Judith is a prime example of how Canine Partners has evolved over the years. Back in the 90’s, when Judith first became involved as a volunteer puppy parent, the Charity was based in leased facilities in Hampshire and was only training a few dogs a year. When things are small, people get a chance to do a bit of everything, and so it was that Judith started to help out more and more with the advanced training team after attending puppy classes, until a point where our General Manager at that time, Bruce Jenkins, offered her a part-time contract as a paid member of staff with ‘responsibilities for partnering dogs with disabled people and performing other ancillary duties’.

With the arrival of the Charity’s first big project, the development of its very own purpose-built Training Centre, things changed for Judith. The new Centre was over near Midhurst, which made the commute from her Southampton home rather more lengthy than was ideal. But Canine Partners never likes to see talented people go, so came up with the idea of tasking Judith with setting up a puppy-walking programme near her home, on a trial basis. And so it was that the Southampton puppy satellite was born in 2002, piloting a new way of working, out in the regions.

By the time I joined Canine Partners in 2006, as Director of Operations, the Southampton satellite had really got established and taken off. So much so, in fact, that other satellites had followed in its footsteps – East Sussex, West Sussex and Hull were already well underway, with pups in situ under the guidance of Heather, Tessa and Maggie respectively, and Bedford was a lot more than just a twinkle in somebody’s eye as Lorraine had been recruited to set it up at about the same time as I arrived.

Of course when you first start somewhere, you appreciate any help and advice you can get, so it wasn’t long before I headed down to Southampton to pick Judith’s brains. She not only introduced me to all her fantastic puppy parents with all their pups (the sea of purple t shirts takes a bit of getting used to, when you’re new) but also took me out to visit various partnerships in her area, to whom she provided aftercare support. As I said, people get involved in everything when things are small. I clearly remember meeting Richard and canine partner Xebo on that day.

Over the years Judith has overseen the training of over a hundred puppies in her satellite, which means that there are many disabled people across the UK who have a specially trained canine partner by their side thanks to her efforts. Dogs from the older generation like Eileen’s Sailor, Claire’s Ulli and Lorna’s Eli, bless their dear departed hearts. And more recently young Tessie, who featured on the BBC programme last year, with her partner David. In addition to dealing with puppy classes, Judith has also had a hand in the breeding of puppies (if you’ll pardon the pun). She oversaw Annie and Derrick’s fostering of brood bitch Tita, and even puppy walked Dixie herself, one of Tita’s ‘children’. From the same litter was born Doyle, who has been one of the Charity’s demonstration dogs for many years. Erin, Angie and Yarna are other demo dogs/brood bitches that have fallen under Judith’s wing in the satellite.

This job is not all about dogs though – it’s about people. And the people in the Southampton satellite have been absolutely brilliant for many years (and will continue to be brilliant in years to come too, of course), thanks to Judith as their leader, instructor, best friend and all-round mother hen. People have just loved rallying round her and being part of the team. Which is why she only has to open up the village hall and a whole army of her puppy parents arrive to set out the chairs, sweep the floor, bring in the cakes which they’ve baked themselves, and put the kettle on!

Thank you Judith for everything you have done over the last 20 years. We wish you all the very best as you enter into what we hope will be a very long and a very happy retirement. You can look back with great pride at what you have achieved at Canine Partners, as a job ‘very well done!’. Now it’s time to go travelling, fulfil your dreams, and come back and get a little dog of your own that you don’t have to hand over to advanced training as soon as it’s 14 months’ old. And above all, don’t let that horse tread on you again!

From all of us at Canine Partners, happy retirement Judith!

Andy

NB: the picture featured on this page shows Judith teaching canine first aid.

