H&C

“Ruby has continued to progress well, taking a variety of training exercises and new experiences in her stride this week. On the training side, I work with Ruby for short periods each day on the full set of basic commands, and am extending the time she remains in the ‘sit-stay’ and ‘down-stay’ positions. I use a combination of visual and verbal signs during the training sessions, which is important as some clients may not be able to use hand signals and so would rely on verbal commands only. I know that Ruby has grasped the verbal instruction approach as, when talking to my mother on loudspeaker on the telephone, she gave the instruction “Ruby. Down.” and Ruby immediately hit the deck! In my monthly one-to-one with our Dogs for the Disabled Puppy Co-ordinator, Claire, we agreed that whilst Ruby’s response to the basic commands has been very positive, her heel-work needed a bit more focus. So Claire, Ruby and I travelled to Banbury’s retail park. Surrounded by the throng of daily shoppers and, amongst a continuous flow of distractions (including the rabbits in the pet store), we calmly walked to and fro with Ruby, working on her walking to heel. The training approach with positive reinforcement means that I verbally praise Ruby when she’s walking in the correct position, and, if she starts to pull ahead, I stop walking, entice (not pull) her back to my left side through my voice and a small treat, then set off again. With Claire and me taking turns, within 10 minutes Ruby was beginning to ignore the distractions around her. Later in the week, I visited Banbury town centre and took Ruby with me to the bank, around WH Smith and to Marks & Spencer, where I gave her the experience of taking the lift up one floor, walked around, then took the lift back down to the ground floor. Ruby was very relaxed and the movement of the lift did not appear to concern her at all, with her focus remaining on me. A very good sign as this type of daily activity and calm response needs to be familiar to Ruby for when she is partnered with a client. At the weekend we attended a Vet’s Open Day to help promote the work of the charity, and there was a crowd of about 50 people. Previously, she had a tendency to launch herself forwards in excitement on meeting new people. The Open Day gave me the chance to work with Ruby on her greeting behaviour, and, by the end, she was anticipating the praise that she would receive for sitting before meeting a new person. So, real progress with Ruby, and the charity also signed-up some much-needed local Temporary Boarders who volunteer to help out by homing dogs for short periods of time.”

“It has been over seven weeks since Ruby arrived with us, and she’s shaping-up to be a very confident and alert puppy - quick to learn and even quicker to seek out new experiences. The first time we saw Ruby was at the Dogs for the Disabled training centre, where, along with five other Puppy Socialisers, we excitedly waited in the main reception area while the puppies took their first official photo-call out on the main lawn. Paparazzi session successfully completed, the seven-week-old puppies were each matched to their respective Socialisers and we very quickly discovered that Ruby was by far the most vocal of the group – an attribute that she still takes it upon herself to remind us of every now and again! As always with a new puppy, the first week at home was very much a settling-in period and an opportunity to start to build a strong bond. From day one, I gradually introduced Ruby to basic commands such as ‘sit’, ‘down’ and practised recall using the technique of positive reinforcement and small treats. She responded really positively and has easily progressed to ‘stand’ and ‘sit-stay’, as well as performing ‘toilet on command’. A key part of the Puppy Socialiser role is to introduce Ruby to a wide variety of different experiences, so in these first few weeks we have regularly taken her with us to town, supermarkets, a selection of banks and shops, fetes, cricket and polo matches, and visits to friends and neighbours. She has also attended a village meeting, causing some hilarity by yawning during one of the less exciting discussions and then animatedly responding when a vote was taken! As well as a monthly Puppy Class at the training centre, we also have visits from our experienced Dogs for the Disabled Puppy Co-ordinator, Claire Lush, for a one-to-one discussion on Ruby’s progress. We receive excellent support, covering everything from training queries to any medical concerns, as well as setting achievable targets for the month ahead, such as working on ‘down-stay’ and a little more work to walk steadily on lead. During these first weeks it has been great fun getting to know Ruby, and she has certainly kept us entertained! We quickly discovered that she loves water, happily gambolling beneath the spray from the garden hosepipe. She has also rapidly progressed when it comes to car travel – where, previously, she loudly objected to every journey, she now rushes to the car and sits, sphinx-like, waiting to be placed into her protective travel cage. She proceeds to settle down almost immediately and gently snores her way to our destination, where she emerges, re-energised, and ready to take the next steps in her journey.”