#SAGApupVolt Is Sixteen Months Old

Volt has been in guide-dog training for a little over four months (19 weeks) and on Friday we saw Volt's trainer at SAGA's College of Orientation and Mobility Cansa Shavathon.
She says he is doing incredibly well!
She is using a "gentle leader" on him to stop him pulling on the lead, she says she's never had to do so many "return to heel" commands with a dog before, and she says she has built  serious biceps and triceps with him - but he is such a pro!
He is VERY clever, he is confident and he takes initiative, and she is even allowing him to use his love of retrieving and carrying (even though its not officially part of his training) by letting him pick up and carry dropped items.
He did his first walk with his trainer being blindfolded, and it was a perfect trial with him guiding her around all the obstacles!
We are so proud of him!

He is still super energetic and he is very strong, but he is happy and he is LOVING his training. They have a partner in mind for him and hopefully he will graduate somewhere around April.
I can't wait to see my beautiful boy again!

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#SAGApupVolt is Sixty Weeks Old

The Voltinator goes back to SAGA to continue his training this coming Wednesday, so his holiday with us is almost over. Its been so nice to have him here for a little while to love and cuddle and treat.

And you know what, knowing SAGA will find the perfect partner with the perfect home for him is such a big thing for us, never having to worry about whether he is happy or safe or well treated makes it a little bit easier to let him go.

Today at the vet Volt weighed in at 33.5kg, which is a little lighter than when we sent him back to SAGA for training - but he does work hard every day. And he is still just shy of 60cm tall at the shoulder.
He is still energetic and excitable and very lovable, but we can see a huge difference in his behaviour in terms of how his training has kicked in.
He is still very excited when he sees other dogs and will happily take off to go and play if given the opportunity!
I bought all four of the dogs a big juicy meat bone as a Christmas treat, and all four of them have been taught that their treats belong to me. I don't leave them in the garden with these bones, I will give them each one- in order of seniority, Thelma and Louise getting theirs first- and then I make sure they stay on opposite ends of the garden as such a delicious treat can cause trouble if they are unsupervised. After about 20 minutes on the first day, I took the bones away and stuck them in seperate bags in the fridge so they could have them again another day.

This is Volt with a little plastic drinking cup! Does he look guilty or what!? I don't know where he found it and I took it from him before he did any damage to it, but his face was so comical I had to take a picture.

And here is Volt, blowing bubbles in the pool! He doesn't get into the pool, but he does love to lie on the side and stick his face in the water.

#SAGApupVolt is Fifty Nine Weeks Old

We fetched Volt from SAGA's kennels on Friday afternoon, and he was very happy to see us indeed, it was so sweet! Initially we couldn't find him in the outside runs of the kennels so we went inside to look for him, and as luck would have it he was right at the end. I was almost afraid I wouldn't recognise him but I spotted him immediately!
He's home for a two week holiday over Christmas, as his trainer is taking a break and didn't want to leave the dogs in kennels whilst she's away.
All the SAGA trainers go on holiday over Christmas so the dogs in training either go home to their puppy-walker families or they spend a couple of weeks boarding with volunteer families.
We didn't get to the vet for a weigh-in, but is still 57cm tall at the shoulder, so I think he has stopped growing for sure.
When he arrived home I immediately let him off-lead and he and Riddick took off into the back garden to get re-acquainted and then they played until they were both exhausted! Its so sweet how well they get on and how well they play together.
Then I had to pop out to the shops and when we got home about an hour later Volt had dug a big hole in the corner of the back garden!

On Saturday we spent the day at my parents house and the dogs always come with us when we go there. Volt was super excited to see all the people he knew again and he and Riddick had a ball with the hose pipe and the children and the toys. They were quite exhausted when they got home.

Volt will be going back to SAGA to continue his training a day or two after New Year.

