Town #2

Faro walked to town with us for the second time today and as mentioned in a previous post, it is quite a long way.

The town was much busier today (Saturday) as we went on a Sunday before.

Faro had to walk past stalls selling donuts, crepes, baked potatoes and a whole stall dedicated to sausages! LOL
also there were a couple of them burning incense and there is a shop called 'Amsterdamned' which smells quite potent, even to the human nose...

Faro had to do a lot of waiting outside shops, being fussed at by strangers, walking through crowds and the subway again which didn't faze him at all.

Nothing fazed him. He appeared to thoroughly enjoy the whole walk.

He even got a big bone to chew on while he waited for me outside a shop (with Jay I might add, he is never left unattended).

On the way back I led him down to the stream for a drink because he had already emptied the bottle I took with me (he drinks a lot!) and a collie jumped in the other side for a swim. This made Faro want a go so he waded in to his shoulders! That is the furthest he has been in the water but I didn't fancy getting wet as it was so cold and miserable so he had to come back out and go home. Now he is flopped out fast asleep.. probably dreaming about sausages :o)

Gold Star

ok, he can have one back :o)

Just walked to the shop and he walked better than ever the whole way! He walked behind me and stayed alert but didn't react to anything he came across whether it be strangers, cats in the path, fireworks going off.
Also, he is always very playful when we stop. We waited outside the shop and he wanted to play while he waited. He waits very patiently but is always very keen to take off again.

*thumbs up*

Springfield Park v

I am revoking all of Faro's gold stars! He was hopeless today. Twice I let him off lead and twice he got totally distracted and wouldn't come.

First time he went to check out a couple of dogs and followed them in totally the opposite direction than I went. I couldn't catch his attention, its as if he suddenly went deaf!! He was so engrossed in what he was doing I had to walk right up to him and put him back on lead.

Second time he wandered off with one of the neighbour's kids and sat with them for a good 5 - 10 mins without seeming to realise he was 'lost'.

Going to have to work on my recall skills!!! lol

Springfield Park iv

Faro has been on three walks today. Two to different areas of the park and one to a village shop.

At the park we walked down with Sophie who is a little girl belonging to one of the neighbours.
Faro enjoyed playing about with her and we walked through some woods. His nose went into 'tracker mode' and he really seemed to enjoy the woods with all those scents and trails!

We climbed up onto a giant tree stump and Faro tested his 'mountain rescue' climbing skills LOL

Horse

Faro spent some time watching Ike today who was waiting to be washed!

Photos

and check out this goofy face LOL .......

Springfield Park iii / The Tractor

Faro deserves a big gold sticker for CONFIDENCE this morning :o)

We took a walk to the park and went to a different field which was new to him. He walked off lead and went by other dogs without approaching them or harrassing them. He was curious and watched, but when they passed, he walked on with us.

There was a big yellow tractor at the field and we happened to be chatting to a neighbour when the tractor passed by within 10 feet of us, drove through the brook and left.

Farrow was on lead, sat by my side whilst I was chatting and he had no cue from me other than the fact I was ignoring him, but no other communication to let him know how to feel about the giant monster wheels approaching and passing him by so close.

He simply sat and watched it pass as if it were a butterfly.

:o)

Fireworks

There have been a few early fireworks going off this evening and Faro has not responded.

Good job Faro !!! :o)

Improvised Toy

Today, Faro has played with one of those tennis ball thrower things, his teething ring, his rubber ball on a rope and.. a pop bottle! He really enjoyed tossing around and biting down on a 2ltr coke bottle and then he REALLY enjoyed it when I put some water in it !!

Springfield Park ii

Just taken Faro to burn off some energy.

We walked to the park and he walked off leash across the field.

On the way back I went in the brook again and he got 4 paws wet this time! It is a good opportunity for him to have a quick drink and I'm sure he will get in eventually and being confident in water can only be a bonus.
It is a nice round pool which never gets very deep and it has a large ramp in and out both banks.
He slipped in up to the shoulder aswell but that was by accident heehee.

Met a local staffy named Tyson who is usually loose. That went fine and Tyson walked with us some of the way to the park before going ahead by himself.

Also met a teeny weeny 3 year old jack russell. Faro has definietly got no respect for his elders! He put a big giant paw on her back as she was excitedly waiting for her ball. She damn near disappeared under his paw!

