Dxenion

Our pup had to stay with the breeder until 12 1/2 weeks due to international flight and quarantine laws. However we had a wonderful breeder who went that extra mile to ensure he received plenty of socialisation and a mass of environmental experiences. We are forever grateful for that.

Anything I can do to bring awareness to your cause please let me know.

Well you know if there is anything I can do in anyway to help you to just let me know :). As I've said before, I am happy to contribute what I can.

I hope you get the support you need. Is there anywhere that gifts to help you can be sent?

Wow, well done Dxenion. What a worthy nominee. I hope you get the support you need. Is there anywhere that gifts to help you can be sent?

A heartfelt thank you for your offers of support.

I'm feeling very awkward at the moment accepting any donations as I am not a member of a charity, just a private individual.

MDBA has given me some great advice on how to start a charitable association through which donations can fund the work I am currently doing on my pension, but it is not set up yet.

I'll keep DOL updated on the formation of the association and the results of our work. Your posts brought a tear to my eye just to know that there are people like yourself that want to help resolve access issues, especially issues that specifically relate to persons with a disability accompanied by an owner trained assistance dog.

That is a treasured gift in itself. Thank you.

We read about coconut oil on another forum and how the poster was adding it to his GSD's diet to help with dry skin issues. We bought a bottle and within 5 days (1 tablespoon per day) our Mr Itchy had stopped scratching. However we have noticed that Mr Protein Food Allergy has now broken out in a rash. As nothing else has changed in his diet, I am hoping against hope he hasn't reacted to the oil (not just because we just had 4 litres delivered!) and it's just accidental exposure from the OH prepping his human meal.

We have one for our four. They took to it like ducks to water and needed very little training. Our biggest hurdle was getting them used to the idea 'one at a time'!

This is one of ours on his afternoon stroll (warm up):

Anyone seen the other half of this dog?

Thank you to everyone this morning for their interactions with Rakim.

It was an interesting first response to so many different dogs. At first he was a little scared and then as his confidence grew he became a little too boisterous around all the excited play. At least we did manage a few short sit and down stays despite the distractions.

It was also interesting to discover he was unsure about a man in thongs wearing a baseball cap. Thank you to the person (I am so sorry I have forgotten your name) who took the time to interact with him enough that he could take one treat from you.

If he washes out as an assistance dog, at least now I have a backup plan to hire him out as a canine excavator!

Sorry to hear about your access issues

I take it you weren't able to have him tested/accredited by an organisation or trainer yet?

There's no organisation over here anymore (folded in May last year) and the service provider keeps changing the goalpost in terms of acceptable evidence. There's no one here that I know of that meets the provider's latest requirements. I have received an offer from a trainer who may fit the bill (will confirm with the provider after mid Jan) but it requires funding a return flight from Melbourne to Perth. It shouldn't be necessary as I believe it could be considered an unreasonable financial burden under the DDA. We are also trying to locate a probono lawyer for the Federal Court case. The Minister for Transport is now also involved in the matter. It's sad that it's had to go this far but unless someone makes a stand, the situation will not change.

Kind of hard to ignore this for long:

I opened the door to let the dogs in and directed them to their beds (4 dogs, 4 beds). I shut the door and turned around to discover this:

Need I mention that the black dog in the background was the only girl in that group?

http://www.youtube.com/user/Dxenion

I like the first image of him but the setting in the second one.

Just wondering if anyone is bringing an entire male?

We'll be bringing a 14 month old assistance dog trainee. He'll have a blue vest on and wont be off lead but being around awesome dogs and wonderful DOL handlers will be a great experience for him.

He's entire.

I'll volunteer to sit under the pergola with the gear. We'll be bringing a 14 month old assistance dog trainee. He'll have a blue vest on and wont be off lead but being around awesome dogs and wonderful DOL handlers will be a great experience for him.

A huge thank you to those who nominated me. After sorting out the confusion (I thought the phone call was about someone I nominated), I literally had to sit down when I was told people had nominated me.

I was nominated for my work with assistance dogs and my involvement with resolving access issues through public education and legislative review. It has been a passion of mine since I began working in public access areas with my own assistance dog and became directly affected by access issues. Aside from assisting other owner trainers to train their own dog, my assistance dog and I also give public presentations educating people about the dogs, how they can make a difference to the lives of persons with disabilities, public etiquette and the rights and responsibilities of handlers and service providers.

