This is the first of my many posts over the next month of Dogtober where I will be reporting to you the exciting adventures that my beautiful assistance dog Roxy and I will be experiencing. I hope it will be a unique look at how an assistance dog can impact the life of a person with a disability.
It is an exciting weekend for us both as I am a huge St Kilda Football Club supporter and of course with the drawn grand final last week we get to experience it all over again this weekend. Now asa canine, Roxy of course is a Bulldogs fan, but as they are not competing for the big prize she has jumped onto the Saints bandwagon just this once. We will be watching the game live at midnight our time, in Toronto, so we will both be very tired the next morning.
Roxy has been trained to do so many things because I am unable to use my hands and fingers, so she is there to help with all of the physical things I can no longer do for myself anymore. One of the most common tasks is pick up things off the floor. This she does with ease and she is always so proud of herself after she has jumped up on my lap and given me my wallet, phone, remote control, whatever. The other night we experienced a very funny conundrum. I dropped my fork at the kitchen table and it landed beside my chair. Without hesitation she was up off her mat ready and waiting for me to give her the command to pick up whatever was that I had dropped. Now one of the things that she has been taught NOT to do is eat off the floor without being given a special command. So as you could imagine there was a stand-off between Roxy and I as I was trying to tell her it was okay to pick up the fork but she was confused because it smelt like food! It took a good ten minutes to work our way through this funny situation, and she eventually passed me the fork while she had her tail between her legs in case I was about to tell her off for putting some food smelling object in her mouth. It was very funny and she is so cute.
The timing of this blog entry is also a sad one. Just a few days ago my first assistance dog, Buster, passed away at the good old age of 14. He was such a wonderful dog and we were a great team for over ten years. He was one of the first service dogs to be placed and over his time he was an incredible ambassador for Assistance Dogs Australia. Like his owner, he always knew when it was time to perform and I think everyone who knew him will never forget the many times he would sit and put his head on my feet as I would sing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ at many event. I will miss him very much but will never forget the wonderful times we shared together and the amazing bond that we had. You will always be my No. 1 Super dog. Rest in peace old boy.
