Animal Lover

Welcome to Dog Fit!

Unlike most “About” website pages I’m not going to write this in third person to pretend someone else wrote it…

We all know the owner of the site writes it anyway!

… Plus I am super proud to write the “About” page for my business and tell you all about mobile dog gym.

Why you ask? Well, because no one knows what Dog Fit is “about” better than myself…

So instead, I will write it like it is a letter to a friend.

Which in many ways it is.

We see our clients and potential clients as friends, and they see us the same.

… So what would you like to know?

Well let me get started by introducing myself and my pets…

I’m Damien, this is Bear my 9 year old, working-line German Shepherd,

this is Hamilton my rising 6 year old Off The Track Thoroughbred,

and my new addition Morpheus, my 5 month old F2 Warlander (Andalusian x Friesian) colt.

This business has been in the making for  a very long time. Although only established recently.

I’ve had pets my whole life.. but the pets I’m responsible for… and learnt the most from started when  I was 19 years old (16 years ago).

I had a European, working-line Doberman named Hugo. He was a very special dog… although quite neurotic and quite a difficult dog. I bought Hugo when he was 12 months old, sight unseen, from Brisbane. I was told he got along well with other dogs, was safe around children, and was overall a stable dog… But this turned out to be untrue. He was the opposite. He didn’t get along with other dogs. I couldn’t trust him around children.

It was always difficult to give him the proper exercise and stimulation that he needed. I would have to take him to the park (not a dog park), at times of the day when no one else was around. I had to make sure it had a gate.. with only one point of entry, so I was prepared if another dog was about to enter… We did a lot of daily obedience training, and he got daily walks plus off leash time (always a risk)… but it was never easy or as enjoyable as I thought it would be when I decided to get my dog.

Hugo lived til 12 years…which is right at the end of a Doberman’s life span. He lived a fantastic, yet restricted life. Although the last 1 year was quite difficult with his health, but he was a soldier and he wasn’t ready to leave me until he made the decision on his own… I came home one afternoon and found him sleeping forever near the tree in the back garden.

When Hugo was around 6 years old, I got him a friend.. Bear…
Now Bear is just the perfect dog. He is everything I always wanted and hoped for in a dog. He is an absolute joy to have around. He is a working-line German Shepherd with a super prey drive… but this means he’s always ON.. if you engage with him.. He is extremely intelligent and obedient.
Now the difference between Bear and Hugo turning out the way they did, is I got Bear as an 8 week old puppy, and I got Hugo at 12 months old.
Bear I was able to shape and mould to the dog he is. He had lots of socialisation and obedience training… before he was 16 weeks old he had experienced most things an adult dog would experience… different sounds, different surfaces, different places, different animals, different people etc.. and because of that, Bear has always been a delight to have around.
But because of Bear’s incredible prey drive and his incredible working bloodlines, he is always on. He always wants to play with the ball.. or any other object that can be thrown for him. He lives for the ball.

He is not the type of dog that you just take for a walk and expect him to be satisfied and happy. He needs to be trained. He needs to be played with. He needs to run… and we did a lot of that! Especially in his younger years… I was driving to Wonga Park (45min drive one way from me) 3x per week to train with Brad Griggs from K9 Services International.

 

In 2018, on Grand Final Day in September, Bear was at home in the backyard… doing what he does every day… I was out with some friends… and he was disturbed by some intruders on our property… Now Bear is the type of dog that doesn’t bark at visitors that come to the door, including delivery people… He can tell the bad people from the good people… He know’s the difference between who should be on the property, and who shouldn’t.

Bear knew these two men should not be on the property when I’m not home.. so he confronted them..

Bear who was secured in the backyard, made his way into the front yard, which is also secured by a gate.. I’m not sure if he jumped the fence but he managed to get passed it…  2 witnesses say they saw 2 men in the front yard at midnight fighting with Bear.

Bear did his job… he protected the property from being broken into. He stopped these men… but unfortunately during this process he was stabbed multiple times… he was badly injured… his cranium was indented by the force of the weapon.. and his tricep tendon completely severed… 2 vets that treated Bear said that we may need to amputate his leg, but I was not going to let this happen to the most active, agile and athletic dog I have seen.

I was going to make sure I did what ever I could to save his leg… the community got behind Bear, and a lovely lady and her husband in a neighbouring suburb set up a Go Fund Me page which raised almost $5000 towards Bear’s vet bills. He had 3 surgeries totalling almost $12,000.

and in the end we saved his leg!

It was an extremely traumatic experience… and I always worried about him injuring his leg again… so I did restrict his activity.

Surprisingly it wasn’t as traumatic for Bear as it was for me… He showed no psychological issues… and no physical impairment… He had a full recovery after keeping him confined for 3 months, and a year with rehabilitation.

That happened at the age of 4. Now 5 years later at the age of 9, his leg starts to give him some strife. Bear shouldn’t run, jump or move the way that he does… but he doesn’t know any better. He is 0-100 and just wants to chase the ball. He sprints, jumps, changes direction quickly… he doesn’t realise that he’s getting older… but he’s not a dog that just wants to walk or jog around. It simply doesn’t cut it for him.

So I had to start thinking of different ideas to stimulate Bear mentally and physically with low risk of pain or injury… I need to keep Bear at a good weight, fit, healthy and mentally stimulated daily.

Through conversation with Brad Griggs, the slat mill came up.. and I thought this sounds perfect… it’s worth a shot.. I’m going to buy one for Bear… and let him run in a safe and controlled manner, with shock absorption.

and through this Dog Fit was established.

Bear is kindly allowing me to share his slat mill with other dogs and their owners who can benefit from its use.

To help other owners who may not have the experience or the time to train and exercise their dog to meet their needs.

This is our About Mobile Dog Gym