But that was very much the risk last night! The giant of a man that is Chris Robshaw welcomed us to a night out with his Harlequins team mates, as part of his testimonial year in which he has chosen to benefit Canine Partners, alongside Walking with the Wounded, and the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Renowned Harlequins and England rugby ace, Chris’s bicep bulged threateningly when he was simply lifting another pint to his lips, or posing for more photos with the hordes of guests who had all paid for the privilege of being present at such a special night. How often do you get the chance to rub shoulders with international rugby players, while watching our Team GB rugby boys see off South Africa in the Olympic semi finals, live on the big screens? (And obviously we didn’t actually attempt to rub shoulders, partly because it would have been weird, and partly because these people’s shoulders are far out of reach).

Anne, Charlotte, Vicky and I felt so honoured to be present, with our Canine Partners pop-up banners and leaflets, as it felt like being very much ‘on the inside’, on a very unique night. And goodness me, it puts our little charity on the map, to be championed by someone like Chris Robshaw. The main star of the show, though, was young canine partner in training Ulla, carefully handled by Vicky as she posed for nearly as many photos as Chris. And of course Chris and his team mates wanted to see what she was learning, which Ulla was only too happy to show off. Ulla is in her advanced training stage at the moment, having recently completed her puppy training phase with puppy parent Jill.

Riley’s Sports Bar was absolutely packed, both upstairs and down, as Chris bustled around making sure everyone had a chance for a chat, and for a photo, and to bid for various rugby-related memorabilia such as England and Harlequins rugby kits from previous seasons. Raffle tickets were bought widely, as the winners won the opportunity to play against Chris and his team mates in various bar games such as ping pong and table football. Another highlight was a Q&A session with Chris and his mates, which gave a real insight into their personal thoughts about the coming season.

The sole aim of the evening was to raise money for Chris’ chosen charities – how brilliant is that?!

We eventually wended our way back down to Sussex with big smiles on our faces, and Ulla slept like a log in the back. (In all honesty, so did Anne and Vicky).

The money that Chris donates to Canine Partners will go towards changing more people’s lives – and so it is apt that as I write this, our Els has just waved off another group of partners as they head home with their newly matched dogs, having completed their residential two week course with us.  We wish them luck as they start the next chapter in their lives.

Andy

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)]

This is the occasion when our latest group of fully fledged partnerships return for their graduation day, and it is a brilliant opportunity to celebrate the whole team effort that has contributed to putting these dogs and people together. Guests joined us from all over the UK, and it was a landmark moment as we celebrated our first canine partnership on the Isle of Man.

On Tuesday there was yet more excitement as we opened up our Midlands Centre to a big group of invited guests, many of whom have contributed in some way, shape or form, to enable us to build our brand spanking new Residential Accommodation which is fully accessible for disabled people to stay on site with us when learning how to work with their dogs. This was our way of showing people how their donations have been used, and to say Thank You for helping to make such great progress over the last year or so (this time last year we hadn’t even started demolishing the old barn that used to be there, let alone building the new one in its place). The contractors are applying the finishing touches, and we will be moving in and making use of the facilities from the beginning of next month, when our first partnership course will take place – how exciting is that!

Then it was back down South to join our Fareham puppy satellite group, which is equally exciting! Our Fareham folk were celebrating their first anniversary, having set up in the area just a year ago. And blimey they are making progress!!! Hayley is our trainer there, and led the puppy class with seven pups present. Forester and Lottie are the babies of the group at just 12 weeks’ old, and are being puppy-trained by Hazel and Glenis respectively. We have a close interest in these two as they are the children of Pebbles, one of our ‘breeding bitches’, for whom we have high hopes. Their dad is a guide dog, but to be honest Forester and Lottie don’t care – they just want to run around being puppy dogs! It’s all about socialisation at this age, and getting to know about life. Interestingly, young Forester is being sponsored by the brilliant people at the Foresters Friendly Society, who have taken us on as their charity of the year. To say we are excited about that is an understatement, but that’s another story!

