Welcome to our brand new blog series, celebrating our fantastic volunteers!

After the success of Volunteers Week, we wanted to keep up the momentum and shine a spotlight on the wonderful people that make up our purple family.

For the first of our Volunteer of the Month series, we spoke to John Flower who is one of our demonstration dog handlers. He also worked as a volunteer in the Essex fundraising office for several years, helping with IT support, fundraising and event planning. His wife Steph is also one of our partners who was recently matched with successor dog Wisteria.

Without further ado, let’s hand things over to John to share his volunteering experience…

Meeting Frodo

I have been volunteering for Canine Partners for over sixteen years now, going back to the “red jacket” days when the Charity was still embryonic.

It all started when I met my now wife Stephanie who had canine partner Frodo, a large chocolate Labrador with an even larger personality to match.

I was very much vetted by Frodo, and he gave his approval by curling up across both of our feet. On other dates Steph had been on she said, “he acted like a naughty child and would keep fidgeting”.

Frodo would later be the ring bearer at our wedding, dressed in a gold waistcoat and bow tie that matched mine and carrying the rings in a purple velvet pouch.

Steph and I would do talks with Frodo coming along too, showing a real-life amazing dog and these varied from small WI groups to the main ring at Crufts as well as other corporate events. Steph would usually do the partnership talk whilst I managed the prop basket! Frodo just loved to show off.

When Frodo retired as a working canine partner  at twelve years old he became my pet dog and we had two wonderful years together before we sadly lost him at fourteen. Steph then had her first successor dog, yellow Labrador cross golden retriever Elmo.

Several months after losing Frodo, I decided to foster one of the charity’s puppies, Jeffrey for a couple of weeks. It was after this that I decided I needed another Labrador to fill the Frodo-sized hole in my heart.

Frodo’s legacy

I am now the proud owner of a demonstration dog called Merlin. Merlin and I love representing the charity nationwide. We do many talks and demonstrations to raise awareness and raise funds too.

Merlin gets to meet up with his fellow demo team mates a couple of times a year at the southern training centre in Heyshott to brush up on his skills so he can remain top dollar demo dog extraordinaire!

A day in the life of a demo dog handler

As a demo dog handler, I am there with Merlin to promote the charity and what it does for people with disabilities.

Merlin and I will do talks and demonstrations to schools, colleges and local cubs and brownies to help them with disability awareness. Schools often have a module for disability awareness and organisations like the cubs have badges to earn.

A typical day as a demo dog handler will start with breakfast. I will prepare his food, give him the command to go to his bed and wait, then two blows of a whistle signifies it’s time for him to eat. Once finished, he will take his bowl off the stand and bring it to me.

While I finish off a cup of tea, Merlin will fetch my trainers from under the stairs, as well as his harness from the hall and bring them all to me. He’s ready for his morning walk before the working day begins!

Once we have returned from Merlin’s morning walk, he will have a quick groom if needed and then I will prepare the prop basket before putting on his jacket and lead. Merlin knows it’s time for work!

Our demos will usually start with a talk from Steph before Merlin shows off what we can do. He is always so keen to show what he can do which in many ways reminds me of Frodo. Once the demo is over and questions have been answered, Merlin is always excited to meet and greet his adoring fans.

One of our recent talks at a local school was the most rewarding I have ever done. As Steph said, “Merlin is now going to undo John’s shoelaces and the take his shoes and socks off”, she overheard a little boy in the front row whisper to his friend “No way, he’ll never do that!”. But of course he did, with plenty of panache. All I could see was a row of open mouths, followed by a volley of cheers.

Why I do it

Steph is now on her third canine partner, Wisteria. We are so grateful to the puppy parents who take a puppy from about 8 weeks for a year to do their basic training and then have to give up their charge for the dog to on to advanced training. That must be so hard. The advanced trainers also have our sincere respect for what they do. All the dogs are so different; they each have their own unique personality that makes them so special.

Like Merlin, I love working with people and being ambassadors for the charity; volunteering allows us both to do that. It has been a chance to use my skills learned in a long career to benefit a charity that is close to my heart.

An assistance dog gives the gift of independence to a partner, which means that Steph does not have to keep asking for help. She can do what she wants without having to wait for someone to help. Just think for a minute what it would be like not to be able to do something that maybe you could do once, and then having to keep asking someone else to do it. It must be so frustrating.

Then there is the emotional support they give, the reason to get up, to live sometimes; that often surpasses the task work they do. I see that from watching Steph with her three dogs and now have experienced at least some of this personally with Merlin. He is my shadow – and my best mate. Everyone loves Merlin and he is such a people magnet.

I hope this has given you a little insight in what it’s like to volunteer for the charity and train and handle a demonstration dog. In my sixteen years volunteering I have seen Canine Partners grow from humble beginnings to what it is today with two training centres and over 700 partnerships created since the charity was founded.

Find out more about volunteering with Canine Partners

Visit our Volunteering section to find out about our current opportunities.