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.

Mum's Little Helper

As many of you will already be aware. Lottie is officially not an assistant dog, however this does not mean she cannot help me around the house (And believe me she does).

All the 'tricks' she knows I have taught her using the Clicker training method, which I will do another post on soon.

So far she can tidy her toys away,  pick items up off the floor and bring them to my hand, find and fetch my slippers from anywhere in the house, walk slowly on a lead when I tell her to (This comes in really handy down steep hills).

Training for us is very much on going and I don't take the approach of "We have finished the 6 week course, I have a perfectly trained dog".

As you can see in the video, Lottie is very eager to show of her new found skill!.

What ''Tricks' do you find the most useful to teach?

Jessica

Don't forget to check out our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/waggytales1

Collagen - if only it grew on trees!

Most of the time you probably don't give your collagen a second thought, in fact half of you may have not even heard of it.

For a select few of us, me included, it completely dictates our life.

Every time I had a limb in plaster as a child many people would ask, "what happened, did you fall off your bike?" Every time I would give them the generic answer. "Nothing, I suffer from brittle bones disease". What happened next was usually the most frustrating, "Oh I see, you have osteoporosis." By this time I had normally just smiled and given up. 

Unbelievably, it isn't just the general public who think this, I have had nurses, and scarily even doctors, confuse brittle bones with osteoporosis!

I'm unique and everybody who knows me will agree. After all I am a 1 in 20,000 baby. You see that's the chance of being born with brittle bones! Many people are aware of 'common' disabilities but mention brittle bones and many people reply with "never heard of it"

Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bones) is a genetic condition that you are born with. It causes defective collagen, or the inability to make it. This results in bones that break easily, for little or no apparent reason. It can come in many different types, which means it affect people in so many different ways. This is why it is commonly referred as the condition where every sufferer is different.

The main differences between brittle bones and osteoporosis, is how a person develops the condition. All people with brittle bones disease are born with it; some however may be completely unaware they have it until much later in life. Osteoporosis on the other hand is a condition that develops over time, normally as a person becomes older.

Although there is no cure for brittle bones, there are several treatments that can help with pain and the amount of fractures. There is also plenty of support from the Brittle Bone Society. It is a UK based charity that aims to provide support to people affected by brittle bones and like many of their members my life would be very different without them.

The 6^th May is Wishbone Day which is an international awareness day for brittle bones. Check out the Brittle Bone Society website: http://www.brittlebone.org/