Chelseas back pack arrived a month ago. Due to the incision from her spaying we haven’t attempted to use it till last night. From the minute she put it on she was comfortable with it. This afternoon will be her first try out.

I cant say enough about the quality of the backpack and the service from Windchill. They specialise in harness’s for sled racing and Alaskan Malamutes. I wanted to go with an Australian company and they didn’t let me down. The stitching and attention to detail is excellent. All packs are individually made and if you look at the photo of Chels sitting you will see her name embroidered on the back. With Chels and I being girls, it didnt hurt that we could choose our own colours.

For her first pack, I went with the basic. Each clasps is lined with (Lycra I think?) well whatever wetsuits are made of..lol… to reduce the chance of rubbing pressure points. In the photo it comes up a bluey colour but it is actually purple. When the hound stops growing (I’m starting to doubt this will happen) I will be getting her the Hiker pack, this features a detachable backpack for navigating rougher terrain, and padded saddle. You can also have reflective strips, which will be an advantage when I’m in rainforests.

I’m pretty sure they take overseas orders as well, compared to the leading American brands I looked at Windchill was almost half the cost and as I said the quality is excellent…pretty damn fine if you ask me…

*Just a reminder, never let your dog carry more than 30% their body weight…THIS IS NON-NEGOTIABLE

*this post is included in the Friday Ark

I hardly had time to put a cover on it and my ‘drama queen’ was stretched out …So yes winter is here but we are all finding our little spots in the sunshine.

Saturdays evenings are pretty relaxed with the house empty of all but 2 staff & 7 youth. At first I kept her on the gentle leader and let her meet the boys (she hasn’t heard male voices much before) both she and they were pretty excited. They thought she was only there for an hour so they all wanted her time but when I explained she would be there till midnight they relaxed.

Fishing was planned so we loaded the bus and headed off. We have a 10seater bus so Chels and I were in the back behind the driver with head out of the window, loving it. We stopped to get bait at a service station and the boys pointed out that soccer balls were on special so we got Chels one. They also took the lead and reminded each other not to leave bait on hooks because of Chelsea. Most have dogs at home and often through the night they would tell myself or my colleague stories of their own dog.

One boy was over fishing pretty quick so he asked permission to take Chelsea for a long walk along the boardwalk. That was it, of all the kids she bonded with this one. When we got home I put her bed in the lounge and we had dinner. All respected my request not to feed her unless they asked and after dinner she was given a huge bowl of vegetables in white sauce (all of their left overs..lol)

Throughout the night I kept her with me, taking the gentle leader off. Teaching her to sit each time I had to unlock an office door which she picked up quickly. Some went fishing again and three kids stayed home with me. We settled to watch movies and at one stage Chels cried as a boy was on her bed. He moved over and they settled together. Later we had computer time and this moved to Chels bed as well. The boy she bonded with spent his time looking up pit bull rescue sites, with Chels curled around him the whole time. Lots of discussion on cruelty to animals, the kids i was with last night are passionate about caring for animals.

One girl was not sure of dogs and turned to me during the night (with Chels head in her lap) and said ‘I think she likes me, shes smiling’ that alone was worth taking Chels in. In all their phone calls home Chels and the things they had done throughout the night was the main conversation. I can’t take her with me every shift but after she did so well last night I will take her in when I can both she and they benefitted from the experience & definitely for my night shifts. We finished at half midnight last night and she slept solid 8hrs when we got home.
]]> http://chelseadane.wordpress.com/2008/05/18/chels-big-night-out/feed/ 10 chelseadane http://chelseadane.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/dont-ignore-chels/ http://chelseadane.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/dont-ignore-chels/#comments Sat, 17 May 2008 02:08:00 +0000 chelseadane http://chelseadane.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/dont-ignore-chels/ ]]> This is a photo I posted over at Random. Chels looks so angelic with her big puppy eyes, lying beside me as I blog…Mmmmm

She actually stands beside the bed on her back legs and leans across. If you look closely at the top left of the computer keyboard the f2 key is out.

When she gets bored with being ‘ignored’ by me, she slams her paw on the computer. This time I lost the f2 key. Previously the B & N key have been sent flying.

She then rests her head between her paws and stares at me…. It comes back to the old saying ‘Who is training who in this relationship’…lol
]]> http://chelseadane.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/dont-ignore-chels/feed/ 4 chelseadane http://chelseadane.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/end-of-summer/ http://chelseadane.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/end-of-summer/#comments Wed, 14 May 2008 06:24:00 +0000 chelseadane http://chelseadane.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/end-of-summer/ ]]>