Welcome to Memoirs of Monk

The why, what and how this large fluffy dog and his handler came to produce a blog about UK assistance dogs.

Welcome one and all to the totally not original Pet and Disability Blog from me, the dog's perspective. Yes, very meta of us. We like to keep things fun and light-hearted where we can here as sometimes we do talk about topics that aren't too nice. It's nice to have you all here either way.

"Who are you?"

Just a simple mature UK (Scotland) based Assistance Dog team who has been around for a while and loves to help with advocacy and to share our own journey and experience in an attempt that this wealth of knowledge that we've collected can help others.

Being the main draw to this blog and everyone's eyes on the street I'm Monk! I am a five-year-old Akita Inu, who came to my handlers life via a wonderful rescue of Inu dogs (Japanese Shiba Inu Rescue UK). To answer the FAQs, Yes I know I'm big and handsome, and Yes I shed dogs worth a coat a couple of times a year, I am an owner-trained Assistance Dog but I'm also a member of Recovery Assistance Dogs. I also work with my handler as a Scottish advocacy ambassador for the charity Assistance Dog Council.

My handler is the wonderful human Mx Alison Skillin. From my experience, they have many friends, who may even be reading this now, hey there! They had an amazingly long and difficult journey throughout life. Health complications, and life changes that greatly affected their mental health. The one thing I'm told almost daily by my handler is that if it wasn't for me, my mentor Bear and his mentor Icy, they would be able to live the fullest life they do today.

A long time before I was even born Alison went to a hospital (which is like a vet for people) because they developed breathing difficulties from Double Pneumonia which scarily left them in a medical coma (long sleep) while staff had to clean the lungs. This is where things went from bad to worse, Alison didn't co

me out of the coma in the way doctors planned and when Alison did there was fear of brain damage. Alison could not move their body something called quadriplegic. Trapped in their own body only able to move their eyes, I couldn't imagine that level of fear but I snuggle up to them to make sure they never feel it again.

The most amazing thing about my handler I've learnt in the time we've been together is that Alison is a fighter, now and then. Not giving in to fear they fought to gain back everything they lost, even knowing it might not be possible. The staff had to fully care for their every need. Food, movement, toileting. Physiotherapists come to work their body to try and get it going again. There was tons of new specialist equipment that Alison had to learn, and with the combined efforts, one morning Alison was able to move a finger. Then a painful time when her voice came back, finally able to communicate their needs but it was progressing. Then after a long time, Alison was safe enough to go in a wheelchair which they learnt to push themselves about the hospital. slowly more and more came back and Alison was finally winning their bodily control back, doing more of their own care. After all that and still learning to walk. All so much and still even though there was win after the win it was still far from being normal again.

It wasn't until Alison got home with the support of her now ex-husband and her young son helping did her world change massively for the better when Icy entered the scene. Now from my mentor and my handler I learnt all about Icy, he was the first Assistance Dog Alison had. He was an Alaskan Malamute pet who almost instinctively knew Alison needed support. He walked Alison around the house offering stable support, this natural learning curve made Alison wonder if Icy could be trained to become an Assistance Dog.

Then search for information began, to start with only ADUK information came up. Alison applied but soon rejected the idea of joining one of their training programs due to the length of the waiting lists. Alison worked at walking with Icy in the house till they grew brave enough to go out with him. The then-husband joined them as they tried a few steps with Icy at their side and an elbow crutch. Success.

This was just the first of many and Alison kept researching the Laws about disabilities and Assistance dogs. Learning about owner training and support from others in the community they learn more ways for Icy to help, and eventually, the baton was to Bear my mentor (he was a British Timber Dog) and now me. We will talk more about Alison's journey and training and information in later blogs. But as you can see a long journey.

Why Blog now?

With our hero-level origin story and the people we met along the way, we feel it's about time we put down all the knowledge and experience we've gained in an easily accessible place for people to learn from.

After walking in the paws of an assistance dog for a while and with my handler longer it was clear to us how much was incorrect or made the lives of fellow teams difficult (as if having disabilities wasn't hard enough to start with). That's why Alison started advocacy work and tried to change things where they could. They become part of the Assistance Dog Council and helped advocate for many people and businesses who want to do better. Seeing so many people doing their own thing and spreading information widely led to distortions and infighting in the community (think of a bad socialised dog park, no fun at all). It was with the support of friends that they said it might be worth us starting a blog to share the experience and knowledge we had to help those who want the education.

Where to now?

We are going to aim to cover as many topics surrounding Assistance Dogs in the Uk, topics about Disabilities and support, lastly, we also want to share our own personal journeys. We will invite friends to guest blog and share things about their own journeys with Assistance dogs all to help people in and out of the community see our lives.