To celebrate International Assistance Dog Week, we are sharing lots of photos, videos and information about our amazing dogs and the journey they take to become an assistance dog.

In this blog post, we thought we would share with you how our puppies in training are socialised by their puppy parents between 8 weeks and 14 months old.

What is puppy socialisation?

In order for an adorable puppy to become a loyal assistance dog, they need to have a gentle nature, as well as being curious and friendly! They will develop these traits from good socialisation with their puppy parent.

Socialisation is the learning process a pup will go through to develop the skills it needs to be happy in a multitude of environments and around lots of different people. It also involves gaining an understanding of what is right and wrong behaviour.

All puppies should go through proper socialisation as they grow up to avoid being antisocial and difficult as an adult dog, but it is especially important for an assistance dog in training. This is because he or she will need to be able to adapt to a number of different situations when out and about with their partner in the future.

Puppy classes

One of the socialisation activities that all of our pups take part in is regular puppy classes with the rest of the puppies in their local area (or “satellite”). These classes are run by our satellite trainers and are designed to teach the puppies obedience, social skills and the core tasks of touching, tugging and retrieving. These skills form the foundation of what they will learn as part of their advanced training at our training centres.

They will also learn fun new experiences like walking on different surfaces as well as balancing by climbing up and down steps.

Watch our video below to see what else our “puppy school” students get up to!

Out and about

When the puppy grows up, they will be matched with a person with disabilities. This amazing partnership will go on many adventures together, so part of a puppy’s socialisation training is to go to lots of different places to get used to environments they may not yet be familiar with.

Here are just a few of the places that our pups will visit as part of their socialisation.

Public Transport

Many of our partners rely on public transport to get from A to B, and so our puppy parents take our puppies in training on the bus and on the train to get them accustomed to climbing aboard, settling while travelling and then alighting when it’s time to get off.

Trains and buses can often be busy environments so it’s a great way to get used to being in a crowded place where there are often lots of distractions to contend with!

Farms

Our puppy parents will take our puppies in training to the farm because there are lots of sights and smells to see and sniff! Plus of course, there are farmyard friends to be made.

Distractions are also aplenty at farms, so it’s a good experience for the puppies to learn how to control those urges to wander.

Schools

Being a puppy among a group of schoolchildren can be quite an intense experience!

Our puppies in training will visit schools so that the children can learn about assistance dogs and how to approach the puppies, while the puppy will learn to be calm and get used to controlled fuss and attention.

Events

If you ever come along to one of our national or community events, you will often find out puppies and training are in attendance, too.

Joining in at events is a great opportunity for our puppies in training to meet lots of different people – and they may even bump into a canine partner for a glimpse into their future!

Could you help us socialise more amazing puppies?

Our puppy parent volunteers are crucial in the training of our amazing dogs. Without puppy parents, our puppies would not have the skills they need to become an assistance dog. If you want to find out more about volunteering as a puppy parent, or apply today, visit our Puppy Parents page.

On Saturday 23 June, customers of Asda in Hull were greeted by a sight for sore eyes when they met princesses, superheroes…and puppies!

Kathryn Adams and her identical twin sister Becky own a Princess Parties business in Hull and after recently meeting some of our puppy parents from our Hull satellite group, they were keen to help fundraise for us.

On fundraising for Canine Partners, Kathryn said:

“We’ve always had a love for animals, especially Labradors, and have raised money before for different charities but after seeing the amazing work your dogs do, we wanted to help.”

So, at 11 am on Saturday morning, princesses and superheroes teamed up with members of our Purple Family to say hello to customers as they came to do their weekly shop.

There was a constant flow of people wanting photos and cuddles with the dogs, and lots of leaflets were handed out to spread the word about Canine Partners.

Our wonderful volunteers were on hand to answer any questions about the charity as well.

The group were even joined by local MP Diana Johnson, who tweeted about meeting our amazing dogs:

In addition to raising awareness of our work, Princess Parties Hull and our volunteers were able to raise a fantastic £200!

A big thank you to all of the princesses, superheroes and Purple Family members for giving up their time and to the generous customers at Asda who donated.

Would you like to organise a fundraiser for Canine Partners?

Help us to transform lives by organising your own fundraising activity. Click here for inspiration!

In 2013, Susan Fulton’s life was transformed when she was partnered with canine partner Esther the poodle. The pair live in Lowick, Northumberland where our presence as a charity was not well known.

