Unfortunately, Wendy is not coming to stay with us. She can no longer be an Assistance Dog.
Fuck this god-damn virus.
@jemostrom Lockdown ruined her training. The charity (Dogs For Good) are having to deal with this type of issue in general so it's not surprising really. It turns out she has issues with cats, which we actually saw a little of when she came to visit, so it probably wouldn't have worked out to begin with and we're still at the top of the waiting list so it's not as bad as it could have been.
Still, this is one of a few big problems created as a result of the pandemic and whilst I'm continuously holding my breath against the worst case scenario, the big problems are making it difficult to see the positive side of things. It's just so frustrating, you know?
@simonwoods Ahh, I hadn't thought about the kind of problems a lockdown would cause the training of service dogs ... but once someone tells you it's obvious 🤦🏻♂️
For me personally, lockdown (not that we have had one) haven't affected me in a major way. Just a few missed trips and an huge increase in km walked (a rough estimate is 1000-1500 km since march). Also two kittens in the house which is a huge plus. So I'm one of the lucky ones.
But for the vast majority of people the last few months must have been horrible - I do have difficulties to imagine how it would be to live in a city or even a larger village during lockdown. I don't know how I would have handled that.
I do hope they find a suitable dog as soon as possible, I assume it will make life easier.
@jemostrom Thanks! It will make life much easier. Fortunately we also have two cats and they're both a great aide with regard to handling stress and the like.
The frustration for us came from the fact that we were literally a few days away from Wendy coming to stay with us -- the timeline had been accelerated because she was doing so well -- and we were on the verge of three other big changes that are all positive. None of these four changes in total have come to pass and so we're living with this weird stuck-in-time feeling.
Hopefully enough of our society can get much better at adapting to the virus and we'll all be able to get everything going ASAP. 🤞
@simonwoods Ouch, 0 out of 4 ... that must have been a huge disappointment. I do hope that you all get some positive news ... and soon.
@jemostrom Thanks again. 🙂 I'm optimistic that people are at least getting better at taking this whole thing seriously to such an extent that we are not quite falling apart, and thankful that the country is generally doing quite well.