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Getting A Service Dog.

Any suggestions?
Doggo's travel crate doubles as his bed when we're in hospital or camping. It folds up with his blankie folded in the bottom. He loves it (and currently, foster pup loves it).

I also keep one of the doggie water bottles in the car. Generic pet stores sell them. They have a fold out bowl at the bottom. In the summer, it's reassuring to know that he can have a drink of water as easily as I can. They're his 2 travel essentials. I don't really need anything special for him when we're on the go if I have those 2 things.

It's pretty exciting. If only K knew - she'd be psyched for you too:)
 
Baking soda or dry shampoo!

I took SD to work one day not realizing that he had rolled in something dead right before we got in the car. It was wet outside so the smell didn't hit until he dried off -- right in the middle of a meeting I was leading in a very small room 😲

I had to leave and go get some baking soda I had in my locker to dump all over him to try to absorb the smell. Luckily it worked long enough for me to finish the meeting, then I had to tell my boss I needed to run home and wash him.

I can laugh about it now but at the time.??? damn. ☺️

oh - and he also has a set of booties for when it gets super hot or snows because going across parking lots and such can burn his paws. He wasn't terribly thrilled by them but got used to them fairly quickly. I've been surprised at how often I've had to use them.
 
Yay! It's all done. Everyone is happy and I can continue on my path back to employment.

I've received a clearance from my dr (s) and we're heading into work next week to do a meet n greet with the other employees in an unofficial way. I'm taking cake because it'll be morning tea. The boss wants me to do a short informal chat about K and what she is and does and what the rules are regarding interaction with her. I can do that for sure. I cannot start for about another month because there's too much paperwork to get sorted and that's done far, far away by somebody else.

So in the meantime I have to go and get fitted out myself and must buy a soft crate online because I don't think I can get them here. :(
 
So in the meantime I have to go and get fitted out myself and must buy a soft crate online because I don't think I can get them here. :
The zippered on both the sides AND the top are my absolute favorites, for work. As it’s more about creating his personal space than containment, 90% of the time. Reducing the times he’s stepped on or startled, whilst making others more comfortable; but I’mmstill in his line of sight & can trail a hand in, or interact as needed. Standard “crate time”/off-duty/nap/mind yourself don’t bother me, meanwhile? It’s all zipped up
 
Thankyou @Friday - do you know of any specific brands I can look for? That's exactly the purpose I'm needing the soft crate for - less about containment and more about her having the space to safely watch and chill. She's very well crate trained and loves her home crate. She'll go to it and settle in for a snooze etc on her own. Rarely is the door closed - perhaps when I must go somewhere without her or I can't manage my immediate home environment with her in it. Eg tradies coming and going in and out off the property.
 
EliteField was our fav commercially available one, with the roll down heat shield / cold insulation ((just insulated fabric, any sunshade fabric can have some thermo stuff staplegunned (or seeeeeeewn, cough, if you’re a bit more aesthetic than I tend to be, in MacGyver-Mode.) if it’s even an issue in your lives.

Our other, the local bike shop makes out of old parts. One of those, the owner threw one together for his dog, and all of us shopping there seeing it were like... woah! I want! I want!... so the shop makes them in their spare time. Same sorta basic design as all the rest, but with top notch materials, & details handmade craftsmen add to their work, like bike tires reinforcing the corners. <<< Which I mostly mention in case there’s a similar sort of “We have the technology!” bike shop or similar in your neck of the woods.
 
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I went online and the price to freight a soft crate from the US is staggering. So though I reckon they're great crates I cannot afford the expense right now. So I went to Pet Warehouse, Pet Barn and others.

The thing I noticed was that they claimed to be easy to put together/fold/assemble/disassemble etc. But not so. So not so that even the sales people couldn't get them to work. So there's not much chance of me using those. Eventually I found one that is bloody very purple but has these nifty little lock buttons that just ...well... work! So bought that and an extra bit of bedding just to keep her comfy.

I'm travelling to see family tomorrow so that's what I'm taking to give it a test and see how well it works. She will never challenge a crate so I'm reasonably confident it will be just fine but it's good that I get the opportunity to set it up etc.

I took the liberty of asking K to go 'inside and lay-down' and she made herself quite comfortable in the one I finally settled on. So much so that she wasn't keen on coming out again so I could buy it and leave the store.

I don't think it is terribly tough though and with constant use it may come unstuck. So I'm going to save for an imported one.

@Friday can you recall how the metal struts connect to each other in the EliteField? Given I and the shop staff had an inordinate amount of difficulty with the styles I tried today I need to know how difficult it will be to construct/deconstruct the crate because it's a long way to send it back. 😏 I mean I know I would accept responsibility but three different people had a go as well.
 
@Friday can you recall how the metal struts connect to each other in the EliteField? Given I and the shop staff had an inordinate amount of difficulty with the styles I tried today I need to know how difficult it will be to construct/deconstruct the crate because it's a long way to send it back. 😏 I mean I know I would accept responsibility but three different people had a go as well.
Amazon AU has them in stock. Fully assembled. Shipped flat. Do they not deliver to your area (my AU account is set for Melbourne, for my cousin’s xmas & bday gifts)... or is the price better in person? Usually Amazon is cheaper, but since Covid there has been some bizarre ass pricing on some things.

Here, they come fully assembled, in shops & online, so sadly I couldn’t tell you how they connect. I wonder if the EliteField site might have directions?
 
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@Friday thank you. I'm going to email the Elite and ask them directly. Maybe they'll supply some pics of exactly how it assembles. I hope so because they do look like good soft crates. I found them online but I don't know why the shipping charges are so high. I mean they usually are very steep but the price on the site was too much. I'll try negotiating directly with the company. Cheers.
 
Unbelievable. I no longer have a job.

I had to decline it after logging in to complete the onboarding process where I found that the 'job' was a fixed contract. F**ck! Nowhere - not anywhere did that spec come up. Not at interview, application forms etc... How could they miss that? ...Cos they were advertising for multiple positions and fixed and non-fixed positions - great! But somebody forget to sort out which were which till successful applicants were selected. Then they realised that hadn't told any of us and that we all were under the misapprehension that they were non-fixed positions. Wow!? For some it doesn't matter too much but for me it matters a lot.

I've been told I can appeal and that I'd probably win but who wants to work with a boss that hates your guts for showing him up?

I'm back looking again in-between completely spinning out and trying to not go too deep into depression.
I could type a bunch of expletives here. I've been super duper sad with undertones of anger.

And now I'm trying to return clothes, shoes and other crap I won't need for this job. Wow. :(
 
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