The last time I spoke to you, the concrete had just been poured into the floors at our budding new wheelchair-accessible Residential Accommodation. A month has gone by and the walls are now pretty much up, and the roof is even going on! The builders are well on course to have this structure finished in time for the autumn, when it will immediately be put to good use, enabling us to match more of our dogs with human partners. This is going to be such an asset to disabled people living in the Midlands and surrounding areas!

In between visits to the Midlands, I’ve been lucky enough to see lots of Canine Partners puppies around the UK. We have 16 puppy satellites in total at the moment, and I’ve spent the day with two of them over the last couple of weeks, firstly Southampton and then our West Sussex group. All of these pups are at different stages of the journey that will eventually lead to them being partnered with a disabled person somewhere around the UK, helping to transform their life. Puppies Victory, Verdi, Wallace, Alvin, Agnes, Bruno, Casey and Cally were all being put through their paces in Hounsdown village hall, handled by their volunteer puppy parents in a class that was run by our trainer Judith (Blossom couldn’t make it as she’d just come into season, grown-up girl that she is!). Not only were the pups practising their basic obedience but they were also starting to learn some of the ‘core skills’ that lie at the heart of the more advanced taskwork.

Meanwhile in West Sussex, it was time for the class to be held in a town environment, to give the pups a wider experience. So it was that I spent the day with our trainer Hayley as she led individual sessions with each of her volunteer puppy parents, helping them to handle their dogs as they negotiated all the sights and sounds of Petersfield town centre, including the main streets, a trip round Waitrose supermarket and even a visit to the local hospital, including a training session in use of the lift (going up) and flights of stairs (going down). Pups Sabre, Wilf, Arthur, Angus and Digby all gave a good account of themselves, and showed how much work their puppy parents have been doing with them. It’s hard work being a puppy parent but my goodness is it worthwhile work, preparing these young pups for their future lives as assistance dogs! We really couldn’t do it without you!

In the midst of these visits Crufts came and went – we were bowled over by the reception that we received, as members of the public flocked around our stand to meet our dogs and also talk to our many partnerships. Star attraction on our stand was Wendy Hilling, who has written a book about life with her canine partner Ted (or Edward to be posh), called ‘My Life in his Paws’, and many people left clutching a signed copy under their arm. We were also delighted to give demonstrations of our work, both in the Kennel Club Good Citizens Ring and on our own stand too.

From Crufts we headed to Reading, where we had over 50 brilliant runners taking part in the Reading half marathon. I take my hat off to them – 13.1 miles in warm sunshine is not easy and they did us proud. Through sheer blood, sweat and tears they managed to all get round the course in one piece and, between them, look like they will have raised over £15,000 for more canine partners to be trained, which is amazing. And then yesterday, at a slightly more sedate pace, another 50 or so people joined in a Big Bluebell Walk at our Southern Centre, again chipping in to raise some much-needed funds.

And while all these brilliant efforts have been taking place, sixteen more people have been matched up with our specially trained assistance dogs, attending courses with us at either our Southern or Midlands Centre, setting them on the road to be fully fledged partnerships.

This means that there are now 344 people across the UK living their lives with a trained canine partner by their side, which is more people than ever before. Thank you so much for everything you are doing to help us do this work – and if you are new to us and looking for ways to help, by all means click through the pages of our website and see how you could get involved.

Onwards and upwards!

Andy