k9assistance by Caesar ~ News Archive

News Archive 2002
November/December 2002 November proved to be a busy month for us, the highlight of which was our week long trip to London towards the end of the month.
On the whole we had a great time, but did have a couple of hiccups along the way. The day we arrived, I fell from my wheelchair on a far too steep slope that had been constructed as an alternate entrance to the hotel. Caesar immediately was nudging my head as I was on the ground, poor boy he was looking most concerned, as if to say "Oh heck, they didn't teach me this"! So we had to transfer to a more accesible hotel, I might add, I had contacted the first hotel on 4 occasions to check their access.
On another occasion, a taxi driver refused to carry Caesar, even though he is a registered assistance dog, and the law here states he must be carried unless the driver has a current medical exemption certificate. To make matters worse, the radio controller then told me that no driver from his company would take me, the law was nonsense etc. and hung the phone up on me! Needless to say, I have already set the complaint in motion. The good thing is that the whole episode was witnessed by one of the staff of Dogs for the Disabled, the charity Caesar comes from, so I have an excellent witness :o)
That said, we had a super time, this is the first time I have travelled without anyone else on such a big trip and stayed alone in a hotel since my accident in 1989, and Caesar was was my guardian angel :o) I would never, ever have had the confidence to do this trip had it not been for Caesars' company and help.
During our stay, I managed to see three West End shows with friends. The Lion King, We Will Rock You & Michael Moore Live. The first two of these were loud and consequently, I had arranged for Caesar to be looked after by a member of the theatre staff, I was a bit nervous about being away from him, and how he would cope, but I need not have worried, the staff at both The Lyceum and Dominion theatres were excellent and looked after Caesar & I very well indeed. For the Michael Moore Show Caesar joined me in the auditorium, and he seemed mesmerised by some of Michael Moores' antics on stage, but coped very well. Caesar and I met both Michael Moore and The Lion King (well the actor who plays him).
We managed some sightseeing on our trip, Caesar got two flights on The London Eye, we visited The Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, Harrods etc., and I now have plenty more photos to add to Caesars' website.
We spent the weekend days at Earls' Court, London as the Discover Dogs Exhibition, run by The Kennel Club took place there. Dogs for the Disabled had a stand there, and Caesar and I were helping out. One great thing about these type of events is that I often get to meet other partnerships from DFD, and we had a super time meeting up again with Mel & Penny, Penny is Caesars' 1/2 sister. They do a great double act when meeting and greeting :o)
Certainly, Caesar found the trip as exhausting as I did, but he was a true trooper. He is essentially a country dog, and I am not sure he had even been to London before, however, he remained unfazed even in the most challenging circumstances, like on the Eye and when I fell (something he has never seen before), and also when we passed a very noisy demonstration etc. Even in the hotel room, he was very attentive, and his work and attention to me did not suffer in any way at all in spite of the numerous distractions.

September/October 2002 Caesar remains well, and has got over all the health hiccups of the summer :o)
We were fortunate enough in September to meet Ellen MacArthur, however no time to talk about our shared interest of sailing, as Ellen was far more interested in cuddling Caesar! Ellen was very kind in finding time for us to have plenty of photos taken.
In late September, we had an unfortunate incident when walking one afternoon. A pervert jumped out just a few feet ahead of me, and was indecent, I need not have worried as Caesar assessed the situation rather quickly, and despatched the pervert to a gorse bush. No barking, no biting, he simply ran rather fast at the guy who backed off...thankfully. There are some sick people about.
Mid October saw us at the Celebrating Partnerships Day, held by DFD in Exeter. It was super to meet so many other assistance dog partnerships from our region, and especially nice to meet Cosby, Caesars' littermate for the first time :o) 31st October, new page added, Caesar Meets...

July/August 2002 Well, it's finally summer, and we have been quite busy of late...
We don't seem to have stopped since late June, first there was the long awaited new scooters' arrival, then Caesars' birthday, then Wimbledon, and along the way we have continued to do some talks for The Wessex Group of Dogs for the Disabled.
Caesar recently accompanied me to a football match and family barbecue, his first experience of both, and behaved impeccably.
Caesar has been in the wars a bit this month too. Just after our return from Wimbledon he ran into a barbed wire fence and had some small cuts and scratches on his face. Thankfully they have healed up nicely, and show no signs of scarring. It seems to be a bumper year here for ticks, so we are constantly on the lookout for them when we arrive home from our walks. So far 4 bites, and countless ones removed by me before they got to him! Caesar is currently on the mend from a rather nasty and prolonged tummy upset, which has necessitated several visits to the vet. No sooner had he got over the bout of colitis, Caesar developed anal gland problems, and overnight attended to them so much, he was left with large extremely sore Hot Spots on his rump and under his tail. Vetinary treatment for both problems immediately followed, and several days of convalescing saw him improving well. He is now almost back to normal, working well, and waiting for the hair shaved by the vet to regrow.

Summer Fun
Caesar is currently enjoying ice cubes in his bowl, made by Mum with empty yoghurt pots, normal ice cubes just never seem big enough! Caesars' Kongs are currently being plugged at the bottom with a small piece of cheese, then filled with Natural Bio Yoghurt and frozen, he loves to enjoy them in the garden during hot weather. Daily dips in the ponds on the heath ... essential! This archive began in July 2002