Canine Partners

And so it was that Tuesday found me heading off bright and breezy to Gloucester, and Wednesday saw a similarly early start to get to Glastonbury. Both of these places are hot beds of Canine Partners activity, particularly on the puppy front, as we have puppy-training satellite groups in situ, looked after by our trainer, Heather.

Between the two Gloucester and Somerset groups, Heather has 18 puppies currently under her watchful eye, with a few placed on the outskirts of Bristol. All of these are progressing on the journey that will eventually lead to their placement as fully-fledged canine partners. I can’t possibly tell you about all of these, but I can tell you how grateful we are to our friends at Guide Dogs for supplying us with many of these pups in the first place. Contrary to popular belief, charities often do work together and we are very pleased to be able to collaborate with Guide Dogs, particularly when it is clear that it is the same sorts of dogs who make good canine partners as guide dogs. A good example is Jordan, with puppy parent Steve. He’s 6 months old and as sweet as a nut, and he came to us from Guide Dogs as a pup. Erin is another good example, as is Bella, with Nicole. Both of these youngsters came to us as a result of a collaborative venture with Guide Dogs, where we share their mums (Tina and Sula are owned by Guide Dogs but looked after by Canine Partners), and divide their litters of puppies between us, with some going on to become canine partners and others becoming guide dogs.

In young Humbert’s case it’s a slightly different story (although to be fair, the only story Humbert is really interested in is the one that goes “Once upon a time there was a cute little puppy called Humbert who went to visit the hall at Tor Leisure Centre with his puppy parent Alice and got cuddled by lots of people and played with some children”). He is one of our ‘home grown’ puppies but his mum is Pebbles, who originally came to us from Guide Dogs when she was a puppy. So you can see, the links are strong. And just in case you’re thinking ‘I wonder where the name Humbert came from?’, it’s actually a name that comes from his sponsor – we are proud that Humberts Estate Agents have taken us on as their charity of the year.

Of course not every puppy comes from assistance dogs charities. Young 13 week old Liggy is a good case in point, puppyparented by Jo and Derek. She is the little firecracker who had her head in the toy box when I arrived. And when I say ‘head’, I actually mean she had her head, tail, sweet button nose, ears and all four feet in the box, until she found what she was looking for (a particularly cuddly soft toy), at which point she paraded around with it before taking it back onto her mum’s lap (where she promptly fell asleep. Bless!).

Who else can I tell you about? What about Felix and Felicia (or Fliss for short?). These two are brother and sister, with Felix based in Somerset with Brian and Val, and Fliss in Gloucester with Lyn. There are strong family resemblances between them, but Felix is a bit more of a boy in his attitude to life, with Fliss being a bit more dainty and ladylike. I went to the pub with our Gloucester puppy parents after the class (it’s a tough job…) and from memory I think Fliss ordered a babysham; whereas I’d guess Felix would be more of a scrumpy man, coming from Somerset.

And what about Tresco (10 months’ old, with Dee), Eva (11 months with Jan), Bronte (14 months with Pam) and Vespa (14 months, with Ruth)? Again, all four of these are from assistance dogs bloodlines, and are looking lovely. Of course every dog is different, just as we humans are too, and these four are good examples. Vespa is aptly named, as she is a buzzy little thing, who likes to go up the gears whenever there’s an opportunity, whereas Bronte is at the other end of the spectrum, quiet and gentle by her mum’s side. Tresco and Eva are in the middle – good as gold but with a bit of a twinkle in their eyes when there’s some fun to be had!

And spare a thought for Caddy, with Nick and Carol, who couldn’t be with us as she’s just been spayed and still has her stitches in.

I left the West Country to return to Sussex having had a well-earned puppy fix. We have some gorgeous dogs growing up in our puppy training programme, but due credit must go to the incredibly committed band of puppy parents who dedicate so much time and hard work to make it all possible. Across the UK as a whole we have nearly 130 puppies living with volunteer puppy parents – that is absolutely amazing and we really can’t thank them enough. These people’s lives are put largely on hold as they allocate so much time to the job of socialising and training our youngsters. I hope that the satisfaction of seeing your pups end up transforming the life of a disabled person is enough to make it all feel worthwhile. I take my hat off to you.

If you’d like to join our band of puppy parents, you will see on our website that there are 15 locations around the UK where you can currently join a group, of which Somerset and Gloucester are just two. We would love to hear from you if you’re interested.

Andy

[Images show Brood Bitch Tina playing with some of her pups (top) and puppy-in-training Jordan enjoying a trip to the beach (bottom)]