Guide Dog - Pupdates 4

 

Pupdate 4

 

 

 

                                                

Our Guide Dog Puppies.  Top left: Harley, Top right: Flint and bottom: Fergie.

Lots of news for you regarding our puppies.  Firstly some sad news.  Unfortunately Fergie has been withdrawn from the Guide Dog programme.  Fergie had been diagnosed with 'high body sensitivity and was also lacking quite a bit in confidence.  Her lack of confidence in making decisions on her own meant it wouldn't have been safe for her or her guide dog owner.  Her high body sensitivity meant it was very difficult putting her training harness on.  However, Fergie has now been rehomed as a pet dog, and is living with her new owners Katherine and Phillip in Devon. 
Fergie has settled in very quickly.  She has lots of new friends in her new home, including, 4 ducks, 9 chickens, a cat and another withdrawn guide dog, Fleur!  Fergie is loving going on lots of long walks in the local woods with her new BFF, Fleur.  We wish Fergie all the very best in her new home.

Harley

Harley is now with a new Instructor, called Devon as he has moved on to advanced training.  He is learning lots of new skills, particularly working in busier pedestrian environments.  Devon has been working with Harley to locate new crossing points, pedestrian crossing buttons, bus stops and vacant chairs at the stops.  All this is to help prepare Harley for the future when he needs to guide his owner.
Once Harleys advanced training is complete, Devon will start to think about matching Harley to a person who is blind or partially sighted.
It is very exciting hearing about how Harley is doing in his training.


Flint

Flint has done excellent in his early training and he is now very confident with the obstacle course, narrow gaps and traffic.  Flint has mastered all different kinds of transport; trains, cars, vans, buses and his trainer Katie says he is confident with them all.  Unfortunately, just before Flint was due to move on to his advanced training he was very unlucky to catch his claw whilst playing and this has delayed him in moving on to the advanced training stage by a few weeks.
Kaite tells us that Flint is still very high in spirits and still working very hard.  He is very good at locating objects such as chairs and lifts.  This is really important as he will use these skills when he gets partnered with a blind or partially sighted person.

It is wonderful to hear about all our puppies and their progress and we are immensely proud of how they are all doing, including Fergie in her new home.