Lucie came home to join the family yesterday. It was wonderful.
We got her all settled before the boys got home from school, then got through the excitement with the kids. I got some nice video which once I work out how to post, I will, showing Alex meeting Lucie. Here are a couple of photos we got of her on her first afternoon in our house with Alex.
The boys loved watching her play, but the real test was how things would go when all the excitement had died down. I made the rather odd decision to take the family for a quick walk, just like a regular dog walk, not in jacket, as Alex is getting his training next week. It was tough, handling dogs, balls, kids and husband. Note to self - take it easy! And last night we got Lucie settled into Alex's room. It was a little like a scene from Supernanny as I was up regularly putting Lucie back in her bed as she wandered into our room or lay in the hall. But my theory is start how you mean to continue, so I persisted, which i hope will get easier as routine establishes.
And today I took her for a very long walk on my own which was huge fun, and felt more in control. It is scorching hot today, so keeping activity low, but felt brave enough to try our local Asda. I wanted to do some jacket work before she thought she was on holiday. We walked there and back, and I was SO proud - just text book. A busy Saturday afternoon, and she took it all in her stride. Wonderful.
So now is the scary bit, where for two years everyone else has invested their time and effort to getting Lucie to a point she can help someone, and I now feel the burden of responsibility in carrying on all the work, and making sure she performs as she is trained to do. But I have to say, delighted with the first 24 hours. She is using her toileting area that Dave built for her, and is behaving better than anyone else in the house....oh - I should mention the poor moggy. In retrospect the cat introductions could have been slightly better planned than the rodeo that became the chaos of cat meet dog. Erm ...lesson learned...so we did a controlled introduction, and now cat is upstairs, dog downstairs, and we wait to see what unfolds...watch this space!
It is too hot to sit indoors at a laptop, and family demanding my attentions, so enough for now.
Great blog, I will be interested to follow how things go. I have a friend who has an assistance dog from Support Dogs which is what originally got me interested but I have recently been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia so am wondering whether a support dog would be good for me too.
ReplyDeleteCan I suggest you put the bit on the blog so that people can follow you (sorry, don't know the name of it!) but it should send people who are following you an e-mail when you post a new blog post!
Thank you for your post. I agree re email follow thingy, I had been trying to work it out, and think I have got it added now. This blogging is testing my techy skills to the limit!
DeleteI am beginning to think that for the right person a dog can help in so many situations. I am sorry to hear of your challenges, and hope you can find a positive way through. I am always amazed when I hear what the dogs can be trained to help with, and the most valuable bit may be the companionship they bring.