#SAGApupVolt Is Fifty Seven Weeks Old

Our beautiful boy has been in training for a little over seven weeks, and in that time he spent about ten days at home with us whilst his trainer assisted another trainer.
He'll be coming home for a two week Christmas holiday and we'll fetch him just before the Christmas weekend, by which time he will have been in training for nine weeks.
His trainer says he is doing really well, but we are under strict instructions not to allow him to "speak" when he's on holiday.
He LOVES to speak and it only took him about 45 minutes to learn the command. This was back when they were going to review Volt's potential as a service dog for someone in a wheelchair. The "speak" command is used by service dog owners in order to attract attention if they need assistance and can't call out. But Volt is far too strong and too energetic for someone who is wheelchair bound and may not have the physical strength to rein him in, so service dog training was ruled out.
We continued using the "speak" command after that though because it was clever, and it impressed grownups and children at expos when we were selling raffle tickets to raise funds for SAGA.
The problem is that Volt realised most people were impressed by his bark and used it to curry favour, like trying to get you to throw his stick or ball, or give him a cookie or some such.
His trainer has worked very hard to stop him doing it for fun, so whilst he doesn't have to "work" whilst he's here with us on holiday (meaning he doesn't have to go everywhere with us like he did when he was little), we must not allow him to "speak".
We're looking forward to having Volt visit for a while. And we know Riddick is going to love having him here again!

#SAGApupVolt Is Fifty Three Weeks Old

He spent a week with us and went back to SAGA today. He weighed 34.2kg on the vet's scale and he looks so sleek and grown up.
One thing that springs to mind about the week he spent with us was that he was suddenly spooked by the chlorine floater in the pool!
I am sure we've had one before, but this time Volt didn't like it at all. He was barking at it and giving it a wide berth when he walked past it in the pool (if it was close to the edge).
This would not do, of course, guide-dogs can't be spooked by anything and a big part of our puppy walking work is exposing the pups to every possible kind of scenario or noise they may encounter in their every day life.
I took the floater out of the pool, stood it upright on the bricks and sat next to it, quietly praising Volt if he came up to it without flinching. Eventually his curiosity got the better of him and he sniffed it with his neck at full stretch. I put it back in the pool and Volt responded as he had before, but with gentle encouragement and praise for ignoring it, he got over it and within a couple of days he was bopping it with his nose when it floated by him (he loves lying on the side of the pool with his nose under the water).
I was also able to see a difference in Volt's behaviour on-lead since he started his training! Its very impressive to have him not pulling at all!

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#SAGApupVolt Is Fifty Two Weeks Old

And he's visiting us for a week!
He weighed 34.6kg on the vet's scale today, and he's still 60cm tall at the shoulder so he hasn't grown much in height.

On Friday last week I got a Whatsapp message from SAGA asking if we would be able to have Volt visit for a week! His trainer is going to PE to assist another trainer and she didn't want her dogs to stay in kennels while she was gone as they have already had two weeks of their new routine with her. So we get to have our Volt home for a week much sooner than I anticipated!
I got to have a quick word with his trainer when I fetched him and she says he's doing just fine. His positive dog distraction is a bit of a hindrance but he is obedient so its not a huge problem. And she says he's a bit of an escape artist too, which is something we didn't experience here at home! He is a very high energy dog but he is very lovable too.
We visited my folks over the weekend and he had a lovely time playing with my mom's dogs and visiting with the family.

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Will We Do It Again?

Will we be raising another guide-dog puppy?

My husband and I discussed it all through our 10 months of puppy-walking Volt, and yes, we will do it again.
When we first started speaking about it, when Volt was still a little puppy, we decided we would take a few months off before walking another guide-dog puppy as it is a very intense and time consuming process.
And then- five months ago- we adopted our Riddick from SAGA.
That meant we had two Labrador puppies in our house, but Riddick benefited from it immensely as he learnt a lot from Volt on how to behave (dogs do well with good role models) and he had Volt to play and snuggle with. Volt didn't have the same as our two older dogs, Thelma and Louise, are very set in their ways and don't like having to deal with puppies! They're not mean or aggressive, but they don't play and they don't snuggle- not even with each other.
Our Volt has now gone back to SAGA for his formal training, and whilst most puppy-walkers take a new pup as soon as they are told their year-old dog will be going back to SAGA, we have Riddick so we still have a puppy in the house.
On the way back from dropping Volt off at kennels, we discussed getting a new puppy again. We have already told SAGA that we would like to take a new pup when our Riddick is a year old next April, but that also means it will be around the time Volt completes his training.
That led our train of thought along these lines:

