourite ball.

I had the idea of a dog blog for a while before I started but never had the courage to take the plunge. I wrote an article for a dog's magazine with the angle of how much Lottie had changed my life due to my disability. I then realised I could start a dog blog with the aim off showing of Lottie and combining my disability. I will be doing a series of posts labelled. What it's really like to be a disabled dog owner.

Many of our followers will know I have just had a major orthopeadic operation to replace a tibia nail in my leg. (There will be an upcoming post with more details of this soon). Because of the seriousness of the surgery it means I have a long recovery ahead of me. After my two weeks in hospital I couldn't wait to come home to see Lottie. However this wasn't quite the experience I had envisaged. At the moment I am basically bed/sofa bound and can only spend around half an hour a day in the wheelchair with my leg rest. This means social time with Lottie is very limited.

There is also the huge problem with regards to physical contact with Lottie. Pre-op she is used to cuddles on my knee every night whilst we watch television (after all that's what those human knees are made for!) This is no longer possible at the moment due to the plaster on my leg as it is separated at the knee which leaves my knee scar uncovered! Something Lottie can definitely go no where near! We did however find a way for our important cuddles which you guys will be able to find on our Facebook page.

Yesterday I started to feel a little better and for the first time manged to spend half an hour in my chair. On the plus side for us its summer at the moment and we are having great weather which is ideal for a great game of fetch we even had time for Lottie to practice one of her new tricks of tidying away her toys. She did really well although one ball was more fun to play with than put away!

As you can see Lottie was over the moon that our usual routine had nearly resumed to normal.

Please mum throw it again! 

I really don't want to put this one away, its so fun. 

Look mum I put them all away! 

Head over to our Facebook page to see a video of our first game of fetch in over two weeks! You wont be dissapointed!

Please don't take for granted a game of fetch with your dog (even if he/she doesn't bring it back) as some of us would give anything for that special time!

Jessica and Lottie

This post is part of the Thursday Barks & Bytes Blog Hop, hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog. Go pay a visit to the hosts and check out other hop participants.

Thursday Barks And Bytes - Mum's Home and I have a new treat ball can life get any better?

Today is my first day at home after my hospital stay from the operation. To be  completely honest it doesn't feel as good as expected. Things are so much harder at home, with not being able to weight bear or bend my knee. Every small little task is like climbing mount Everest. Luckily though I only have this plaster cast on for four weeks so things can only get better.

The hospital has loaned me a wheelchair with a leg rest so I could mobilise around the house. Of course Lottie needed to give it the royal approval and as you can see I think it passed!

Before I went into hospital I decided to treat Lottie to a new toy. (As a sort of mum being away present). Lottie has tried and tested many treat dispensing toys some of which we have been more impressed with than others.

After much debating in our local pet store I decided to purchase the Animal Instincts Puzzla Treat Toy Atom for £6.99 which I thought was very reasonably priced. It also comes in a ball and pod shape. (The link is to Amazon who also stock the toy)

This is the hole to fill the toy

This is the exit hole with the two removable tabs 

The idea of the three designs is they progress in difficulty levels. The ball is the easiest and due to its shapes and also having the largest hole treats fall out easier. The pod is stated as medium difficultly and has a 4" exit hole. The atom is leveled as the hardest of the three, this was my main motive for purchasing as we have found many treat dispensing toys in the past are far to easy for Lottie and within five minutes she has finished.

Each toy has removable tabs on the exit holes which can be removed to increase the flow of treats or left to increase difficulty. I decided to leave it standard and see how Lottie got on. Inside the atom toy there is also rubber triangular pieces which stop the treats from being dispensed too quickly.

As you can see I didn't fill the toy with many treats and only used small ones to start with.  
Lottie couldn't wait to get started. As soon as I gave her the toy I saw the instincts she shows when she really likes a new toy. The toy lasted her around 20 minutes which I was really impressed with seen as the amount of treats I used. The treats were difficult for her to get out  but because I used some of her favorites this gave her the motivation to keep going.

Finally I have found all the important factors that I want from a treat toy. A durable, well designed well priced treat dispensing toy. The main reason I am highly impressed is Lottie actually found the toy challenging which is exactly what I wanted.

I am a big believer that mental exercise is equally as important as physical exercise. Especially as I am house bound at the moment I am having to rely on mum for dog walking duties and with my circumstances Lottie's walks are not as long as they were pre-operation.. So for us mental exercise is a top priority!  

Does your dog like treat dispensing toys? Which ones do you find work the best?

Jessica and Lottie

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