Sue & Mike
Puppy Socialisers
Following the death of our beloved Labrador we spotted the Veterans With Dogs (VWD) website and contacted them as we wanted to “give something back”. After a home check we were accepted as puppy socialisers. Three months later an eight weeks old Golden Retriever called Sunny (short for Sunshine!) turned up and stayed with us until she was fourteen months old. Like any puppy she was hard work to begin with, but it was great to see her develop a calm confidence through being taken on buses, the train, in the car, into supermarkets and lots of other places, as well as being fully socialised on and off lead with numerous dogs and people during her daily walks. We took her to puppy training classes and were able to seek advice and help from VWD as necessary. We particularly liked the VWD reward based training methods, the objective being for Sunny to choose to do the right things and not be forced to. For example, we obtained permission from a local pub restaurant to take her indoors there while we had lunch to celebrate her birthday. After Sunny’s visit they put up a sign saying that guide and assistance dogs were welcome, which gives an idea of how well behaved she had become. We miss her a lot, but it’s good to know that she will be helping a Veteran in the years to come.