Ingle and Jonty are the next oldest, at the grand old age of 5 months. Malcolm is puppy training Ingle, who is another of our ‘home grown’ pups, with canine partner Ivy as his proud mum, while Jonty came to us from Guide Dogs. Puppy parents Malcolm and Lyn guided Ingle and Jonty through the obstacle course that Hayley had set up, showing how their socialisation is starting to be mixed in with some basic obedience – at this age they are teething and are all legs like pipe-cleaners, so nothing is too serious for them. They both did really well, much to Lyn and Malcolm’s delight! Then it was Fern’s turn. Fern is ten months’ old and also came to us from Guide Dogs. Her puppy parent Helena was telling me how enthusiastic Fern is about her work, and that in her ideal world she would do everything at 100 miles an hour. Her tail never stops wagging, from start to finish.

Last but not least it was the turn of older hands Willa and Waveney (still only 15 months, mind you). Handled respectively by Lorraine, and Tim & Chris, these are getting close to the time when they will move onto the next phase of advanced training. Indeed Tim was telling me how Waveney is starting this next chapter on Monday, which will be exciting for Waveney, while distressing for Tim & Chris. Waveney and Willa are both very confident, and have been socialised in so many situations that their attitude is ‘been there, done it, bought the T shirt’. But of course it has been quite a journey to get them to this stage, and has involved a lot of hard work along the way. We are so lucky to have such dedicated volunteers who are willing to socialise and train our dogs in the early months.

And of course the reason our puppy parents do this work is in order to make a difference in the world. And it was therefore brilliant that three of our fully fledged partnerships attended our Fareham anniversary celebration, so that everyone can see ‘the finished product”. We all enjoyed meeting up with Geoff & cp Delilah, Martin & cp Keith, and David & cp Zack. We celebrated with tea and cake, acknowledging the brilliant progress that our team have achieved in Fareham in just one year, and we also met various guests who had joined us on the day, to learn more. Brilliant thanks to Hayley for overseeing the class, and to Chris & Tim for organising lots of awareness-raising events in the area, and to all the team of volunteers and supporters. It’s a big team effort and everyone joins together in keeping their fingers crossed for young Waveney as he heads into advanced training on Monday!

Andy

Postscript: it’s now Monday morning, and Waveney has arrived safely, and is already working with advanced trainer Stephen, who will be looking after him during his assessment period, and if all goes well (fingers crossed) for the remainder of his advanced training. Meanwhile our Fareham satellite have been busy again, and have attended the Big Bark on the Beach where they raised over £700, which will help another pup to enter the training programme. Absolutely brilliant stuff!!

Life can be so cruel sometimes, and so unfair. Julia had played a direct part in making life better for so many people during her time with us, and just think how many more people’s lives she would have touched if she had had the opportunity?

I first met Julia when I was involved in interviewing her for the role of Dog Welfare Officer because I was responsible for the Operations department at that time, and needed someone to join our growing team at our Sussex Centre. She stood out from the crowd at interview because of her depth of experience in the horsey world, where she had been a qualified riding instructor for many years, and also a groom. These eminently transferable skills, combined with her passion for dogs, her Animal Welfare qualification, and her quiet determination to relocate from Suffolk to Sussex, made her the obvious candidate for the job. Dogs and horses might be very different animals but the attributes required when working with them are very similar: lots of patience, care and attention to their needs, long hours in all weathers, and of course all the same people skills that are involved when teaching people about animals, when some of them have natural ability and some have less. What also shone through in that first impression of Julia, was her desire to ‘give something back’ – she was so keen to play her part in changing people’s lives. It certainly wasn’t all about the dogs.