• Volt will have a couple of training "holidays" and he can come "home" for them
• With Riddick already here, having Volt visit will make it a house full
• Having a new guide-dog pup, Riddick AND Volt visiting will be a lot to manage
• Should Volt not make the programme- touch wood- we will have "first dibs" on him coming back to us as a pet
• Should Volt come to us as a pet, having a new puppy will be tricky as our house isn't big enough for five dogs
• Waiting until our guide-dog puppy graduates will give us a good break between dogs

And of course not having a puppy doesn't mean we won't be involved with volunteering for SAGA events!
So yes. We will be getting a new puppy as soon as Volt graduates. And we will continue to follow that pattern in the future.

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My #SAGApupVolt Goes Into Training Today

Today is Volt's "intake day".
This morning I took off his blue all-the-time collar with his name tag on it because when I dropped him off he was wearing his working collar and lead, which belongs to SAGA. We took him back to SA Guide-dogs and on Monday he will begin his formal guide-dog training. He is in a group of five dogs and will be training with Qedo, Ruby, Titan and his sister Vegas.

It was very undramatic as they try not to make a fuss of the dogs arrival as they pick up on their people's emotions. And of course we have dropped him at kennels for several week-long stays whilst we were raising him so this wasn't a completely strange experience.

I have so very many thoughts going through my head! Have I done enough? Did I do it right? Is he going to miss me? Is he going to do well? I am so proud of my boy going into training, and yet I am heart sore that I won't see him every day anymore. A tiny part of me almost- almost- wishes he doesn't make it and he can come back home to us forever, but the biggest part of me wants to see him graduate next year with his blind partner and start doing the work he was born for.
I will miss him pushing himself between me and my laptop so he can rest his head on my arms or my lap whilst his tail wags furiously.
I will miss his tail bumping the back of my knees as he wags it during our walks.
I will miss him going upstairs to wake my husband by pulling the duvet off him.
I will miss him "smiling" at me with a yawn and a stretch when I let him out of his crate in the mornings.
We will see him whilst he's on training, the pups have a couple of holidays and he may be able to come and stay with us over Christmas when his trainer goes on holiday, but we won't see him for a few weeks while he gets used to being at kennels full time and bonds with his trainer.

this sequence shows Volt doing a "down stay" (albeit a little untidy) and demonstrating how he ignores Riddick and ball play 

Riddick and Volt competing to see who can bring me the ball...

Riddick and Volt waiting for me to throw the ball... 

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#SAGApupVolt Is Forty Nine Weeks Old

Volt's kennel cough seems to be all better! He's not coughing anymore but I am still giving him some vitamins to boost his immune system. Taking a tip from SAGA's methodology, I discovered it is FAR easier to give Volt his meds by putting the capsules in my hand with a few of his pellets as a treat, and he gobbles everything up without batting an eyelid!

On the vet's scale this morning he weighed 33.9kg so he's still holding steady.

We didn't do much walking or anything this week past as I didn't want to aggravate his cough- or spread it- and I had a lot of work to do.
And we have less than a week with him still living with us as he goes back to SAGA kennels for his formal training on Friday already!

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#SAGApupVolt Is Forty Eight Weeks Old

LOOK HOW HE'S GROWN!!!

It finally came. I got the email from SAGA last week informing us that our Volt is to return for his formal training on Friday October 19^th.
Wow.
I knew it was coming, but I almost didn't want to finish reading it! He'll be in training with Quedo, Ruby, Titan, and Vegas (his sister) and his trainer will send us a monthly email to let us know how he's doing.
I won't be going anywhere near SAGA for at least a month once Volt goes back as he has to bond with his trainer, and just the sound of my voice or my car could upset the process.
We weighed in at the vet this morning and Volt is holding steady at 34kg.

