Today was our last weekly class with our PDS at Guide-dogs! Volt, Vegas and Viking were in attendance and it was sort of bitter sweet to watch them during their free-play session, knowing it will probably be the last time...
At puppy class today we walked up and down the road outside SAGA's property. We were mostly on the pavement, but we had to cross the road a couple of times too. This exercise was so that our PDS could see how our pups react to traffic and cars passing and such. Volt still takes a while to settle down and listen to me properly when there's another dog ahead of him so we were ahead of the line most of the time. We were really quite appalled by the lack of adherence to road rules from people in cars! Hells bells! When last did you have to walk in the street!? I know it looked like we were just three people walking puppies, but the road rules still apply! I would truly be too terrified to go out in the street if I had to lose my sight!
Then we took a walk around the kennels and the pups had a short visit to the guide-dog transport truck as well, having to jump up, get into the truck, stay in it for a while and then get out - but only when told. And all three of them did it brilliantly!
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| waiting whilst our pups sit inside the transport truck |
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| you can just see Volt's face behind the slits in the door |
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| Viking coming out of the truck |
Vegas climbing out of the truck
To end the lesson, we put the three of them in a kennel together whilst we went and got puppy food, and like last time they were quite happy. Vegas and Volt played non-stop and didn't even notice we were gone, and Viking sat at the kennel door and waited for his daddy to get back. When we went back to fetch them, Viking was dry, but Volt and Vegas had tipped the water trough over and were totally drenched from playing in the puddle!
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| Viking waiting for his daddy with Volt and Vegas playing in the background |
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| two drenched puppies and Viking! |
I was going to head out to the shops after puppy class, but a sopping wet, smelly puppy doesn't make a welcome shop visitor! And this is a very good illustration of just why the pups are not allowed to swim whenever the fancy takes them!
From now on we will meet with our PDS on a monthly basis rather than weekly. We'll be doing group walks and our PDS will do home visits, we'll be going back to SAGA to fetch food and for inoculations, and Volt will be going back to SAGA for his kennel stays and to be neutered when he's 6 months old.
After I dropped my wet, and very sleepy puppy off at home, I went to run some errands and I got Volt a brand new Rogz Beach Bum collar because he has outgrown the one I bought when I fetched him the first time. But I bought a Large (Doberman, Spaniel, Boxer) and I suspect I may have to buy a bigger collar again later!
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| Volt, fast asleep, wearing his new collar |
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| click on the puppy to make a donation to SAGA |
Don't forget to check out the Twitter hash-tag #SAGApupVolt to see regular updates on my puppy raising adventure!
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