It was because of Julia’s people skills that we soon saw the opportunity to make better use of her attributes, promoting her to Trainer/Instructor so that she could play a more direct part in training the dogs themselves as well as passing on this knowledge to the disabled people with whom they were matched. She turned out to be an absolutely brilliant instructor, and I often received glowing feedback from those disabled people with whom she worked, about how utterly professional she was in the way she imparted information, being patient, clear and supportive. The funny thing was, although this was a huge strength in Julia, it was the part of the role that she never thought she was particularly good at, and which she felt less comfortable with. Some people just don’t realise what talent they have, do they? This was something that Julia’s sister commented upon in her tribute to Julia at her memorial service on Friday – she was forever underselling herself. One of those people who quietly gets on with it, without making a fuss, and without any feeling of self importance or entitlement. She didn’t think she was very good with people, and yet there are countless people who now have a better life because of what she did for them – they are living their lives across the UK with a trained canine partner by their side, courtesy of Julia. That’s something to be very proud of.

Julia was unbelievably brave in the way she faced her diagnosis eighteen months ago, and in the way she faced her treatment. I don’t know if I would be, in similar circumstances. She was adamant that nobody should be made aware of the reasons behind her absences, for surgery on more than one occasion and the accompanying courses of chemotherapy, apart from her very closest friends. She was completely inspiring in the way she gritted her teeth and got on with it. Many people would have shrunk back from life, feeling sorry for themselves. But Julia wasn’t just ‘many people’ – she shrugged off her problems and insisted on returning to work as normal, right up until the very end. She said it was the only thing that kept her going. We all knew that things were getting really critical when she finally felt too weak to undertake even shortened hours, and also when she had to ask Clare (best friend, confidante and fellow Trainer/Instructor) to step in and take over the care of her beloved black labrador Taylor, who had been one of Julia’s trainee dogs who had not been quite cut out for the life of a canine partner.

You just can’t underestimate the effect an event like this has on a close knit community like the Canine Partners family. We have so many fantastic staff, who are caring and supportive by nature, having joined us in order to change people’s lives. In particular Clare, and the team of advanced trainers, closed ranks around Julia and supported her fantastically. It was something that Julia’s sister commented upon, and really appreciated. She was full of gratitude and praise for the way Julia had been looked after during those difficult months, and it was something that her family felt strongly. Not only Canine Partners, but also MacMillan, and ultimately the hospice.

And so we gathered to pay our respects and celebrate Julia’s life, at the little church in Tillington last Friday, surrounded by paintings of horses and dogs, of quite breathtaking quality, into which Julia had poured so much of herself. She was a brilliant artist, which suited her patient and contemplative nature, with an acute eye for detail and a willingness to devote hours and hours of time for the sake of getting something ‘just right’. (She undertook an Art degree before launching into the world of animals). Some people have amazing talents.

As I said at the opening of this piece, as chief executive I have a duty of care to all my staff. Julia’s direct colleagues have been hit very hard by her loss, and the effects will be long lasting. Like Julia, they are determined to do their best to make life better for people with disabilities, and they have been amazing in the way they have continued ‘business as usual’, while grieving on the inside, and as a team. We will do our best to support them, and between us we will carry on where Julia left off, as we know this is what she would have wanted.

Andy

I can’t carry anything, because my hands are occupied on the crutches (so tried a bag hanging over my shoulder, to put everything in, until I quickly realised my shoulders are too slopey to keep it in place and it kept falling off and nearly knocked me over). I’m incredibly slow, and have realised that you really must plan carefully. If you come downstairs (which is a process that seems to take forever, and hurts), and then realise you’ve left your phone upstairs, you just feel like despairing. And you are always having to ask people for help, which raises a few eyebrows and makes you cringe. Please can you pick me up and bring me to work and drop me back home afterwards? (I’m not allowed to drive for a fortnight, so thank you Sue and Andy for doing the honours today, and Ken for bringing me home). Please can you carry my cup of tea and put it over there? Please can you put my socks on for me?! I really do take my hat off to people who go through life facing these sorts of challenges on a daily basis, only magnified by a factor of 100. Apart from anything, it’s tiring, and debilitating, and quite often it hurts. The thing is though, I know I will be back on my feet in a couple of weeks – I have complete and utter respect for those people who come to us, and am determined that we will do whatever we can to help, by training these special dogs.

