Monks funky 2022 recap and 2023 plans!

So Humans have celebrated their holidays and ended the Year. Goodbye 2022 and Hello 2023. I've herd its a popular people tradition to recap or think about the year that ahead. Lets give this tail a wag as we look back and ahead in this blog.

2022 was full of change, all exciting, some scary but all needed. Our little family moved to a lovely little place in Aberdeenshire, now this wasn't our first move and the whole process every time left my handler Alison in such a run down state. 4 moves in 2 years, so me and my little brother Ragnar the ragdoll was on top form to help it feel like home.

We got new everything; white goods, carpet, furniture, the lot! The good thing was that we could choose everything and make the space our own. Ragnar even got some cool wall FURniture so he can watch over what he thinks is his kingdom.

Moving on during 2022 Alison went on a empowering personal journey that I could only support with presence and love. They took part in the "Own Your Life" course provided by the ever so supporting Woman's Aid. This course helps survivors of domestic abuse come to terms and understand what they went threw, before moving on to finding they true strengths and worth so the can start to heal and move on with their own lives in a happier place.

We lovingly encourage anyone who might be trapped or in trouble with domestic abuse to reach out for help, Woman's Aid or Mankind for our male readers. There is always support, love and away out. You story is yours to tell and will be believed.

My Handler Alison also got a amazing new splint to help them walk with ease, and we took full advantage! We went on so many amazing trips this year with Alison's new Boyfriend. Inverness and Clava Cairns was so much fun and not one stumble, fall or issue which meant everyone enjoyed their trip. We even got time to visit the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre which was amazing, what a strange looking water dog that Nessie is.

A lot of water themed trips and days out, I road on a boat for the first time, we went to a boat festival which was so cool. We also went to Manchester which you can read all about in a older blog.

It safe to say that even with a little up rooting, we have finally settled down in a loving home. Alison has a loving and supportive partner (which is great cause I have back up which means I can relax a little) and we are living a fuller happier life. Our health problems still give us grey days but we are seeing many more brighter days and rainbows.

Not only have we been busy personally but me and Alison have been pressing forward with amazing Advocacy work. We have been helping the Assistance Dog Council with their goals and work. We have even made changes like the signs used by the National Trust Scotland after they needed to update their terminology. They used Service dog instead of Assistance dog which they were amazingly receptive and changed.

We've even been working with Scottish Fairies and Police Scotland with polices and procedures around dealing with Assistance Dogs. We have attending APDAWG, CPG for Disability meetings and even joined the Aberdeenshire Sheltered Housing Tennant Forum to help with current and future issues.

There's probably loads more I could go on about but lets look forward to the future now.

We are aiming to fly out to the USA to see Arizona and some of Alison's Family. This will be a huge step, navigating flying and traveling to a new country. We will be blogging the pathway to help others hoping to achieve the same someday. So keep reading. We are also working on a lot more Advocacy work include more government meetings and helping others with any issues we are looking forward on discussing these in more depth with you all.

But most of all for 2023 …. I think the biggest goal for me as a Assistance Dog is that all my family, Ragnar and Alison are happy and as healthy as can be in body and mind. also for more unicorns.