Departure from Medical Detection Dogs

It is with a sense of disappointment that I must announce that I am no longer comfortable donating the proceeds from my product sales, to the charity Medical Detection Dogs. The actions of a staff member have made continued interaction impossible, and judging by the look of the Facebook news feed I am not the only fundraiser who has decided to break ties at this time.

It is certainly a regrettable decision to have to make, as the charity's work is very close to my heart. I do not know how my application to have my own dog better trained to alert to attacks of my medical conditions, will be affected.

Only a few pound sterling at a time were donated with each product sale, but this still would have brought them closer either to placing a medical alert dog with somebody who has a life-threatening condition, or to training a dog to detect the scent of cancer in samples from patients, speeding up the diagnosis and saving more lives.

All the items currently listed on the shop, will still have the proceeds donated to Medical Detection Dogs when they sell, as it would feel unethical to redirect the funds from an item that I made with them in mind. When these items have sold and I have used up all my current labels, I will then direct the funds from sold items to a new charity.



This new charity will be Dog A.I.D. (Assistance In Disability). They help disabled people to train their own Assistance Dogs, using pet dogs that they already have. Assistance Dogs are dogs trained to perform tasks that counteract the limitations of a person's disability, such as picking up dropped items, fetching the phone, alerting a partner or carer to a problem, getting a drink from the fridge, opening a door, and then some.



Here is my idea for a new Facebook timeline banner for the shop, featuring an image of Buddy, an Assistance Dog for somebody who has Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome:

New products soon to be added to the shop include:

Jar candles. These last for four days and nights when lit continuously, as confirmed by tests. You are unlikely to have them lit for this length of time however, and so you will get many uses out of them. They can be relit with long stick lighters when they have burned further down into the jar.
These are ideal for use outside in the garden, as the flame is protected from the wind.


Jar candle test - Rosmerta's Cauldron by FlameVideos

Two-colour dog soaps. These were quite hard to mix, but have turned out quite well. The dogs are one colour, and the backgrounds another. They are scented and will look very nice in the bathroom soap dish.