“Ruby’s busy week began on a train and finished in the Charity’s kennels – here is a brief summary of these events and the bits in-between.

At the start of the week, Ruby and I accompanied my husband to the train station, including a walk down onto the platform to wait for the train to arrive. Ruby was completely at ease amongst all the commuters, and remained calm when the train arrived. Her ears pricked up at the sound of the shrill whistle as the doors closed shut, but she it did not unsettle her at all, which was excellent.

The next day, I took Ruby to town for a walk through the shopping centre, into a few shops and to the bank. I was really delighted with how well Ruby responded to me as we walked around. She ignored all distractions and did not try to scavenge when she passed food items from the market stalls that were discarded on the pavements.

A couple of days later, we all went to watch a rugby 7’s competition at a nearby club. Having walked around the outside of the pitch from a distance to enable Ruby to experience the levels of activity and noise, we then settled down on a picnic rug in the shade and watched a couple of matches. At first, Ruby was definitely interested in the hustle and bustle of the games and was keen to get closer when the oval ball came bouncing by. But, within ten minutes or so, she was content to stretch out and fall asleep – a case of the experience being more important than the result!

And yesterday, at the end of a busy week which also included plenty of walks and play, Ruby went to stay at the Dogs for the Disabled’s kennels. She will be there for a week, to familiarise her with the environment, and to enable the training and kennels teams to ensure that she will settle in these new surroundings. She is accompanied by Veto, a Cocker Spaniel of similar age, and my next blog will give you an insight into the activities that take place through this week of familiarisation and ensure she is right on track.

To finish, I wanted to thank you for all the comments from Ruby’s last blog entry. Now that Ruby has celebrated her first birthday, some of you were asking if this means that Ruby would soon be commencing her training. Sadly for us, Ruby’s start date is not far off, but we do have her for a few more weeks yet. Dogs for the Disabled aim to take each of their pups in for training at around 14 months old. Experience has shown the Charity that these extra couple of months give their dogs a little extra time to mature which ultimately means that they find learning their role as an assistance dog easier to adapt to from puppy socialisation.”