Then came another little terrier, this time an elderly, grey muzzled little girl who was not interested in meeting a big bouncy puppy. Faro barked at her - he seems to bark at small dogs and wait more quietly to meet medium to larger dogs.

Back in his crate now. That walk was not enough to bring his energy level down much but we will periodically get him out during the course of the day for bursts of play with toys in the garden and maybe take another walk later on.

First Trip to Town

Big challenge for Faro today. We walked him into the town centre which is quite a long walk and although it is Sunday so it was not very busy, there was still plenty to take in.

Jay, myself and Lucian (age 4) went along and one thing we noticed is that Faro certainly seemed to feel protective over the other 'pup' in the family. When Lucian walked ahead of us, Faro no longer walked on a slack lead and wanted to catch up to Lucian, unless either Jay or me had Lu by the hand and Faro could see he was safe.

He walked beautifully as always and stayed alert to everything the whole way there and back without tiring at all.

He sat for a long time outside a shop with Jay while I did some shopping and got pretty bored so he started to chew on Jay's jeans.

Whether he was feeling playful or just teething, I decided to get out one of the toys I bought him which is a round teething ring. Faro walked with it in his mouth and delighted passers by with his cuteness.
If a pigeon distracted him or something else took his attention, he would drop it. So for a while I put the ring on his lead so he just had to turn to his side to play with it or hold it in his mouth.
Once back out of the town I removed the toy so he could concentrate on the walk home.

Couple of things of note, we noticed that Faro got excited by a man sweeping because he seems to have a bit of a thing about brooms! He also gets excited by plastic carrier bags.

He walked through the subway with no sign of fear. Lucian was ahead and Faro seemed to draw confidence from the fact the other 'pup' was excited about the big echoey tunnel thing.
He did look up at me 2 or 3 times but I ignored him and walked on normally so he figured it was nothing to be particularly interested in.

Back toward home, walking through Springfield Park, I went into the brook in my wellies but Faro didn't want to follow me in. I didn't push the issue but when the water is low, I will try to encourage him in.

We did more walking along busy roads and Faro has a tendency to want to walk with me inbetween him and the cars. I don't know whether this shows a bit of avoidance but I have had him walk on the side of the cars aswell so probably no big deal.

Here are a few things I can remember that Faro experienced today:

Our tame pigeons in the garden
Wild pigeons flying off near him
Carrier bag blowing along a road
Automatic shop doors
Man sweeping with a broom
Walking both up and down steps in town centre (getting better at steps!)
Subway and its echo sounds
Shops
ATM machine
Dog on a lead - Faro barked at this particular dog
Pelican crossings
Moped speeding past
Plenty of cars
More strangers fussing
Carrying toy whilst walking
Dipped front paws in the brook and watched me go in further

Springfield Park i

Our local park and common is directly at the back of our house and there are lots of opportunities for Faro to experience new things as the area includes a stack pool, childrens play areas, large field, canal, woods and a disused quarry. There is a bridge over a brook which we can wade through and various other little bridges over water plus fishing pegs, paths with different surfaces underfoot, open areas, secluded areas and of course, plenty of strangers, kids and dog walkers!

We certainly don't want to do all of these in one go! Faro's first trip to the park offered the following:

Walking in new areas
Walking over a long wooden bridge
Sitting quietly at a bench watching Lucian in a play area
Two strange dogs approached and had a good sniff
Standing next to the stack pool and watching lots of ducks and geese on the water
Fine gravel path approaching a waterfall (Faro barked twice to alert me to the sound of the waterfall)
Grassy areas and tarmac paths, narrow paths and wide open field
Over a small bridge
Watched a canal boat go by

First Car Ride

Faro got into his crate in the boot of our car with no reservations at all.
He travelled for the first half of the 12 mile journey in silence, watching the world whizz by.
The second half was not such as a success as he started to feel anxious which grew into quite a lot of barking and whining.

I suggested that Jay sit in the back and use distraction on the way back. However, he did not need to do anything because Faro travelled just fine all the way home.

Another thumbs up!

First Run Off Leash

Yesterday, Faro went with us to visit my parents and went for a walk with their dog, Dexter.
Dexter is a bouncy adolescent (we think) Old English Sheepdog x Briard with a strong herding instinct!!!

