“This week began with a very entertaining trip to a local Pony Club, whose members were enjoying a three day camp, based in a farm barn. The schedule of events included lots of riding and horse grooming, plus a selection of short, educational discussions.

Dogs for the Disabled were invited to take part, so I volunteered to attend with Ruby, and my husband was also able to bring along Toby, a nine-week-old, chocolate Labrador in the charity’s socialising programme.

We were introduced to the children, whose ages ranged from five up to 15, and I talked about the charity, Ruby’s activities and future assistance role, and explained what tasks the dogs are trained to carry out.

Both puppies were calm and alert throughout the 30 minutes we were there, although Ruby was definitely keen to seek out crumbs of cake that had been accidentally dropped between the hay bales!

The children listened intently, asked some excellent questions, and each received a sticker and pen in exchange for a donation. They said hello to Ruby and Toby, and the puppies were also introduced to a couple of the ponies.

I had to laugh when I was asked if the dogs could be trained to groom a pony as that always took a long time and the help would be very much appreciated! It brought an end to a very enjoyable (and social) visit.

Later in the week, I took Ruby with me to town, making sure that we covered a number of shops, banks and through the outdoor market, where I worked with her to ensure she was not distracted by the piles of boxes and dropped veg.

I was also asked to take Ruby to be part of a photo shoot at the Training Centre with a professional photographer. Some of the resulting pictures would then be used for future marketing material and fund-raising campaigns.

Two of her brothers, Raffles and Reuben, also attended, and the three of them ran around and played together while the photographer tried to turn the black and golden blurs into perfect portraits. I am not sure yet how the photos turned-out, but do know that Ruby slept for the rest of the day!”

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