Here he is, muddy and dirty after sticking his face and front paws in the pool and then running off to wrestle in the garden with Riddick! They were both filthy!

And our poor puppy has kennel cough! Its a contagious form of doggy bronchitis but unless it gets very bad its only treated symptomatically. We're keeping a close eye on him and he's feeling very sorry for himself but he should be fine in a few days. There's a strong possibility that Thelma, Louise and Riddick could catch it though. He's getting Benylin cough syrup with Codeine in to ease his cough and he's getting the occasional ice block to soothe his itchy throat. If he gets feverish (I don't have a thermometer, his ears get very hot) I can stand him in a little tepid water as dogs sweat through their feet and this can help bring his fever down.

As a result of his kennel cough we couldn't take him along with us to the SA Guide-dogs Annual Family Fun Day. It was fun but I would have loved to take our boy to show him off a little too! It was quite strange to be somewhere with so very many dogs and yet there was no noise! The puppy races were hysterical and the dress up competition was won by the cutest little thing from the 'E' litter!

Now that Riddick is old enough and big enough not to fit between the bars on the balcony outside my bedroom its become a nice "hang out" spot. Volt likes few things more than lying outside in the sunshine, and my balcony means he and Riddick can chill out in the sun- or play (its a big square balcony)- without getting up to mischief like they can when they're unsupervised in the garden!

Yesterday my hubby was doing some pool maintenance and Volt was fascinated! The Kreepy hasn't been working so the sudden noise and movement from the floating Kreepy pipe and the weir being cleaned out and bits of debris being scooped out of the pool was a veritable party! Volt loves sticking his nose in the water and sits on the edge of the pool with his toes in the water and sticks his nose under the water but he doesn't go into the water completely which shows his training has worked when it comes to the pool!

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There Are Rules For Guide-Dog Pups...

Guide-dog puppies have very strict rules that we as puppy raisers have to raise them with and abide by. We're not being "mean" by not allowing certain behaviours for the puppies, there are very good reasons for these rules.
The first thing to keep in mind is that guide-dogs and guide-dog puppies are sponsored by individuals and businesses. A sponsorship of ten thousand Rand is only a fraction of what it really costs to raise, train and maintain these dogs for life, but without this sponsorship the South African Guide-dog Association's work would be impossible.
Interfering with training or breaking the rules means a puppy may fail the training programme and a sponsorship could go to waste.

The second thing to take into account is that someone is waiting for the guide-dog that my puppy will become. It could be their first dog or it could be a replacement for a dog about to retire, but the wait-list is a long one. Matching the pups with their blind person is very carefully done and the pups are "watched" from birth to make sure their and their blind partner's personalities are compatible.
Interfering with training or breaking the rules means a puppy may fail the training programme, and a person on the waiting list will have to wait that much longer for their dog.

Always remember that it is a thousand times harder to correct bad behaviour or a bad habit than it is to teach the right way to do something. It can take less than 45 minutes to teach one of these super-smart puppies a specific action, so imagine what feeding a pup scraps off your plate or off the table can teach him, when you visit somewhere for several hours!
Not being allowed to eat people food of any kind is a very important rule for the pups. Scraps from the table or from your plate are a huge no-no. We even teach them that snatching up food that falls to the floor is not allowed and they're not allowed to beg. When food is served, they are taught to lie quietly at our feet or lie elsewhere.
The reason for this- apart from it being unhealthy- is that a guide-dog can't be distracted by food or offers of food. If they've never associated human food with actually being food, this is a lot easier to teach. The pups are not allowed to take food from children's hands just because its easy to do. They're not allowed to beg because guide-dogs are supposed to accompany their blind partners everywhere, and allowing a guide-dog into a restaurant means the restaurant owners are trusting that the dog will not beg, or jump up on the table to steal or ask for food. The dogs also learn very quickly that their blind partner can't "see" them doing something naughty.
The pups are not allowed to jump up on people in greeting. For one thing this is a dominance behaviour and for another, a guide-dog jumping up on someone will completely disorient their blind partner! Even if you don't mind your dogs jumping on you, it is never "okay" for a guide-dog puppy.
They're not allowed to nibble to say hello, as puppies are wont to do. Even if you don't mind your dogs doing so, it is never "okay" for a guide-dog puppy.