Faro enjoyed a bit of canine playtime and Dexter enjoyed this new sheep in wolf's clothing.

Exposures in the Dark

At 6am this morning, Faro started to bark. I guessed that there was most likely a fox outside that had startled the rest of the animals who then make warning sounds all at once. However, with no window open I cannot always hear them.. but Faro can.

I wanted to respond to his bark and praise him for alerting me so I got up and took a torch out to check everyone outside were ok. They are all in fox proof enclosures so as I thought, it was no big deal.

However, I took the opportunity to take Faro out on a lead, in the dark to 'investigate'.

He trusted me completely and followed me even though he had not yet set foot out the back - and there is a LOT to see and smell. Quite overwhelming I would think.

First he had to go through a floodlit area smelling strongly of goats, rabbits & guinea pigs. Through a gate and was confronted with lots of clucking startled chickens in coops and the barn owl watching from aloft.
Then I took him past hissing geese and down a path where we stopped so I could call over to the stable and check that Ike the pony was ok. Ike stuck his head out but couldn't get excited about all the commotion.
Faro looked at him and the billy goats and took in all the strangeness in the dark!

We went back up to the lit area and I stood next to the goat shed where they were clambering to get out and looking at Faro through their little window. They made a funny grunting noise toward him that I have never heard them do before. He was interested and not frightened although there was a slight apprehension there again and he took a couple steps back. After that though he lost interest and sat down, waiting for my next cue.

So I let him out front where he toilets and he did his business and went back inside.

He wanted to play quite badly but I put him back in his crate as if he had completed his mission.
I did give him a piece of chicken though as I was feeling very proud of the little fella.
Speaking of chicken, forgot to mention that I have not been giving treat rewards at all - just praise so far.
Will try to incorporate that seeing as he will probably be trained by food reward once done here.

I can hear him now, fidgeting about in his crate and grumbling to himself. I know when he does that he will settle eventually and go quiet until the next time he thinks there might be chance of a new mission or a mini- adventure.

More Exposures

Faro came with us to collect Lucian from school, same journey as this morning but he picked up a few new experiences along the way.

Walked behind a lady on crutches
Small children running closely past
A small child on bike riding fast nearby
Car horns blasting next to him
Leaves blowing along the path at his feet
Adult GSD barking over a fence. Faro was sat and waited until his pinned ears came forward and he became more curious. Then we walked on.
Adult GSD & Rottweiler both barking at him from a different garden. Walked on, little apprehensive but fairly confidently.

Dogs for the Disabled

Just had a call from Wendy from Dogs for the Disabled
They have just received my application and will send an info pack out.

They are going to sort out a visit to do a property check and have a chat with us about having a pup for them.

We would just go on the list for now and if we became puppy free we could take an assistance dog pup which would be an altogether very different experience from little Faro !!!

There is likely to be another shepherd pup ready in time to overlap with Faro's departure so I am not sure whether we will get involved with Dogs for the Disabled yet.

Will have to see how the cookie crumbles!

Ooooo the Concentration...

Just took Faro out for a quick blast with the ball & rope

We played piggy in the middle, fetch and tug o war.

Well, he held onto the rope for 3 whole minutes before I gave up and let him win!

That is definitely the longest that he has engaged and concentrated on something.

Clever boy :o)

Obedience

One subject that we have to consider is how to balance obedience training.

The 'ideal' is that Faro returns with NO obedience training whatsoever. Our job is simply socialisation.

However, we have to live with Faro for a period of time so there are some things we can justify teaching him to makes our lives together easier.

So here is the compromise we have made so far:

I walk Faro on a slack leash - but Jay and anybody else allows him to retain the behaviour of pulling away and sniffing around at will. This way we get the best of both worlds and depending on who is handling him, we can have him walk nicely.. or not!
It also means when I am out of the equation he will still be a blank canvass for his new handler.

For safety, the same applies to walking in or out of a doorway or gate.
I claim the space non verbally and do not allow him to pass uninvited. I go first.
I also non verbally stop at roadsides before crossing.

So far, these are the only non verbal communications that I have done repetitively with Faro and I have made sure not to use any voice commands.

This means that when he goes to a new handler, they can teach him their voice commands and I won't be there with my non verbal cues.