The good news is that there is a growing momentum of people who are equally determined to help us achieve our mission. Wilko’s in Hampshire have joined the effort – pop into their branches and thank them, if you get a chance. Foresters Friendly Society have likewise come on board, with representatives all over the UK (it was brilliant meeting you all at your Telford conference a couple of weeks ago). Pets Corner just get better and better. And as for Purina, what can I say?! We have met with all these people over the last month and are blown away by the commitment and enthusiasm of all their members. Between us we are changing people’s lives and giving greater independence.

It’s the Summer Show season at the moment, with varying amounts of sunshine. Our teams of volunteers and staff are out and about most weekends, flying the flag for Canine Partners across the UK, meeting new supporters who feel inspired to join in our overall team effort. This is brilliant, because we fully intend to achieve more and more every year, and we just can’t do it without you. Last weekend was our Summer Show in Sussex, where we were delighted to meet lots of local people, who came and entered into the spirit of things, having a go at various things like dog show classes, agility, beat the goalie (and dodge the rain showers!). We were incredibly lucky to be joined by three of Prince Harry’s Invictus Games team members, (including our very own Jon Flint, matched with canine partner Jester), who judged some of our dog show classes and also ran some Doggy Invictus Games too. Mike Goody led the team, who proudly won several gold medals in the swimming events out in Orlando. Again it makes you think – I might have had a knee op this week, but it pales into insignificance in comparison with the op that Mike had…..but look at what he’s achieved, and what he will achieve in future, inspiring disabled people through the power of sport. It was a brilliant and fun day, and with all of you turning up and participating in one way or another, we even managed to raise over £6,000, which will buy a lot of puppies!!

Next weekend it is the turn of our Midlands Centre to hold a Summer Show, so make sure you join us if you’re in the area (Leicestershire), and let’s make it another day to remember! Details are on the events page of our website. This is our relatively new base, and is quickly growing to be the same size as our Southern Centre, with the aim of serving disabled people in the Midlands and beyond. We are well on the way to completing the construction of specially adapted wheelchair-accessible accommodation on this site, so that people can come and stay with us from far and wide, while they get paired up with our dogs.

Last, but by no means least, over the last half hour while I have been tapping this out on my iPad (with my leg up, and no phone because I left it upstairs, yet again!), I see that our advanced training teams have informed us of more clients, or ‘partners’ as we call them, being matched up with dogs at both our Centres, while another person is being matched up with their dog in their own home. This is precisely what our work is all about, transforming people’s lives. Thank you so much for helping us to achieve this.

Andy

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

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

This was what happened before my very eyes on Wednesday, when I spent the day at our Midlands Centre.

I’d left Sussex early, to beat the traffic, and for once in my life that’s what actually happened, so I arrived at our Leicestershire site in good time. In such good time, in fact, that I caught the end of one puppy class and the start of another. And as I walked from one to the other, I passed brand new recruit puppy Hugo, cute and cuddly at eight weeks’ old, coming for a quick socialisation visit in the arms of his puppy parent Lynden. Bless! I also bumped into Neil who is puppy-training young Velo, who is going through a more teenage stage, being nine months’ old. Hugo will get to that stage one day too, don’t you worry!

Meanwhile in the puppy arena, the second puppy class of the morning was in full flow, with trainer Julia leading the proceedings. I saw young five month old golden retriever Della doing some beautiful obedience exercises, with her puppy parent Kathleen smiling at her constantly, as if she couldn’t quite believe how good she was being (she describes Della as a bit of a cheeky monkey at home, but we don’t believe her!).

Then it was Basil’s turn to have a go at sitting still while his puppy parent Sandra left him in a ‘wait’ and moved around the room, sitting in different chairs. As a young eight month old goldendoodle this is not something that comes naturally to him, and it is testament to Sandra and husband John’s hard work that he’s progressing so well. The class finished off with everyone practising their obedience exercises from a chair, so that the puppies can start getting an insight into their future lives as assistance dogs, where they will most likely be partnered with people who use wheelchairs.

