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Getting A Service Dog.

This week I've refused to speak to some family, hung up on several other who cannot handle the discussion not being about them and their problems for a few minutes and then tried to drown me in platitudes that did nothing..... but make me very friggin angry!

But at the same time I really lost my cool with one of my children over something too silly. So I've apologised but clearly I'm not okay and on a hair trigger.

I don't want to get out of bed and when I do I want to go straight back. I feel really tired and listless.

I don't want to look after my relatives at the moment because I'm in such a dark place and I'm fuming with resentment that I have been carrying the bulk of the responsibilities for them for way too long and I have a large family with numerous siblings who actually should stop critiquing me and do some hard, practical work. When I told them I had to turn down the job they could barely contain their happiness and commented that it simply meant I had more time to help them out and spend time looking after them. aaaargh!! So clearly they didn't want me to take up employment!

I've been looking at jobs but not really. I've sent out some feelers looking for courses to help lift my skill levels but man... they are expensive and sound a bit bogus to be honest.

I feel like crap and I want to feel better but not sure how.

My dog is giving me a fairly wide radius though coming in for a pat and a smooch now and then. I must be exuding bad stuff.... 😢
 
Took K for a walk in the rain yesterday and gave her a lovely bath last night. She loves baths now I think. She stands there in the bath wagging her tail and lapping up the lathering, washing and conditioning and me blathering on about what a fine dog she is. I use my fingers like rakes through her fur and her eyes glaze over in bliss....

K lets me wrap a towel around her entire body and lift her gently out of the tub and then settles down for a long, slow rub soaking through several towels in the process.

Yes... I think she loves it. Probably loves the peanut butter I smear on the side of the tub now and then too and the treats throughout as well.

She's back to being silky smooth and looking brilliantly red and white again.

I've started training her to 'check-in' and 'free free' on walks again. We had already visited this concept previously but not with serious training. She's picked it up really well.

Rather than walk several km's every day and really not get that much out of it except a very sore hip for me and a meh from her, I decided to let her brain do the walking. So I've cut down the distance to a third and picked a track that goes through well forested areas. I walk along with her on loose lead and when she looks up I give her a treat and say 'check-in'. So we got that down well and truly within 10 minutes with her checking in quite regularly and consistently.

Then I introduced 'free free' which means she can go sniff a tree or whatever so long as the lead stays loose. Then she does her 'check-in' after sniffing and I treat her. We then resume walking.

So she's got the best of both worlds now and so do I. We go for a walk and she trots along with with me, I give her permission to stop and do the sniff that makes her brain whir and then when proceed on. End result a tired but happy dog by the time we return home. :)
 
I give her permission to stop and do the sniff that makes her brain whir and then when proceed on.
Sniffaris are awesome for dogs, especially breeds like Beagles with such powerful noses. If she's getting her daily exercise, this is definitely something that she's gonna appreciate.

Knowing how much dogs use their noses to explore and understand the world around them, you can imagine that it's a bit like taking someone to an amazing art gallery and removing a blindfold, so that there's suddenly a whole new amazing world around them to be curious about, and stimulated by.

Every so often I like to take doggo somewhere new, with all new smells, and we wander along at his pace just letting him take in all the new smells. Happy dog, happy me:)

You're def lucky to have a dog that likes bath time. My doggo loves the rub down and blow dry afterwards, but the bath process is running and hiding as soon as his towel is pulled out of the cupboard, followed by much crying and dramatic
 
I've been exploring a number of options to lift myself out of this helplessness I feel. Specifically some online training and possibly also gaining a certification in dog training - I'm guessing there are plenty of people emerging from the covid dog phase and wondering why their dogs are not as happy as they could be. A lot of people have suggested dog training but I've resisted the idea because there are few few nationally accredited training courses about. I've also started working though a couple of text books on ms suite so I am completely up to date.
 
Thank you BB - I've commenced applying for more jobs too. Nothing like doing something to take my mind off stuff. Right now I'm having a really bad flare of Rheumatoid arthritis so that's getting me down too. I can bounce K's ball outside on the pavement and she returns it to me but not up for walking far. Swimming pools may open again soon - so that will be good for me as well.

Hope you're okay over there in NZ with the outbreak.
 
I've got a job interview on Monday. Why do I do this to myself???? I have been studying up on some skills that I've let slide and amazingly the knowledge was hovering just below the surface so it felt nice to recognise that not all is lost - yet.

The interview is via video link up - again. :(

Tomorrow I will study the structural organisation of the prospective employer - just so I am not completely ignorant of anything new. Lots of new buz words to say to myself so they sound normal if I have to say them at all. ugh...

My family are entirely opposed to me getting a job. Mostly because they want me available to look after them (elderly family I mean). Is that being selfish or what? It seems that so long as I can cook and clean for them it doesn't matter that I am living perilously close to the poverty line.

K is a little miffed with me at the moment because I have to wash her face with some medicated shampoo each night. It's turned into quite a game and she's actually being a good sport about it but then again I am bribing her with copious yummy treats so there's that.
 
Interview over with hooray! I think I did okay - not outstanding but maybe enough. They are looking at my referees now. They told me they will take over a month to let me know so I am back at it, scouring the Net for more jobs.

I am so, so glad I studied up on stuff that I sort of knew, remembered etc but not really... :/ Because their first and most significant interview question was all about Values and Human Rights and Charters etc... And I was full to the eye-balls with it all because I actually read and wrote out them all yesterday and walked around the house listing them all off mumbling to myself like a deranged madwoman. Who knew that it would feature so prominently in the interview??! So lucky I did that!