After answering numerous people’s questions about Esther wherever she went, Susan came to us in need of more information that she could pass on to those interested in what our amazing dogs are capable of. Our awareness team encouraged her to become a speaker for the charity so she could deliver talks about our work and a first-hand account of the significant difference a canine partner can make.

With help from a friend to drive and set up the required technology, Susan and Esther began presenting talks to a mixture of local groups. She says of the experience:

“I enjoy delivering the talks immensely, but due to my disability, it is frustrating that I cannot do more. It’s good for me to have a purpose and we meet lovely people who are always massively impressed with Canine Partners and their amazing dogs!”

Susan injured her back over 20 years ago, and due to scar tissue on her spinal cord she is in constant pain and her back is at risk of going when doing simple tasks that many of us take for granted. Esther is able to lend a helping paw with tasks that include retrieving dropped items, loading the washing machine and much more. But when Susan’s back is particularly bad, she often has to stay at home with Esther and rest.

“From the success of the talks, people wanted to get involved but because of my limitations, I was already doing as much as I could. I couldn’t take on any more, which was very frustrating as the interest and potential for fundraising in the area was ever increasing.”

Luckily, in September 2017, puppy parent and fundraiser Marjorie Johnston moved to Newton-by-the Sea – just 20 minutes away from Susan. Marjorie was able to help shoulder the work, and with a lot of experience in fundraising for us already, she set up the Northumberland community group which now holds regular community events to raise awareness and funds for Canine Partners.

“I’ve been involved with Canine Partners for around six years now, and have taken four puppies through to advanced training as well as helping with fundraising in Scotland where I previously lived.” said Marjorie.

“Community Manager Dale put me in touch with Susan and together we knew the Northumberland area was untapped and that we could do more by way of awareness events and talks. We formed the North Northumberland and Scottish Borders community group and now have a core group of nine people.”

The group have exciting plans to establish themselves in the area, having officially launched in October 2018 at an awareness day at Newton Hall in conjunction with fundraising by its sister venue The Joiners Arms with 120 people attending. The Group will continue with awareness and fundraising events in 2019 and have been fortunate enough to be made Dunstanburgh Castle Golf Club’s Captain’s Charity of the Year.

Could you form your own community group in your local area?

In order to help generate more awareness and funds to reopen our waiting list and help transform the lives of people with disabilities, we need more community groups to form across the country.

Community groups organise events in their local area to represent Canine Partners and showcase the work that we do. This can involve holding a stall at a local event, hosting coffee mornings and much more.

To find out if there is a local community group in your area, or to set up your own, visit our Local community group page and fill in the enquiry form to express your interest.

On Wednesday 11 April, Ian and his canine partner Kelsie were joined by volunteers Bev and Kerry to deliver a talk to the team at the Empower Centre in Gosport, Hampshire.

The church group offered a very warm welcome to the team and thoroughly enjoyed learning all about the work that we do and how we train our amazing dogs to transform lives.

Kerry, one of our fantastic puppy parent volunteers, was also able to talk about her vital role in the charity and the importance of training and socialising our puppies ready for their journey to becoming an assistance dog.

She also explained how it felt to hand over her most recent puppy Whisper, who has recently started his advanced training. This means he is now honing his skills and learning specific tasks that will help provide greater independence to a person with disabilities. Although it is sad to say goodbye, it is rewarding to know what incredible things a puppy can go on to do!

To discover more about what a canine partner can do, Ian took to the floor to talk about the journey he has had with his canine partner Kelsie. Ian has been with Canine Partners from the early days, and Kelsie is his third canine partner. Ian spoke with passion about the work we do and the support he receives both from Kelsie and our aftercare team.

Over the years since being matched, Kelsie has learned many fantastic skills but one of those was particularly amusing to the audience! Both Ian and Kelsie are avid Portsmouth Football Club supporters, and whenever Portsmouth score Kelsie cannot resist joining in the celebrations with the fans! When everyone claps, Kelsie joins in by barking with glee. The Empower Centre group were lucky enough to experience this first hand at the end of the talk when everyone clapped!

A big thank you to the Empower Centre for inviting us along to spread awareness of the crucial work that we do.

Book a talk for your group

Would you like to book a talk for your group, school or organisation? We have a network of speakers available across England and Scotland. Click here to find out more and request a speaker.