#SAGApupVolt Is Six Months Old Today!

I can hardly believe it!
In six months time, he'll go back to SAGA for his six months formal training, and will then be partnered with his person as a working guide-dog! 
That is only one hundred and eighty two days away (I put a ticker in the top left corner of this blog so you can see the countdown)!
This morning Volt weighed 29.55kg on the vet's scale (so he's gained 1.75kg since last week), and I measured him at just under 54cm tall at the shoulder when we got home. He's a big boy. And our SAGA PDS guestimated his full grown weight at 30kg so he's well on his way to being all grown up.
He is now only eating twice a day and I think he misses his lunch, but he'll just have to get used to it.

Volt's adolescence is certainly challenging. He is still looking me in the eye and walking in the opposite direction when I call him to me- not every time, but he's certainly testing boundaries! He has not had any house training accidents though which is great, and he isn't digging more than he used to either. He is driving Louise bananas some days though- she gives as good as she gets most of the time thank goodness. And he's now so tall he actually bumps against the underside of the table on the veranda so its risky to have glasses standing on the table when Volt and Louise are having a game!
Volt responds to "down" as readily as he does to "sit" now which is great, but we seem to have gone a bit backwards on "stand" again...
He is doing really well on ignoring the barking of Thelma and Louise when he is in the house which is fabulous, as he is not a guard dog. What he is doing occasionally is growling if he hears something he's unsure of- which I can't hear or see of course- and I then reassure him that all is okay and I tell him to be quiet. He sometimes comes out of a nap barking! He's up and barking before he's even awake, sometimes even before Thelma and Louise start barking! The one day I was standing right next to him and the big loud bark that came out of him actually gave me a fright!
He's doing really well on our walks when it comes to ignoring distractions.


He's only been home a couple of weeks since his last stay at SAGA, but he's going back to kennels on Thursday morning as we're leaving for a week away on Friday morning. We'll fetch him again the following Friday and I am going to find out from our PDS if it will be possible for Volt to be neutered while he's there so that I don't have to send him back for another week at a later date.


How comical is this, he's not allowed to go upstairs without us inviting him up with us- he doesn't have free range of the house- so if there's someone upstairs he wants to see he sits on the first or second step and waits for them!

I just love this photo of a fast asleep Volt with his head scrunched up against the kitchen ladder!

We got him two new toys this weekend past as the Orka Stick we got him has been worn out! He now has a twisted, knotted length of stretchy rope which is awesome for itchy gums, and a bright pink knobbly ball with a length of rope through it. He likes them both a LOT and he seems to know exactly what are his toys even when they're brand new and just taken out of a shopping bag!

 

 

He's already chewed the ends off the green knotty rope!
And just so you can see how much he like his new toys, he fell asleep still playing with this one last night!

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