My Fiancé's keeper

This is Dagda. We call him Daggy of course, as well as little buddy, baby, big boy and other nonsense. He is a Groeenendael x Bull Arab cross, who likes to chew on his toy skunk and sit on people when they're trying to watch TV . The name 'Dagda', derives from 'The Dagda' of the 'Tuatha De Denann', a supernatural race from pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland (can see the obviously Wikipedia sourced article here). My fiancé named him as such because Dagda can be seen as a big hairy Hagrid mutha who protects and teaches, and represents strength and wisdom. Our Daggy is an assistance dog, and his primary roll is to provide physical, psychological and emotional assistance for when my partner cannot keep her head above water all on her own.

My partner is of course disabled, and although it would take some time to list the various illnesses that plague her mind and body, her energy levels are at a constant low-critical and sufficed to say she requires a lot on the way of comfort and movement assistance. While definitive "proof" of assistance dogs effectiveness as medical aids is more subjective than objective (depending on your sources and your outcome measures), its almost universally agreed these days that having a dog or other assistance animal can be greatly beneficial to ones mental health and physical stamina on a given day, particularly in the workplace. For my partner that could mean going to school, visiting a Flower Farm to explore new ideas and make new connections, or a flower shop to buy inventory. For Daggy however, the workplace is wherever his mummy is.

Whilst he may be a full-timer worker, and his 'boss' may often be grumpy and tired, he loves what he does and we make sure he gets the most out of his life as possible. Going to school means getting tonnes of pats from the other gal's in class (including the teachers). Going to a farm means all the exciting smells and soils he can get his nose and paws into. And working at home and seeing my partner start to have a bad case of tic's, minor seizures or entirely inconsistent blood pressure (just to name a few problems) means curling up on the couch, putting his head on her lap, and being a rock amongst choppy tides.

I cant express how much lighter and brighter my fiancé has been since we got Dag. He's not been her first assistance dog, but he's certainly been the best. Some dogs are not equipped or hold the right demeanour to be assistance animals - some straight up just don't like assistance work. This doesn't come down to the breed necessarily, but the uniqueness of each pup. Most people might think of some kind of Labrador when they think of a working dog for a person with disabilities. Sure these breeds are quite strong for what they do as assistance animals, and our last one was a lab girl named Esmee. Whilst she was good at what she did, you could tell she just wanted to be a pup, and so for that - and other reasons not to go into now - she was retired, lives happily with her "grandpuppents", and young Dagda was brought into the fold.

I could see what living without an assistance dog was doing to my partner in the interim, but even compared to the old Esmee days, having Dag there to pay attention, to notice when things were going wrong, and to know when to throw his weighty little body around and provide pressure in the right places has reminded me what my lady was like back pre-diagnoses, before the symptoms got worse and we were blissfully unaware of the mental, and financial strain the coming years would bring. Its also made my carer duties so much easier to keep up with when I'm trying to balance work duties, supporting my friends, connecting with the family etc etc. The list of things to do is ever growing and, even though he's not my assistance dog, as far as coworkers go I couldn't have hoped for a better one. And as far as assistance dogs go? I think he's doing a great job.

Thanks for reading this story about my partners doggy, written by a newbie writer. Your eyes and attention are huge support and your opinion as a reader is gold. If you have any notes on how you would have done it in my shoes my Insta PM’s are open.

You can follow Daggy on Instagram @the.cheerful.chief, and his Mumma @witchy.thea for more adventures in Assistance puppering. Have a good one y'all