Oooh, that is unbelieeevably scrummy ! I didn't know Guide dogs used Flatcoats, what do they bring to the mix?
Bloomin' heck Mags. A big girl. Was about to post up how cute coffee was but.....wow! A new puppy! Yay!
My aunt had a flatcoat called Tarot. He was awesome and lived to be about 15, 30 years ago they did. She loved him more than her husband I think she was buried with his ashes recently. She saved his ashes by her bed for nearly 30 years. He was a truly great dog everyone adored him.
Lovely Kara is at Big School, Atherton. Today her brother Kimber and sister Kizzy joined her. I keep looking on their FB page for a glimpse of her.
Lovely photo's x Yesterday I was a little surprised to see a man with a guide dog that had a halti on and some sort of long lead that was attached round the owners neck aswell as the full guide dog harness. The dog looked pretty unhappy and still pulled a bit Is this normal Mags?
@Boogie , charlies question re halti etc reminds that last week when I was helping the man with a new guide dog I noticed that the dog had a collar on that was linked with a chain to the lead which the man was shaking up and down to encourage the dog to go forward, is that normal?
@charlie @Boogie I've seen quite a few pictures of working dogs with Haltis or Gentle Leaders. We were using them in South Africa for training our pups for a short while, but we aren't anymore, and I believe they now only use them if they absolutely have to, but not long term. @selina27 Could it have been a "half check" or martingale collar? Like this one:
I am currently raising Guide Dog Puppy Riggs, he's 7 months old. In South Africa, our Puppy Raising programme includes 13 weeks of puppy classes starting the week after you take your puppy home at 7 weeks old, and its run by your SA Guide-Dogs Puppy Raising Supervisor. The classes are for socialisation for the pups as well as teaching the Puppy Raisers how to train the pups, and so that the Puppy Raising Supervisors can monitor the pup's progress. The classes are great fun, and vitally important for pup and raiser, and if you can't make it to class you have to make a plan to get your pup to class. They have now added an additional 8 weeks of classes, focusing on perfecting the obedience cues our pups have to learn and clicker training (the Puppy Raisers have to do a clicker course, also presented by Guide-Dogs), and at the end of this 8 week course we will be tested. I am a little nervous about the test, but I think Riggs and I will do okay - he loves to learn and he's very treat driven. And I am thrilled with the extra "training" I get as a puppy raiser as it only helps make sure my puppy learns the right way! We do quite a lot of SIT STAY and DOWN STAY as our pups have to manage a 5 minute STAY by the time they are a year old. Loose leash walking is a big focus area, and something I think I have finally managed to do right with Riggs (our 4th puppy), as is recall. Over and above these classes, we do a monthly group outing with a Puppy Raising Supervisor, and they visit us at home. They also have "Open Days" at their training centre where they put up all kinds of weird and wonderful obstacles and objects and they see how the pups handle them - these are attended by any pup-in-training and its great fun to see and chat to the other Puppy Raisers. Today he is spending his first full day in kennels with his brother Ringo - he's had several two-hour and then four-hour stays since he was 5 months old. He'll have a few full day stays before starting to stay overnight, all in preparation for his castration (a 10-day stay) and then for his formal training (he'll come home on weekends), so that being in kennels isn't scary or stressful.
Best of luck with the test @AngelConradie and Riggs We have puppy classes right through their time with us and the tests we do are Bronze, Siver and Gold KC tests. Here is a link to what we need to achieve - https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/tr...ation-for-dog-owners/gcds-award-descriptions/ If Mollie leaves she'll do her Gold test with the new Mum. .
Very cool @Boogie! Reading your Gold list thats what we work towards too. Our pup's training obviously continues throughout their first year, and if we want to we can join an approved dog school, but we didn't have actual classes after the first 13 until now.
Samson, Mollie's brother, is off to Big School tomorrow. He definitely has Mollie's serious face Go well, work hard and play lots lovely boy xx