And then it was that the concrete floors appeared! Just like that, out of the blue! These are the floors of our next major project at our Midlands site, which is to build Residential Accommodation that is specially adapted for disabled people. The concrete mixer dumped its load; the special smoothing machine (to use its technical term) worked its magic; and hey presto! Suddenly the whole of the new building had a first layer of concrete flooring! And it was still only lunchtime. It really is amazing what progress can be made when the big machinery gets to work. What we really need now is your help to enable us to finish off this project so please do get your thinking caps on, to help us raise sufficient funds to finish it off. We really want disabled people living in the Midlands to have their very own completed and fully functioning training centre, so let’s do it!

Having recovered from the excitement of watching concrete dry (it’s much better than paint), I wended my way back to Sussex, to get back to the day job, but still with renewed determination to crack on with our project in the Midlands. We really are going through exciting times here at Canine Partners and we are so lucky to have such a brilliant family of supporters helping us along the way. Thank you for everything you are doing!

Onwards and upwards

Andy

Hayley is our trainer there, and she was in full flow, leading a class of four puppy parents in an exercise which involved walking their puppies around the village hall on a loose lead, and negotiating their way through a door in a nice, controlled manner. Puppy Beryl loved doing this. So much so, in fact, that when the time came to be released through the door, she knocked it over in her haste to re-join her ‘mum’ Deborah. It is only a small mock-up door, I hasten to add, not a real one. Beryl is 7 months’ old and is a cross between a Labrador and a golden retriever, a daughter of our very own brood bitch Tina. She soon learned to go through the door more calmly, and repeated the exercise beautifully several times, much to Deborah’s delight.

Next to have a go were littermates Tetley and Trinity, whose puppy parents are both called Jane, which causes some confusion in class sometimes, especially when their pups look so similar! These two youngsters have a really strong working mentality, and love being asked to have a go at anything. The main area they are having to focus on at the moment is calming down their enthusiasm, and exercise a bit more patience. People often think that assistance dogs are born calm, but actually we like them to have personality, and bit by bit we teach them to strike a balance between enthusiastic work and calmness in between times.

Octavia is the sensible ‘matron’ of the group. At 18 months’ old, she’s ready to come in to our Southern Centre for her advanced training phase next week, so this was her last puppy class. She’s a black Labrador x golden retriever and really looks so sweet – it just shows how our pups calm down as the months go by, with careful training of course. Her puppy parents, Clinton and Mary, are really going to miss her, but they will at least have the satisfaction of knowing that she will transform somebody’s life, assuming of course that she passes through all the many stages of training that lie ahead of her. Fingers crossed for you Octavia!

Watching on was puppy parent Yvonne, who was getting very excited at the prospect of picking up her new puppy in a few days’ time. It’s an exciting new adventure about to start!

When the class was finished, we congregated for a cup of coffee, with the pups learning to lie quietly under the table, which is good training for them. This was an opportunity for amazing volunteer fundraiser Pat to tell us all about everything she’s been doing to raise funds and awareness in the Surrey area. She has lots of fun and is always looking for more volunteers to join in her many and varied fundraising efforts, so why don’t you contact us if you’d like to join her group? Pat’s latest excitement included a feature on local telly about Canine Partners, plus some brilliant donations from recent talks she has given to various clubs. To cap it all, the other day she drove past the National Express coach that is covered in Canine Partners stickers, nearly causing her to drive into a hedge.

I don’t know where we’d be without puppy parents. And we need more of you! So if you think you might have what it takes to do this incredibly important volunteer job, and play a vital part in transforming people’s lives, please do get in touch. We have puppy satellite groups in various regions of the UK, just like Hayley’s Surrey group, and we’d love to hear from you.

Andy