I love it when a plan comes together

Having epilepsy brings with it certain restrictions. Not being able to drive is a fairly obvious one, at least until a year has passed since your last seizure. Partial seizures, like the ones I have 2 to 3 times a month, count, so I’m not going to be able to drive for a while… Other effects on your life are less obvious. Like not being able to walk your dog, because if you have a seizure you might let go of the lead and then what happens to your dog? In the case of my dog, Scamp, based on previous experience we thought that she would probably just sit on me, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that we found out for sure.

I always let Lucinda know when I’m going out with the dog(s), and which route I’m taking, so she knows when I’m overdue. One evening in June, when we had a foster dog called Rosemary, I didn’t come home from the dog walk. So Lucinda got in the car to go and find me. She didn’t have to go far: as soon as she drove out of the end of our road she found me. I was lying on the grass verge a little way up the road with the 2 dogs next to me barking their heads off. As she got close to me a car coming the other way slowed down to see if I needed help. She explained that I was her partner, I’ve got epilepsy, I wasn’t drunk, and that I’d be OK. I kind of remember saying something completely unintelligible at that point and they drove off, probably completely doubting Lucinda’s insistence that I wasn’t drunk.

Anyway, the point of this post (if there ever was one) is how I safely walk the dogs. I use this very handy belt that has a karabina to which you can attach the dog leads. Then when you collapse in an epileptic/drunken (delete as appropriate) heap the dogs stay attached and don’t run off down the road. The night described above was the first time we’ve had the opportunity to test the system, and it passed with flying colours! It’s very handy – you can buy it with long stretchy leads, or, as I do, you can use any old lead with it. You might even be able to use it whilst running, but neither I nor my dog would know anything about that.

Here is a link to buy it on Amazon UK: Thinkpet Dog Lead Belt – if you use this link you will be supporting a local dog rescue charity, Last Chance Animal Rescue. I hope somebody buys one, I’ve spent all evening setting their affiliate account up for them 😀