As puppy raisers we work very hard to train our pups the right way to behave, from being just us alone at home to being out with a crowd of people. Not only do we work hard, the way our pups behave and respond to their training is closely monitored by SAGA and there's a substantial element of pride in knowing our pups are doing well and behaving as they should.
Please do as we ask when you are interacting with our pups. There are good reasons for these rules.

#SAGApupVolt Is Forty Seven Weeks Old

Today our Volt is 11 months old exactly! He was born on a Sunday, on 30^th October 2011!
I can hardly believe there's only a month to go before he is a full one year old. We have not yet got our intake date for Volt from SAGA yet, but I'm expecting it soon...
This afternoon at the vet Volt weighed 33.5kg, so his weight is nice and stable.
His training is going well and we continue to work on his recall and his "positive dog distraction".
Volt spent Tuesday to Thursday at SAGA's kennels for his last short stay before he goes back for his formal training, and to be assessed for his potential as a service dog. He had a whale of a time doing his service dog assessment, but he's a little too lively to be managed by someone in a wheelchair. Guide-dog training it is for Volt.
On Saturday we had a house full of friends and family to celebrate my dad's 60th and my son's 21st birthdays so it was really good exposure for both Volt and Riddick. Not taking food out of people's plates or hands even if they're little kids or sitting on the ground, not jumping up on the visitors, not begging- it takes a lot of concentration on a dog's part to remember his training and Volt was quite worn out afterwards.
As a guide-dog, Volt has to be calm and well behaved no matter the occasion or circumstance and a houseful of people is a good training exercise. And he listens so well too. This picture is of Volt watching the children play with a box full of toys. He has to be reminded, whilst he's in a situation like this, to "leave it" no matter how tempting it is, but he listens and even though he'll try and sniff the box or the toys, he stays "down".

I am very proud of how well Volt does in situations like these and he got lots of compliments from our guests, some of whom had not met him before.

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A Training Aid, Not A Muzzle...

SAGA gets the occasional query about guide-dogs-in-training and pups-in-training being muzzled, but like a choke chain, a muzzle is not something SAGA uses at all.
Let me try to clarify.
What you may have seen on a guide-dog-in-training or a puppy-in-training is something called a "gentle leader".

a gentle leader doesn't restrict eating or playing (picture source)

The gentle leader is used on a few of SAGA's dogs-in-training to teach them not to pull on their lead, and it is only used by trainers who know how to use it and very occasionally by a puppy-walker, but only after very careful instruction on its correct use and only when absolutely necessary. It is only used in cases where SAGA's usual training methods have failed to teach the dog not to pull.
If you're a horsey person, perhaps I can clarify by explaining that the gentle leader performs very much the same function that a martingale does on a horse. A martingale prevents a horse from lifting its head too much and ignoring its riders instructions. Depending the horse and what performance is needed, a different martingale is used- but also not on all horses. It doesn't restrict the horse's natural movement and it doesn't hurt.

a running martingale (picture source)

In the same way, the gentle leader prevents the dog from pulling on the lead and not paying attention to his or her handler. It doesn't hurt the dog and it doesn't prevent the dog from eating or even playing. The gentle leader device is used exclusively for training, and when the dog is not "working" the gentle leader is removed.
Once the dog or pup-in-training stops pulling on the lead, the gentle leader is no longer used and it is never used on a working guide-dog or service dog.

No guide-dog or service dog from SAGA will ever require a muzzle. Any dog-in-training or puppy-in-training that shows signs of aggression will not be graduated to work as a guide-dog or a service-dog.
Guide-dogs and service dogs are not guard dogs so you will always be able to approach one without fear - after asking permission from the dogs' handler of course.