Sounds good in theory! Here's hoping this approach works well to build a solid foundation for Faro and he passes his formal training with flying colours.

Crate Training

Not much to report here as there have been no accidents yet.

So far so good. Faro has done all of his business outside but he has not been trained so accidents could happen if left too long in crate.

If he continues to get lots of opportunities to toilet outside then hopefully there won't be any accidents in his crate.

Speaking of the crate - we are finding today that he is barking and making quite a fuss to come out but we don't want to let him out whilst in that state of mind incase we make a rod for our own backs and teach him to be noisy and we let him out.

He always goes crazy when we actually go to open the door so I wait until he is calm before allowing him to come out - but I need to check this is the right thing to do incase his handler will WANT him to be so excitable when getting out.

First Exposures

During Faro's first afternoon yesterday, we took things easy and just played ball in the front garden for short bursts and had him get used to returning to his crate afterwards.

Today, we took him on a real challenge and walked him to school with Lucian for the first time. It might become a regular occurence as it is a good way to expose him to lots of new things - but we might mis a day sometimes so that we do not create a routine. We are trying to discourage Faro from anticipating what might happen next so we need to change things up all the time.

First off - what a star on the leash! He has not done enough collar & lead work up until now so I expected him to stop dead and pull back, but he was a pro. I was very impressed.
I did correct him if he tried to cross me or pull forward, stop to sniff etc and he responded easily. He stopped at roads or whenever I just stopped for the sake of it and usually he just sat next to me awaiting instruction! All it took was for me to purposefully start to walk and he was up like a shot, continuing on nicely.

We were told he might also freak out around cars as it is not something he has seen much of. We have to walk along and cross a busy road on the way to school and he was just brill. He walked alongside the cars whizzing past and paid more attention to the people he saw in their driveways than he did the passing vehicles.

He has a lovely deep woof and barks twice to alert me if he sees a cat, a bird or hears a dog behind a fence. I have encouraged this and praised him because he seems nice and confident about it. Any sign of fear or if he is a bit reprehensive, I make sure to disapprove it.

I want to build his confidence so used meeting two dogs to help me. One was Ben, an elderly local dog who can often be found sitting on the path. Faro barked at Ben from the opposite side of the road so I made him cross over and approach, instead of avoiding. Faro was a little unsure so I made him walk right up to Ben to meet him but unfortunately, Ben decided he did not want to meet this big hulk of a pup so he dashed off to his own garden!

At the school, we asked a staffie owner if Faro could meet her but the Staff barked at him quite a lot which made him stand back. I had him sit near the barking dog until he felt relaxed but did not push the issue of them actually meeting. 

Of course Faro met a tonne of strangers at the school, all of whom immediately crowded him and fussed him all over. He sat and looked as if he very much enjoyed the experience which was fab.

It is quite tiring staying in tune with him but it is quite good because it teaches me just how much concentration all of this takes for the poor puppy!

I wanted to try to list all the things that Faro experienced. He was so switched on that he was like a sponge and seemed to absorb every sight, scent and sound.

______________________________________________

So here are some of the things Faro got to experience during his first walk today:

Walking on a slack lead and being checked (with me)
Walking ahead and allowed to have a good sniff at will (with Jay)
Crossing both quiet and busy roads
Walking on Grass
Walking on tarmac
Walking up a long flight of steps
Cat sat on wall
Cat crossing road
Passive dog sat on side of road
Excited dog being walked
Excited dog being held on lead which barked
Dogs behind fences in gardens
Birds
Excited children stroking
Lots of strangers either walking by or stopping to talk
Walking next to a road with lots of traffic
Using a zebra crossing
Walking around a new area
Returning to a familiar area
Finally, taking a drink then returning immediately to crate.


Phew! That was just on one little morning walk!

We think Faro is a star in the making - he is extremely adaptable, smart, quick learning, high energy and his confidence is flourishing.

First Night

Well, we fully expected a rough night as Faro settles in but how wrong were we!!

We turned the kitchen light off and shut the door (where he sleeps in his crate)
No fuss
We turned the tv off and went quiet
No fuss
We turned the rest of the lights out and quietly went upstairs to bed
No fuss

We didn't hear a peep out of him all night!

What a star!

Our First Puppy Is Here!

