Spend any time around Brad Smeele and his miniature American shepherd, Jett and you’ll soon see that Brad is a dotting dog dad.
The former professional wakeboarder suffered an accident while training in the US ten years ago leaving him a quadriplegic.
He now helps to inspire others through motivational talks and charity work.
Brad says the decision to get a dog was something he had thought about for some time
“Since my injury I always knew that I wanted a dog and where I was living before we were renting and they had sort of no pet rule. And so that was sort of part of the motivation to get into our own place.
“I just always loved dogs, always wanted, you know, that sort of companion. And I guess, you know, it might help with dating, you never know. You know, a good looking dog attracts a good looking lady.”
And we’re still training Jett on how to go and find the cute ones, ” Brad jokes.
It’s hoped that Jett can be trained to be somewhat of a therapy dog or mobility dog to help where he can help Brad with small day to day tasks.
“I’m still exploring the possibilities of what he might be able to actually help with. But yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
Dog trainer Mark Vette has been involved in training from day one.
“ That was obviously really important to get that training process underway as early as possible. For me it was just about learning and understanding how you go about the training, how they learn.
His book, Puppy Zen was really helpful and we had a few sort of one-on-one sessions with him.”
The involvement of Brad’s caregiving team in the training was also key.
“That was probably one of the harder parts was getting all of my caregivers consistent with the training, because you’ve got to be consistent, and it’s, you know, knowing what commands to use and when, and how to correct behaviours, and things like that.”
The early puppy months were a little challenging, but the training paid off.
“We had to get through that first, it was probably six months until he just changed, like he went from crazy puppy energy, grabbing things he wasn’t supposed to, chewing things up to then just being the best most well-behaved dog”
Brad says little moments of interaction with Jett are extra special.
“Like when I’m lying in bed in the morning and my caregivers are getting me dressed, I’ll get him up onto the bed and he gives me hugs so he like comes and messes his head right into my neck.”
“It’s little things like that which are just really cool good ways to bond with him.”
Brad also enjoys the experience of caring and being responsible for a dog.
“I mean it is sort of that steppingstone I guess towards having kids and learning how to adjust your life to looking and caring for someone else or another life.
So yeah it’s kind of adjusted things for me perspective wise.“
Jett also inspires Brad to get out of the house
“It’s just nice to have him around and he’s just going on adventures, he gets me out of the house more and yeah just like to try and do what I can to give him the best life that I can and no it’s just yeah I just love it. He is my best mate. “
Jett, who has his own instagram account, was named after young Australian supercross rider, Jett Lawrence,
“I just liked the name and you know a one syllable name is quite handy with the sort of training and the recall and things like that but then also having the slightly longer name Jettson if he’s in trouble it’s like me being called Bradley when I’m in trouble.”
