Canine Partners

The Scotland trip began with a 5am start, to get to Gatwick for the early flight to Edinburgh, from where I hired a car to get up to Stirling, where we were hosting a Scottish Roadshow for our Canine Partners family. This was one of three Roadshows we have been running up and down the UK, with the aim of sharing our plans and engaging with our extended family of partners, volunteers and supporters, inviting their input. This is a big team effort so it’s important that we are all ‘on the same page’ and benefitting from each other’s ideas and suggestions as we move the Charity forward with many exciting plans. While I was there, I was very touched by one of our partners who has recently been partnered with cp Jagger (brother of cp Jester who recently accompanied Jon as he was competing in the Invictus Games). Gill told me how deeply she appreciates Jagger and what a difference he has already made to her life. She said this with a tear in her eye, as she wanted me to thank the whole Canine Partners team for having made it possible. This was so satisfying to hear, that I nearly missed my flight home and had to trust that Edinburgh ring road wouldn’t play any tricks on me. I caught the flight, and got home at 10.30pm.

Next stop was our Centre in the Midlands, where we were holding a Partnership Ceremony for our recently graduated partnerships, who have passed all the way through the system and are happily settled in their home environments, ready to take on the world as a human-canine team. This involved another early start from Sussex, (6am) as it’s the best way to avoid the traffic on the M25 and M1. What a great day we had! – it is so emotional hearing all the stories from our partners, giving us an insight into the depth of bond between them and their dogs, and life before and after being matched with their canine partner. It is also an opportunity for us to say a massive ‘thank you’ to everyone who was involved in making these partnerships happen: breeders, puppy parents, volunteers, staff, occupational therapists, fosterers, trainers, aftercare assistants, sponsors…..and a whole host of other supporters, with direct or indirect involvement. Our partners spoke with great emotion, with lumps in their throats and tears in their eyes. We do important work here: we transform people’s lives. And with our growing facilities in the Midlands, we are able to transform more people’s lives than ever. By coincidence, our Scottish team were also represented as one of our partnerships, Eilean (with cp Zonda), joined us from Glasgow, as did puppy parent Alison, who was proud to see Bugsy graduate with Sam. But the prize for the greatest distance travelled in order to join us went to Lorraine and Fred who had come all the way from France, to where they have relocated since puppy-parenting Tatum, graduating with Tammy. Some people will go to incredible lengths to stay in this family of ours. Then it was back down to Sussex, having been warned that both the M1 and M25 were gridlocked. No surprise there!

And here at the end of the week, the sun is still shining, which can be great for humans if you’re that way inclined, but less good for dogs if it’s a particularly hot day. Catching up on news as I’m back at the ranch, I am delighted to hear that more partners have been matched up with these specially trained dogs of ours, and have headed home to start the next stage of their training, in their home environment. Meanwhile our Ashley is just taking two cups of tea into the training hall, welcoming another person who is at the very start of the process of applying for a canine partner. Who knows, maybe in a few months we will see them matched with one of our dogs, attending a Partnership Ceremony of their own? And so it goes on…

Onwards and upwards in the world of Canine Partners, transforming people’s lives.

Happy bank holiday weekend everybody!

Andy