Less than a week after deciding to enquire and a puppy has arrived!
He is a 16 week old German Shepherd named Faro.

Faro is very energetic! He is also a very fast learner and very adaptable.
He has settled in here incredibly well and lies quietly in his crate until we take him out for a 10 minute burst of 'work' every so often, but not in any set schedule because we do not want to encourage routine or encourage Faro to 'anticipate' what will happen next.

Faro will be here for an initial 2 months of socialising and it is our job to build his confidence and introduce him to every new situation our imaginations can think of before he goes off for formal training.
If he is on track to becoming a suitable working dog at the 6 month interval, he will then come back to us until he is 12 months old.

My first obstacle is to make sure that I do not 'train' Faro in obedience tasks unless necessary for a smooth life with him during this stage. The obedience training is something that is left for the eventual police handler to do because this is their method of bonding with the dog.
We may teach Faro not to bolt out of his crate or out of a door without being invited (for his own safety really) and we may teach him to walk on a slack leash for ease of walking him. But we do not intend to teach commands such as 'sit' or 'down'.

So in a nutshell, we are responsible for his 'emotional' development.

Here are a few first photos although I took many more - he doesn't stay still so all are blurred!!!

and here he is in his crate:

More Suspense!

Just had a call from Matt who was bringing the pups to us today and his day is too hectic so will now come tomorrow at noon instead.

So we have a bit longer to wait for our first puppy!

The plan may have changed a little because one of the puppies is turning out to be possibly unsuitable and may be sold back to his breeder, so Matt may only bring one pup with him tomorrow. He will decide before he comes.

The Ball is Rolling

So, after emailing wkd over the weekend, they promptly replied to say that they have got two puppies waiting for walkers!

They are both male German Shepherds. One is 12 weeks old and the other is 16 weeks.

I emailed over some more info about ourselves and said we were interested. We received an email back saying that we sounded ideal and inviting us to call and have a chat.

So today, Jay & I chatted with Matt and agreed for him to bring both pups over on Wednesday evening to meet us. If they are happy with us and we are happy to go ahead,  we will be able to choose a pup!

I am incredibly excited and have lots and lots of questions so here's hoping all goes well on Wednesday and we can get started on the road to successfully raising service puppies.


I don't know yet if we would keep this particular pup until he is 6 months or 12 months old because the age that the pup goes back for formal training seems to differ between police dogs and guide dogs. Will find out on Wednesday :o)

Hope to have pics to post in a couple days. It feels like waiting for Christmas!!!

Deciding To Get Involved

Three months ago, I quit my job of 9 years. A job that I had held since leaving school.

It felt like time for a change. I was not enjoying working an office job and decided that despite not having much money, I would take the plunge and start my own business. So my husband & I went into partnership and created a smallholding. The main activity is poultry breeding together with selling produce and building animal enclosures.

Since we now work from home, we find that caring for the animals does not take up all of our time and we would now have the luxury of being able to get involved in something that was not business related.

We would very much like to have a dog to join our family but the problem is, we have a horse and a number of pygmy goats so feel at the limits of what we can commit to as far as vet and feed bills go.
Therefore, puppy walking seems perfect for us because the costs are covered by whichever organisation owns the pup.

Most people seem to think that either the hardest thing about it, or the reason they could not do it, is giving back the pup once ready for it's formal training. For us however, we have had animals on breeding loan before which gave us experience of caring for animals that could be taken back at any time PLUS we have bred a huge variety of different animal species for years and of course, homing the young animals teaches you how to be detached.

We felt that we might fit the bill and tick all the boxes because we do not have any dogs or cats, we have enclosed gardens, our son is young but quiet and respectful of animals, our house backs onto a common where pup would be able to meet many dogs and we live nearby plenty of opportunities for pup to have new experiences.

So after mulling all of the above over for months and months, last Friday, October 14th, something spurred me into action and I sent emailed out to the Guide Dog Association, a disabled service dog charity, West Midlands and Staffordshire police offering our services. I then trawled the net for information and gleaned as much info as I could from comments and posts made in various websites by other puppy walkers.

Then I waited.

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand new BLOG

I am hoping to log all of my experiences in puppy walking service dogs in order to help anyone else who might be thinking of getting involved and also to log the progress of any special puppies that we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to raise.

enjoy!