K was in her crate gnawing on a lovely raw beef soup bone and her treat filled Kong. After the interview I went straight to her and she wasn't too fussed about coming out to the rest of the house. It was an extremely cold day here so she didn't want to go outside except for the most brief of moments and then galloped back inside to curl up back in her bed again.

I am going to train her to cover her eyes with her paws. I have to find the directions for how to do it but I reckon she will do it if I can communicate with her how it's done. She's weaving in and out of my legs like a pro now and I can walk quite quickly or slowly and she has totally got it.
 
K is learning 'sit pretty'.. sort of but it turns into a kangaroo hop at the end. I'm also playing find the treat in some bright red paper cups, switching them about with a treat in one of them. So far it's not turning out to be too hard for her and she knows which one has the treat in. I guess that might be her beagle nose?

Frisbee is getting so good I am sure when we graduate outside she will be gunning for that disk no problem. I've cleared furniture away so we have a fairly sizeable area to play freely - it's too cold, icy and wet outside to stay out for games. One can only do this sort of thing when one lives alone hey?

Some very unpleasant people have moved into a house not far from me. I make the assumption that they are unpleasant on the basis that they are using the lounge room window of the house to exit and enter, have run down the side fence, have not tried to put rubbish in the bins, opting for anywhere else but by the looks of it. The loud and unpleasant language that they use when running up and down the tracks in the local neighbourhood. Perhaps they think that being in rural places means they can behave any old way. They chased an old man one day and they stand around in groups on the side of the road, where there are no facilities, seats etc waiting for apparently important visits in low hung, old model, past their prime, but once high end cars? huh?

Thus far my car has been ransacked a few times. There's nothing in it to steal and it cannot be stolen due to an immobiliser so I'm confident they'll not run off with it. Plus who wants a car that is twenty-two years old? I mean it's too old, too slow and the paint is peeling off it everywhere - ridiculous. I dream of getting a newer car but worry about what that means in terms of theft etc. At least with such an old bucket no self-respecting criminal would do anything but steal from it, not steal off with it except for a joke but come to think of it, they appear to be people who are looking for fun... hmm ugh..

It's discomforting to know that they are looking for stuff to steal though. I don't know how far they will go with their intentions. I think they have cased my house but K is really pulling out the stoppers with her barking and growling whenever anyone comes off the footpath. She has stood over me while I have been in bed, in the middle of the night, heckles up, guttural barking and growling and gnashing her teeth holding me down with her front legs while she stares out of my bedroom window. She actually quivers with aggression - I just lay there and be very still. It seems she is in charge in those moments. Maybe she senses my fear? Of course the curtains and blinds are drawn but I do not doubt her abilities to know that strangers are outside. And they usually smoke so I can smell them too. Her nose and hearing are so good she must hear them take even one step. I just wait, eventually she settles down and goes back to her bed so I guess they head off to some place where there is no dog?

Anyway her bark sounds like she is extremely big and bad and having been on the wrong end of her teeth with too rough play and accidents a couple of times, I can attest to her jaw strength and teeth. She scares the crap out of me when she suddenly amps up the attitude even though I'm oblivious to whatever is going on outside. I am in awe of her ability to sleep but be awake at the same time, listening and watching out for me. She's no guard dog but somebody forgot to tell her that. It's supposed to be another freezing, rainy day tomorrow so maybe that'll keep them away. I am getting an internal alarm system for my house soon - before I get the car. lol. Mostly the people who move into that house, move out within a few months. It's that kind of place. Here's hoping.
 
The unpleasant people have been moved on and I am glad. I hope they do not come back. They kicked in some of the windows to my house. It costs a lot to repair them and there is no hope of getting any money from the offenders so I've not even bothered to report the matter. I consider myself lucky they did not enter my home.

They have completely wrecked the house they were residing in so it will take a while to repair that. It is owned by the government so I guess the damage bill will follow them around for a while.

My referees have been contacted for my latest job interview so that means I am likely short-listed.

I guess this is a positive thing for today.

I am hanging on to the positives and trying to process the negative and sad stuff. At least to counter it's impact on me. Depression ...ugh....

I gave K a bath this afternoon. She loves her baths so much! Lifts up her paws and holds her legs back so she gets a really nice lather up and scrub. Even when I lather up her paws she just lets me do it. I think peanut butter is responsible for her adoration with the tub and the scrub, plus all of the praise and compliments I give her as we do it. I don't know maybe she was just born to be pampered? I changed over all of her bedding too so everything is clean. I know a lot of dogs do not appreciate our clean but I think she does or, at least she looks like she does.
 
Perhaps they think that being in rural places means they can behave any old way.
I find that true here. It is also a haven for men peeing at the side of the road. Yikes! They are everywhere!

I'm sorry you're feeling so off. I just went through a bad period and can commiserate. Having the unpleasant folks around didn't help at all, so glad they have moved on! Good luck on the job!
 
So I've been training K to do 'shame' which is hiding her head under her paws - we're making headway with that. Also, choose the cup which was supposed to take a couple of training sessions each evening for about four days - maybe a week? Instead she's doing it after two. It looks amazing but she's already diving for the right cup after doing an elaborate 'wait'. So, I'm on the hunt for another complex command sequence trick to keep her going.

When we do all of the tricks each night it takes about half an hour but I swap them around so she stays fresh.

I am going to start doing even more elaborate scent work with her because she's really good at it and it seems like a natural progression.

Still in lockdown but hoping to come out of it next week. If the silly protestors do not stuff it all up for everyone else that is. After so many lockdowns, border restrictions and all of the other restrictions I am getting really tired and it's crushing my hope that we might ever live a relatively normal life again.

K and I go to the city next week. It's going to be a big trip for us both. We need to see a specialist that I have been waiting four years to see. Hoping that he/she may be able to help me.
 
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