I thought of calling this post PAD, ( pets and dementia), but I want to cover working dogs too, who are not strictly speaking pets.

I find our two pet dogs (a Beagle and a Dandie Dinmont), invaluable as therapy, because they know when I require soothing and come and sit with me so I can stroke them, close my eyes and float away. They also force me to get up and take them for a walk, even though the Beagle is old and the Dinmont is lazy so they wouldn’t mind not going out! I must admit I also use them as my mouthpiece sometimes, this is becoming more frequent. Presumably a by product of the dementia.

Working dogs can also be very useful; here in Scotland one can receive a dementia dog which assists with practical chores such as dressing and reminders. However, from our point of view a dementia dog would be impractical as it is paired with the carer and the person with dementia, whatever kind, cannot take the dog out alone. My PCA means that I have been registered “visually impaired “, with what we call brain blindness. My sense of what is the right and wrong action when walking has not been impaired, and I walk our two dogs every day on the same route. I am in the process of being assessed for a Guide Dog and already have a White Stick which increases my confidence. There are pros and cons to having a Guide Dog which we area were working through, and once we have decided will post our decision as it has to be a joint one with my wife.

www.facebook.com/LifeChangesTrust/videos/2423349317677952

This is a video of a speech I made last week, it sums up what I have been up to until now and how I feel at the moment, another speech in May. I hope to work with Life Changes to enable better participation.