Barking at the Moon

If you've found us today after hearing about Oliver and Wills on 'Barking at The Moon' tonight then welcome. If you missed us, you can catch it on listen again here, It's the Late Show with Joanna Good, about ten minutes into the show. I recommend you listen to the whole show as, if you love dogs you'll love it - two hours every Thursday night dedicated to doggy talk 'woof woof'. Here are the links to the wonderful charities I mentioned and who are making it possible for William to have such a special friend. Starlight for Children are here . If you look down the list of recent press on the home page you'll come across the piece that put Oliver and Wills on the front page of our local paper for Christmas Day. You can find more about PAWS and Dogs for the Disabled here, including how to join in if you have a child with autism.

I have never been in a radio studio before and I was quite nervous. I had a horrible mind blank when I was asked to name our wonderful breeders when I said they had donated half the cost of Oliver. I could only think of their first names and then blanked on where they lived - awful! For anyone who was listening and is interested, Oliver's breeders are Roslyn and Sam Lovelock and their Kennel Club name (which I did remember) is Rozansam. I kicked myself because it made me sound like they are forgotten and they remain so special to us. It was one of those horrible blanks. I could just as easily blanked on my children's names at that precise moment - in fact Hope and I had joked about me doing so just before I left. If anyone is ever looking for a breeder then do email me and I'll forward you Roslyn and Sam's contact details.

It's been quite an eventful day. William moved into a new bedroom that's been built on the back of the house to enable him to have an adapted room and bathroom downstairs. He loves it and, as you can see, Oliver loves it too. The house is still a mess of half sorted piles of stuff because I just had to break up the move and sort out to take the children and Oliver to the park. We had a fantastic time and Oli had his first run off the lead. Our park has a secure area between a tennis court and basketball court that is perfect for letting dogs off the lead to play without upsetting any nervous children and ensuring the dogs can't get

too far away when they're still learning their recall. Oliver was really good at coming when he was called today. His leg seemed fine so I think he's well and truly on the mend now.

We wore both Oliver and Wills out and, as I write William is relaxing with his favourite TV programmes and Oliver is resting right beside him.

Half-Term Mayhem

What can you almost guarantee will happen at half-term - rain! This is the first half-term holiday Wills and Oli have been together and, my goodness me are they having fun but they need to get out of 'wet play' mode! Wills has a habit of running up and down the living room telling himself Thomas the Tank Engine stories. Wills doesn't let anyone into these moments but Oliver finds it all very exciting. He runs up and down besides William and the whole thing turns into 'puppy play.' It seems Oli is the only one who can pull William out of these moments when he is lost in his version of 'Sodor.' Wills will begin to play with his pup instead. They have a great time but I've got a row of tooth punctured tops on the radiator this evening. I'll not be dressing William in anything expensive for the time being while we try and train Oliver out of mouthing!

Oli and Wills are spending virtually the whole day playing. I'm hoping the rain will stop as forecast tomorrow so I can take the boys to the park and run off some energy. Oliver's leg is still causing him problems and he's limping from time to time but he's running rings and jumping all day here so he may as well do it in the park. We're going to be brave and do some off lead recall training. Between Hope, Ellie and I, I'm sure we can catch him if he does run off but I'm hoping he'll do the same as he has been in the off lead exercises in his puppy training classes. I'll take some of his favourite fish jerky sticks in case. He never fails to come for one of those!

As you can see, Oliver is very good at making himself comfy when Wills has worn him out. His favourite place is not only on the sofa, but curled up on the cushions! I've given up on the idea of not letting him up there because I know he's on there the minute I walk out of the house. I've just had to change the throw as the previous one was a total dog hair magnet!

I'll be talking about Oliver and Wills on the radio tomorrow. I'll be on Barking at the Moon on BBC Radio London at 10.10-10.30pm. You can listen live or after the show on the link or on BBC I-player. I'm really looking forward to telling a new audience all about my amazing boys and how their friendship is transforming all out lives. It's well worth a few new tops.

Proud puppy mummy moment

Today, Oliver passed his Kennel Club Good Citizen, puppy foundation course with flying colours and came home with a lovely rosette. Oli had a series of tests and proved to the adjudicators that he can sit, lie down and stand up to order, sit and wait for 10 seconds while I walk away, come when called indoors, take treats nicely and walk to heel on a lead with a treat in front of him. As it was the last session of the course, we had a bit of fun today and owners were asked to teach their puppy a trick to perform. We were teaching Oli to twirl but had to abandon it as it strained his injured back leg. We've been teaching him to roll over but hadn't had much time for him to perfect it. He did it better than ever today so was obviously waiting for an audience.