A person with a disability accompanied by an assistance dog has the same rights of access as guide and hearing dogs under the federal Disability Discrimination Act 1992. QLD and SA have further state based legislation, WA is currently working on an amendment to the Dog Act, Victoria is reviewing their Domestic Animals Act and an Assistance Dog National ID Program working group has been formed. Unfortunately many service providers have little or no knowledge of assistance dogs and rights of access and this can cause issues. Whilst service providers can ask for evidence that the dog is an assistance dog (trained to alleviate the effects of the person's disability) and evidence that it is trained to meet standards of hygiene and behaviour that are appropriate for an animal in a public place, persons with owner trained assistance dogs do not have access to the same forms of evidence that persons with a dog from an assistance dog organisation do. It is up to the handler to provide alternate evidence but in one particular case, reasonable alternate evidence was not accepted and the person was refused service. That person was me and it is the reason why I wont be able to attend the award ceremony in Brisbane in March.

Although I have worked with service providers at local, state and national level to successfully resolve issues, there is still one major service provider that I am aware of that has evidentiary requirements many owner trainers cannot reasonably provide. When the handler cannot provide that evidence, the service provider can legally deny them access or services. As this particular service provider's current policy affects persons with owner trained dogs throughout Australia and mediation has failed resolve the issue, unfortunately the next step is Federal Court. There are financial costs involved in making the application as well as the cost of a lawyer but the issue is too important not to pursue.

Up 'til now, I have utilised my own pension to fund what I can but it only stretches so far. The phone call today not only surprised me with the nomination but gave me some wonderful information on a way forward, so that with funding, I will be able to continue my work.

Once again, thank you to those who nominated me. Words cannot express what it means to me.

Edited to add links to the dog's Facebook pages and Youtube videos:

https://www.facebook.com/assistance.dog.tlaloc

https://www.facebook.com/assistance.dog.rakim

http://www.youtube.com/user/Dxenion

Only have one: Northern Inuit

Is it sad that I have almost decided on how I want the caravan set up, even though I won't be able to afford one for another few years

Not sad at all. We have been looking at caravans, camper trailers, pop top campers and even horse floats for a while now trying to find a floor plan that would best suit four large dog crates. I wish there was a company that made a dog trailer/ camper combination under 20K.

Just been advised that the OH is in Adelaide on his way to Perth and is willing to transport a dog to Perth leaving tonight. I know it's short notice but the offer is there.

bit late i know but does oh travel between perth n adel much? am wanting to send a dog to perth asap

thanks

Hi SWK, he does travel often but the next trip is flying Perth to Melbourne in a couple of weeks. If I do hear of anyone going west from Adelaide shortly, I'll let you know.

We have half the garage and a shed dedicated to dog gear, not to mention the dog stuff throughout the house. I just did a quick count of beds and kennels. We have 6 folding wire crates (selling two 42"s if anyone's interested), 4 vari kennels, 4 perla beds, a lofabed, 8 coolaroo bed frames and oddles of mats for them, 2 self inflating air mattresses for riding in the car plus more bedding - we only have four dogs!

Leads, collars, equipment, coats, training gear, packs and vests, enough towels to start a manchester store, booster bath and all the associated grooming products, K9 carriers to go behind the bikes...... the list goes on. Lets not even get started on the boxes of toys, spare bowls and a bookcase full of books and DVDs.

A thought out of left field....

When our dog was about 12 months old, he got very sick too (but for different reasons). Anyway, he was put on a chicken and rice diet while we were working out the problem with the vet but he just kept getting sicker, no matter what we tried. Turns out he had developed an allergy to chicken!

We changed to a unique protein (one he'd never had before) and by luck the first thing we trialled (goat) he didn't react to. He suddenly started getting better, putting on weight, coat improved and all his symptoms disappeared.

It's just a thought but have you confirmed that she isn't reacting to the chicken? It's certainly not something we or the vet expected.

Bath sheets (for the dogs)

A 48" folding wire crate (I think that is for the dog.....)

Two awesome SS parcels (admittedly they were addressed to the dog)

Thank you for your vote and post Naomi, that was so sweet.

We only found out about it the night before it closed. We'd parked in front of a florist to use the ATM next door. The florist saw the dogs with their hats on and told us about the competition. We normally listen to 6PR or ABC radio so but for this chance meeting, we would have never heard of it either.

MG love that coat!

Ours are 668 (but for some reason it got cropped a bit) and 691.

Wish there was a quicker way to find a specific photo......

Did anyone else enter their dogs in this?

It's a great idea. Did you open it in the dog's names? If so, what documents did you need to show? I can just imagine the look on our family's faces if I told them the dogs had their own debit card and bank account!

Once he figures out that outside is the place to potty, you could introduce the bell. We have one here that the dogs will ring if the doggy door is shut and they want to go out. There has been a couple of times though that I haven't heard it ringing so the dog took matters into his own hands and came up with this solution:

He decided that seeing as I didn't respond to him ringing the bell, he'd bring it to me instead - I got the message!