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🥹 PROUD MUM MOMENT 🥹

Tonight, Teddy not only graduated from Awseome Adolescents' dog class (small rosette), but he also completely his foundation in the Good Companion Award/canine citizen scheme (big rosette) and I could 👏🏻 not 👏🏻 be 👏🏻 prouder 👏🏻

It included things like recall, play, restraint going through doorways, settle, sit/down/stand- and wait for each of those-, food restraint (both not taking a treat from your hand until you give the release word, and then having food put in front of them and they not touch it until you give the release word), loose leash walking, and a section where we were asked about certain laws surrounding dogs and also had to show his tag with the correct information on.

Anyone who completes the training course gets the little rosette and shiney certificate, but you have to pass every stage of the requirements to get the official APDT (Association of Pet Dog Training) Good Companion Award and rosette. His certificates are being framed ASAP, and the rosettes can go on his training boad!
Next stop: adult class! Tuesday nights! Need a PA who is willing to work a Tuesdays 6-8pm-ish 👀 hmu...

But yeah, INSANWLY PROUD of my little man (hence the headlock kisses in picture 2/3 🙊❤️❤️

Shoot for the moon, Teddy Bee 🌛💛🐕‍🦺🐾 by @frankiegrace_

FREE RUN 🐕

Let me be very clear about this: All. Dogs. Need. Free runs. A free run is when you take your dog to a safe park/area and let them off lead. A 20-minute free run does more for a dogs mental health, physical health, and enrichment than a 45-60 minute street walk. They just get a WILDLY different experience- they get to explore smells completely on their own, and of their own accord, they can dig, roll and mess around in grass and marshy areas, they can play with other dogs, and they can RUN which helps burn so much energy and makes them feel more fulfilled, they can find treasure (definitely a golden retreiver thing), play fetch, doa nythijg they want. Even if you run your dog on a lead, they aren't getting the same experience they would on a free run.

Some people aren't in a position to give their dogs this time - get a dog walker! I used to walk the poodles up to a park (20-40 minute walk), let them free run for an hour, then walk back home. Those walks were the highlights of my week. Not just time spent with them and getting to play fetch, watch them run like majestic horses (they were standard poodles- where my love for the breed comes from), and sometimes just spend 20 minutes fussing Katie whilst Georgie ran off and pretended to track moles and rabbits, but the time spent in nature just having a leisurely walk around a park or fields or woods was so grounding and nice to connect with nature.

I would have taken Teddy to the scouts rec and bramctoe woods today, but the rosd is closed off as a wall collapsed in the road right after a hairpin bend 😬 so we went to another park I used to take the poodles to. As you can see, he met a few new friends and did lots of running, running, running, running! A beautiful moment in free runs is the moment he comes running right back to me looking so happy, and immediately lies down for his treats (we're working hard on recall so he gets jackpot rewards every time her returns, whether I've called him or not). But I couldn't resist these videos with this song 😂🐾

#puppy #dog #dogsofinsta #goldendoodle #intraining #assistancedogintraining #assistancedog #cuteanimal #dogreel #freerun #mentalhealth by @frankiegrace_

✨️Appreciation post✨️

This post is for two very special people, my good friend, Sarah, and her 6 month (and a week) old baby, Elodie.
I've known Sarah a long time but over the last year our friendship has grown tremendously. Throughout her pregnancy it felt like she had every complication out there and although neither the pregnancy or birth were easy, she carried and birthed Elodie with fearful grace.
Elodie was born just a couple of weeks into my hospital stay, and a week or two later I broke out for a few hours to meet her and see Sarah and her husband Jon.
Since then I've seen Sarah and Elodie relatively often. I've watched Elodie grow and devlop, I've seen Sarah absolutely blossom into motherhood.
Just over a month after Elodie's birth, Elijah died. I clung tighter to Elodie because of this, and I'd already been clinging tighter to Sarah throughout her pregnancy after us losing a mutual friend in childbirth. I was in an absolute pit of despair, especially after Elijah's celebration of life when I decided I didn't want to be here any more. Gradually that changed.
And as it changed, continuing to watch Sarah's motherhood and Elodie's infancy has been a true true joy in the very darkest place. I write this is tears, mixed joy and sorrow, for the two are so close on the spectrum of emotion sometimes you can't even figure out which one it is. I made a promise to Em after she died that I would find one beautiful thing in every day, even the ugliest days. And in every ugly day since Elijah's death, there has been Sarah and there has been Elodie. This year I even got to spend part of Em's anniversary with them.
❤️
But last week Elodie turned 6 months (I was so blessed to spend the afternoon with her and Sarah) and I look how far we've all come in that time and marvel at it all. So thank you Sarah, for being such a good friend to me. And thank you sweet little Elodie, for being the shining light in our lives, and despite not even knowing it, keeping me around a bit longer. I can't wait to see what you do next, sweet Elodie Melody. (Unless its projectile vomiting- which I've become quite adept at catching in a muslin 😉)
Love you both ❤️✨️ by @frankiegrace_

The last 4 and a half weeks have been wild. I'm still in hospital and constantly debating how much to share but it's hit a brick wall this week and gotten quite scary.

