You may remember that earlier in the year CHECT’s Trusts & Foundations Fundraising Manager Lizzie and her family have recently become Puppy Raisers for Guide Dogs and welcomed Ashford into their homes. Here, Lizzie updates us on how Ashford is getting on.
Ashford is nearly seven months now and is growing incredibly fast! From arriving with us at seven weeks weighing 4.5kg, he’s now around 20kg and is taller than his adult Labrador foster sister, Xanthe. We think it’s likely that he will be partnered with a very tall blind or visually impaired person in the future.
Over the past few months Ashford has made amazing progress. He’s learnt excellent recall when on his free runs twice a week, and is getting really good at sitting at the bus stop or in a café and being quiet and not getting distracted. A really tricky skill to learn has been that guide dog puppies are not allowed upstairs or on the sofa, whereas Xanthe – as a pet dog – is allowed to do both. Ashford was quite puzzled to start with that there’s a different rule for him, but with a lot of positive reinforcement he now lies down in his bed on the floor next to Xanthe on the sofa, or if the rest of us are upstairs he finds a sunny patch on the floor at the bottom of the stairs and waits for us to reappear with his best sad puppydog eyes!
Ashford’s current favourite pastimes include going on free runs, visiting English Heritage sites and cafes, watching the cricket on TV, and snuggling up for a snooze with his cuddly puffin.
Assuming he progresses as expected, we will probably have him living with us for another six or seven months before he goes to guide dog training school. We all love him deeply even though we shouldn’t get too attached!
