I’ve enjoyed seeing everyone’s photos of their children, so I thought I’d share some of my ‘kids’ too lol.

Santa’s elves

The labrador is my incredible assistance dog (service dogs are called assistance dogs here in the U.K). He was trained by a charity to help with my physical disabilities (things like picking up dropped items, fetching the phone when it rings, raising the alarm if I need help, helping me dress and undress etc etc) and he’s also gone on to also learn how to alert when I’m going to have a seizure which gives me around 5 minutes to make sure I’m somewhere safe before it starts. I also have problems swallowing and choke regularly, even on liquid or saliva. After he frequently watching my mum help me when I choked, one day I choked when I was on my own and loss consciousness. Elgin brought me around by nudging me with his head, prodding me with his paw and licking frantically at my mouth (gross but it worked lol). Now every time I choke when I’m on my own, he’ll keep nudging my throat hard to remove any blockage and lick at my face and mouth which usually has me coughing and spluttering pretty quickly lol. He’s saved my life so many times, he’s my hero. He’s received awards and has even met and been petted by the Queen, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and several other members of the royal family.

The beagle is a rescue dog, my mum and I adopted her four years ago. She was rescued from a puppy farm (I think they’re called puppy Mills in the US) and had a few health issues. She was extremely nervous, terrified of everything. She’s much more confident now, she’s a sweet little dog. She can be very naughty (and noisy) but she’s soon forgiven lol. She loves following my labrador when he’s helping me as she knows he gets rewarded with treats - and of course she gets a treat too.

My assistance dog really is acting as an elf at the moment. It’s impossible to choose who to gift to, so I screenshot several request posts and put them in a gallery on my iPad. I then ask him to ‘touch’ my iPad screen with his nose, which opens an image. I then buy a gift for the family whose screenshot he selects. Very strange way of choosing, but fair and random 😂

I’ll stop rambling on now - I could talk about these two all day lol.