Last week I had to go to a salon (which I hate) to get my cornrows removed because as beautiful as my plaited crown was, I had to remove them before they matted into dreadlocks. As you can see, I was not well enough to have gone. Every time I moved I got cotton wool ears as if I was about to pass out.

So 5 weeks ago I had a series of seizures leading to status. I had my new, favourite little froggy playsuit cut off me for treatments and had another airway placed (not my first rodeo). Hospital did no investigations and I discharged myself from the ED.

The following Monday I felt how I feel when septic. I went into adrenal crisis and thus eating has become, once again, impossible. This has caused my potassium to drop dangerously low. I'm on almost continuous infusions of potassium or potassium and phosphate.

I currently have fungal sepsis and midline sepsis (had an emergency midline placed in theatres before they removed the infected one, and also I have antifungal infusions and broad spectrum antibiotics.) Thankfully my body is accepting these and responding very well. Unfortunately it's another October spent in hospital.

My vascular access is awful and I changed arms and midlines- who knew the difference in line collurs makes a difference in drawing blood (you can get it fom this one, but we've been unable to fly

The issue with potassium is that mine drops to a critical level as soon as the infusions stop, so they need to replace it faster. Due to my arrhythmias I need continuous cardiac monitoring if we are to replace faster, which means moving to HDU. I was diagnosed with autism last year and now I understand myself more in terms of staying in hospital and the importance of staying in the same bedspace. HDU thankfully hasn't been mentioned since yesterday morning. Starting on a different ward isn't something I want to do unless absolutely necessary (like in the next paragraph)!

Rowina came with me to get my new line in theatres. What a wild ride!

This is the day my parents ch by @frankiegrace_

🦮 ❤️ PROUD ❤️ 🦮

Teaching Teddy to target a door handle (when training him to find a door) has developed into him having a really good 'target'. I've been trying to turn 'touch' into a verbal cue for this for maybe a year, but his 'target' (learnt in the last month) is so much stronger and focused, I don't actually need to point but I still am a little, and he's adapted it and GENERALISED IT! Normally dog's cannot generalise; for example, they don't know what every single bottle of water looks like- but they can either retrieve an item in a reliable area (in your fridge, last item on the left on the botton shelf) or if you point at the retreival item (your water bottle). They can learn to generalise; guide dogs do it a lot, and it's one of the reasons anyone with an assistance dog will tell you that guide dogs are so, SO, highly trained and often don't make the final cut.

Now that Teddy has a reliable generalised term, I can start spreading it around- electric access doors♿️; pedestrian crossing button🚦, a button in a lift🛗... I have done this part of his training absolutely solo, and my next step is either going to be taking an on-off light with me to practice in those real world scenarios, or putting yellow post-its on his real life targets if he needs help with such small targets (we start with a bigger target and make it smaller and tighter) until he's got it down pat.

I am just insanely proud of him and thrilled that this particular task has finally clicked with him. Watching something click for a dog you're training, especially if they're your future assistance dog, is such a joyous moment so I wanted to celebrate by making this little post to show you what he's learnt (especially with the week we've just had which deserves its own post!).

Oh, and in terms of 'target' and doors, he can open outward going doors if they have a depressing handle, an emergency exit bar, or doors that pop open with a little pressure near the door nob. 🚪

He's a good boy and I love him to the moon and back like infinite times ❤️❤️❤️
🦮

#Goldendoodle #assistancedogintraining #ownertraining #dogsofinstagram #servicedog by @frankiegrace_

🐾 WOOF AND TUMBLE🐾

Introducing... Teddy's sweet friend, Isla! She's been Teddy's friend since they were in Yellow Dog Club together (for reactive dogs) years ago. Then once day in class I stepped on a squeaky pig and Isla responded so strongly to it I just threw it over and said 'don't worry we have 5 at home!' The next week Matt and Dee (Isla pawrents) bought Teddy one of Isla's favourite toys, which he loves!
What started out as practicing parallel walking either side of a tennis net has turned into garden training, long walks off lead, and doggy soft play as often as we can!

Her owners, two beautiful people who I'm so proud to call my friends are so fantastic, Teddy loves them and you can always tell someone's good based on Teddy's vibe check (which tall men with beards usually fail, yet Matt is wonderfully accepted by Teddy in spite of his gender, height, and facial hair 😂 and @diligent_badger gets a full pass on the vibe check too!). And best of all him and Isla get on really well. We usually have some excitement and yipping on both sides at the beginning of each walk/play session etc. but this week at Woof and Tumble (in Mansfield) neither of them made a sound when they greeted each other. Just a little sniff and off they went playing and running circles round each other.

