feature

A day in the life of a guide dog puppy walker!

The alarm goes off at 6.30 a.m. it’s been a quiet night on the puppy front, at last Guide Dog puppy Quaid is sleeping through and not waking up in the night. But you have to be quick to get him outside to ‘spend’ as he is desperate to go – but at least his crate was clean. Guide dogs have to be clean when they qualify so we need to start them early in learning they go on command in a spending pen.

Quaid is now 14 weeks old, and starts the morning having a play with his toys, he needs to be happy to play by himself and not seek constant attention. He is popped in his crate whilst I take a shower that way I know he is safe and not up to mischief! 8.00 a.m. is breakfast time. At this age Quaid is on 3 feeds a day but that will reduce again when he is 6 months old and needs 2 feeds at day. Quaid is learning to sit and wait for his breakfast until a whistle is blown; that’s good puppy manners now, but it is also very important as a qualified guide dog, so the owner knows the dog is sitting quietly waiting for their food – there is no danger of the dog jumping up and causing an accident. Also the whistle is associated with coming back when off lead having a run, when the puppy hears that they come running back for a treat.

Quaid’s morning starts by having a short grooming session to get used to his brushes and comb and being felt all over to make sure they are no lumps or bumps. The handling is getting him used to being touched by his eventual guide dog owner, who will have to use touch more than sight to check him over. Today is a bus ride day and so a walk to the bus stop is next on the agenda; I need to remember his rucksack of essentials – water bottle, poo bags and cleaning material in case he has an accident somewhere he cleaning material in case he has an accident somewhere he shouldn’t (!) plus his lunchtime feed. He settles well on the bus, lying down near me which is important so he doesn’t cause a trip hazard. A challenge is stopping people from patting and disturbing Quaid without asking as he needs to be calm, but he is getting excited by all the attention. This is something we will continue to work on.

We get off in town and walk to the different shops on the shopping list. It’s good for him to experience different environments and some shops have tiled floors, others carpets which add to the interest. Plus, we practice going up and down stairs as Quaid needs to be confident in doing this. Then we find a shop with a lift and again spend time going up and down in the lift to make sure he isn’t frightened, which he isn’t.

Walking down the High Street we encounter a different distraction – dogs! A qualified guide dog has to learn to ignore other dogs and continue to guide their owner. Quaid is finding this a bit difficult and is wanting to pull towards the other dogs, so I work on trying to keep his attention on me using a squeaky toy.

Then it is time for Quaid’s lunch and to let that go down we meet a friend in a cafe for lunch and Quaid goes to sleep. Just what we want – good cafe behaviour is really important.

We catch the bus home later that afternoon and Quaid sleeps until it afternoon and Quaid sleeps until it is time for tea. We then have a short is time for tea. We then have a short training session working on his ‘sit’, training session working on his ‘sit’, ‘down’, ‘wait’, and ‘come’ commands. ‘down’, ‘wait’, and ‘come’ commands. A play session follows to help with A play session follows to help with the continued bonding and for a bit the continued bonding and for a bit of fun for Quaid, which he loves. of fun for Quaid, which he loves.

He then settles quietly in the lounge on his bed which is the lounge on his bed which is the behaviour we are looking for. He behaviour we are looking for. He goes out for one last ‘spending’ goes out for one last ‘spending’ session and its time for bed. Bed time session and its time for bed. Bed time monkey goes too and he snuggles in monkey goes too and he snuggles in and settles for the night. and settles for the night.

Tomorrow is another exciting day being a guide dog puppy! being a guide dog puppy! Michelle Taylor & Quaid Michelle Taylor & Quaid