Oli will start an activity course in a couple of weeks to consolidate what he's learned so far and build on it before starting the 'adult' levels in the Kennel Club scheme and additional training focused on becoming an assist dog.

A family of dog lovers

I was hoping bringing Oliver into our lives would help William become more confident and relaxed and I'm delighted to be watching that happen before my eyes. What I'm surprised about is that the same thing is happening to me. Someone said to me the other day that I used to talk about William the whole time. My mind had got so used to having to worry about his health that it was hard to switch that off, even during the times when he is well. William's autism was confirmed at the end of last year and I was constantly focused on that and working out what was the best way to help him. Since having Oli, life somehow seems more normalised. We have a new focus and it's a much healthier one. Training Oli is a diversion from thinking about hospital appointments and the latest theory on behaviour modification.

Since having Oli, William has had much fewer meltdowns and has been a lot more relaxed about his routines and obsessions so I haven't felt the need to stress and talk about them all the time. I think Oli has helped my own confidence too. I spent so many long months in hospital with Wills, away from my friend and the only people I socialised with were staff and other parents of the sick children who shared the ward. It's no surprise that our children and their treatment dominated our conversations. Now people ask me about Oli and what we're up to. Talking about Oliver broke the habit of letting William dominate my thoughts and now I'll chat a lot more freely about everything really. I see it with Hope and Ellie too whose facebook profiles often carry news and photos of Oli. They often organise their social life around Oliver, meeting friends in the park and walking dogs together. We all enjoy taking Oliver out together to the park and planning the trips we'll do with him in the summer when he's old enough to go on long walks. Over time, the emphasis we put as a family on Wills has lessoned as we have become a family of dog lovers.

Settling into routine

Oli is growing up fast and is massive! It's just like having a baby. I love seeing him grow but miss him being tiny. I hope I don't get puppy broody! He has a lovely personality and he and Wills get closer by the day. Oliver is really excited when Wills gets home from school and the two don't really leave each others side until William goes to bed. They play like a pair of puppies and lie down together. The other day, Wills was reading a book leaning on Olive and Oli wrapped himself around him. I was just taking a photo when Wills moved suddenly because his stoma bag had started to leak. Oli is doing well with his puppy training and I really think the elements are there for them to make a fantastic assist dog pair. Oliver's puppy training finishes in two weeks and we'll move onto the next class.

All is going well apart from the fact that poor Oli injured his leg last weekend. He was in the garden and I just popped back inside for some more treats when I heard a horrible howling. I thought he was fighting something but came out to find him in a heap on the ground. I though he'd broken his leg at first. It seems he has pulled or torn something at the top of his back right leg. He was improving daily but, this weekend, is limping a little more again. He wakes without a limp but then bounds around and I think overdoes it. We're off to the vet for a puppy check up on Tuesday so he can have a good check over. He's happy but being a bit ginger on that leg. It has meant we've had to pause on aspects of training that involve running around, like his recall training, and we've not been able to go out for a walk or to the park for a week. On the other hand, it seems to have stopped his habit of jumping up at everyone as he's had so much sympathy petting sitting down sore that he seems to have learned to greet people that way. I think he's also calming down in general.

We have a great routine now. I take him to see William off at the school bus in the morning then we go for a walk and do some training in the park (when he's not got a sore leg anyway). We come home and I get on with work while he sleeps and amuses himself. Tearing up boxes is his favourite activity - it's a good job we get through about 4 boxes of feed bottles and stoma bags etc for Wills. We have some play time before lunch and another quick walk afterwards then it's more sleeping for Oli and working for me. Oli is happy to be left for a few hours now and, apart from a puddle and as long as I don't leave anything too tempting to chew in his reach, doesn't do anything destructive while I'm gone. He's always very excited to see me home. I'm quite enjoying his company. Once the children are home, he's all for Wills and my role is more cleaning up the wee (he always asks to go to the garden to poo but it's a bit hit and miss with the paper and outside for wee) and getting his tea ready. Hope and Ellie walk him in the evening and we all take him to the park on weekend afternoons. We all love him to bits and he's having the impact on the family I hoped for - especially for Wills who is growing in confidence daily now he has his best friend. I'm quite surprised how much impact Oli is having on me and my own confidence and ability to cope with the stresses that come with being a single mum to a child with the complex disabilities William has. I'll blog more about that tomorrow...