I can't tell you how much it means to have a reactive dog rehabilitated to this point. Don't get me wrong, Teddy has a bit to go yet when it comes to being on lead around other dogs, and around cats and specifically geese and pigeons (all other birds fine), but he's so much better than he was. Currently I'm focusing on recall training with him. Inside, his recall is great. At class, his recall is 110%. Off lead on a walk, he might as well be a deaf stray. No recall. Or he looks me right in the eye when I call him, holds it... then shoots off in the opposite direction! (Don't worry, I know what I'm doing in recall training, as I say we've done it in class and I can transfer all that knowledge into solo sessions.)

Anyway, thanks once again to my wonderful friends, Matt and Dee, and their beautiful pup Isla who they so generously share with us and Teddy 🥰 by @frankiegrace_

Little walk with Teddy (okay, it was a 2 hour walk, but for him, that's genuinely little!).

As International Assistance Dog Week 20226 comes to a close, I will definitely get round to posting more, but have this little off-duty treat of a reel!

When Teddy is with me, his nose never turns off. The nose is always on duty! But when we go out and I'm doing public access with him, he could be walking and with me for the best part of 6-8 hours. He has incredible energy but also adopts the whole 'work hard, play hard, sleep hard!' mantra in full 😂 he will, however, wake up to alert me to an oncoming seizure, which he did twice last week. I'm so proud of his little nose, and so proud of his whole being, especially yesterday on our long walk (👩🏼‍🦽) when we were at the park and he was showing off his tricks and obedience skills! He got talent 😏

Anyway, that's all for now, just remember life is better with little treats!

#dogsofinstagram #goldendoodle #assistancedogintraining #internationalassistancedogweek #internationalassistancedogweek2026 by @frankiegrace_

Teddy 🧸

#goldendoodle #goldendoodlesofinstagram❤️🐶🐾 #dogphotography #dogphotoshoot #goldendoodles by @frankiegrace_

Foooouuund aaaaaa stick on the ground
And now I'm gonna use it
All this power that I've found;
Gonna totally abuse it
Gonna hit so much stuff:
Do not get into my way,
Cause I found a stick and I'm using it today!
Found a stick found a stick

#foundastick #dogwithstick #dogsofinstagram #goldendoodle by @frankiegrace_

A good way to honour the dead, is to honour the living. I tried to do this yesterday.

Yesterday marked 11 years without you, and I can't believe it's been so long. I'm not late posting because I love or miss you any less; if anything, it's because I love and miss you more. I want to get it right. I need time to think about what I will share of my grief and how I can express my love for you in words. Teddy helps with this. You'd love him. You would LOVE him.

Yesterday, when we went to the Rainbows Memorial Garden, I popped into reception to drop off some trach pads I'd sewn. They're a bit like tubie pads, except they have a much wider hole for the trach tube and no popper, so it can just slip around the tracheostomy tube on and off easily. The staff were in awe, and when we told them about you, Josh, they had a wave of recognition, not of you, but if your legacy. The fact you continue to impact people who never knew you, eleven years after you left us says everything anyone needs to know about you.

And I can't breathe without you- but I have to.

I love you, Josh. Keep partying with the angels until I get there. 🕊 💔 by @frankiegrace_

Appreciation post to one of my carers!

She does my hair each time she comes and gets better every time (at first, she wasn't too sure because she has only ever done cornrows on her daughter or other people with textured hair. She did me 4 before I went on holiday, and it massively helped with the heat. This time, she only had time for 2, but oh my goodness, they're beautiful, and I love them!!

Thank you, A, for doing such beautiful braids today!!!

I've been having actual carers for personal care and help around the house since March(ish), and the difference they make - even on half hour calls- is amazing. It takes a lot of pressure off of my PAs, especially Emory. The help with tidying and cleaning and organising means me and I have time to do stuff enriching or go shopping or whatever, really, just because we don't have to spend hours tidying, etc.

Most all my carers are great, you get the odd bank worker who doesn't know me or the house nut other than that, they're great and always eager to help, even when I don't know what I want them to do: they'll think of something! by @frankiegrace_

$So I've had ankle pain in my right ankle since around April. I had an x-ray about 5 weeks ago, which showed no breaks, which is great, then an MRI 3ish weeks ago. I was back in the fracture clinic last Friday for MRI results. • Torn my deltoid ligament • Torn my CFL (Calcaneofibular Ligament) in 2 places (a tear upwards and a tear sideways) So • 4-6 weeks of immobilisation in this boot • Physiotherapy starting end of July (with a few easy movements to do until then) • Referral to rehab physio as well as isolated ankle physio, to generally manage my EDS better (this will be longer term) I already have pain relief at home so if I need it I have it! #EDS #TornCFL #TornDeltoidLigament #AnkleInjury by @frankiegrace_$

Frankie Hall

@frankiegrace_