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#SAGApupVolt Is Forty Six Weeks Old

Our Volt weighs 34kg and he is now 60cm tall at the shoulder (give or take half a centimetre) so he's grown even more.

He's is eating 190g of the Purina One All Breed Adult dog food twice a day and he LOVES his food. He sits and waits patiently, looking at me and drooling, until I say "okay" and then he eats his food. 
Our refocusing on Volt's "recall" training has helped tremendously! He's not quite responding instantly every time I call him, especially if he's sniffing something interesting in the garden or if he and Riddick are playing a game, but the difference is HUGE in how quickly he turns and comes back to me if I call his name!

This week coming he will spend Tuesday to Thursday at SAGA's kennels for a last short stay before he goes back for his formal training, and he will also be assessed for his potential as a service dog.

He loves to help carry things and he gets so excited when my husband gets home with the little 6-pack cooler bag he uses for his lunch, or my son gets home with his shoulder bag! He carries my son's bag up the stairs to his bedroom and he carries my husband's lunch bag to the kitchen with his tail wagging furiously the whole time!
I am unfortunately camera-less! I dropped it at the Getaway Show we went to and the clips that keep the battery compartment shut broke off! That means I only have my phone to use for pictures... which is better than nothing I s'pose... 

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#SAGApupVolt Is Forty Five Weeks Old

He weighed in at a steady 33.2kg this morning, and he is eating 190g of the Purina One All Breed Adult food.

We had a couple of adventures last week. On Monday I headed to a tyre place near home to put two new ones on our car, and Volt accompanied me. It was stiflingly hot so I didn't put his jacket on, but he was so well behaved in the very noisy place that one person actually thought he was elderly! We walked around sniffing the tyres, batteries and wheels they had on display and took a short stroll in the very busy street outside.

I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but twice in the last week I have come home from dropping the men in my life off at work to find Volt dripping wet after a stint in the pool! I don't know if he went in by accident whilst he and Riddick were playing or if he went in on purpose... But it doesn't happen every day or every time he is outside so I hope it was accidental.

On Friday evening we drove through to represent SAGA at the prize-giving of Bedrock Mining's Golf day! They had had a fundraising for SAGA and their staff had pledged a fantastic R5100 which Bedrock then matched to make a donation of R10,200 to SAGA! This is a full sponsorhip for a guide-dog! Volt stole the show when he and I went up to accept the cheque, and we had the opportunity to speak to several people who came to ask about how the pups are trained and commented on how well behaved Volt is!

We continue to work on Volt's "positive dog distraction" and whilst it is going better he doesn't seem to realise that the same rules apply no matter where we go.

My boy goes back to SAGA in lkes than two months...

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#SAGApupVolt Is Forty Four Weeks Old

I can't believe how he's grown... and we have less than 2 months left with him in our home!

He weighs the same as he did with the last update, 33kg, and we have now successfully switched from Purina One All Breed Puppy to Purina One All Breed Adult food, of which he gets 190g twice a day.
We've spent a lot of time at shows like Hobby-X and the Getaway Show with Volt in the last few weeks. SAGA gets a stand at the various shows and the puppy walkers volunteer their time- with their puppies- to sell raffle tickets for the car SAGA is giving away. Their annual car raffle is their biggest fund raiser and my hubby and I- with Volt- make quite a team at the shows and we sell a lot of tickets! Its fun and its good for the puppies to be exposed to all races and ages and we get to interact with the general public and educate people about the puppy walker programme and what makes a guide-dog.
We are still working on Volt's "positive dog distraction" issues. Its going well on our normal walking routes but as soon as we go elsewhere he forgets the rules.
We are also putting in extra time on Volt's "recall" training. He comes when he's called most of the time, but I slipped up somewhere because hearing me say his name or saying "come" is supposed to be the most exciting thing for him! SAGA has given me some tips to do the retraining and I have to keep them up to date with how we're progressing.

"B" litter pups Burlesque and Burberry fast asleep while working on fundraising at Hobby-X Midrand

People and puppies hard at work on fundraising at Hobby-X Midrand

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