Well it’s been a few weeks since PWAP has reported on Rochester’s progress. He has been busy… busy growing and growing and growing. In fact he barely looks like a puppy now, more a miniature labrador! We check his weight at the Drove Vetiniary practice  every 2 weeks and this week he weighed in at 8.5kg, which means he has put on 2kg in a fortnight and almost tripled his weight in the 7 weeks we have had him; phew!

The next important milestone has been that his vaccination program has now been completed, which means he is free to go out and about meeting other dogs with impunity free from the fear of infection. He has done plenty of socialising walking, but only in places where other dogs are unlikely to have been. So “favourite” venues have been the park and ride, the DIY shop and the supermarket carpark. It may not be very facinating, but it’s safe and has plenty of useful things for Rochester to get used to. For example; buses, trolleys, lawnmowers, crowds and shelves of food. People are always pleased to meet him, interested in the work of Guide Dogs and Puppy walkers and by and large respectful of the fact that he is working!

Yesterday’s trip out was to sort out a new mobile at the Vodafone store in Swindon. He’s been in shops before, but this was the first visit where he would have to sit still and let me get on with stuff. For a future Guide Dog this is an important part of the job. Whilst the owner is out and about getting on with “life” the dog has to Guide but also spend lots of time sitting around waiting. Rochester’s first attempt at this was a great success. The staff at Vodafone couldn’t have been more helpful; I sorted out my new phone contract and Rochester learnt there is a lot of sitting around for a working dog!

Watching a puppy’s first encounter with snow is always a fun thing. Previous dogs have had a range of reactions. Monty loved it and immediately starting running around with great excitement, a trait that never left him. The first flurry of winter snow would always bring out his inner puppy! Ufton greeted his first snow with supreme calm, bordering on indifference.

So what has Rochester made of it? Well I think it’s fair to say he isn’t happy! We had worked out a few weeks ago that he doesn’t like the cold. When we take him out in the car he had been whining and shaking a bit which we had initially put down to car sickness. However once we warmed up the car prior to a drive he was fine! To be fair to him, he doesn’t have much fat on him yet so I guess sub zero temperatures are not going to be welcomed! He is also proud to have inherited a very warm fleecy coat from another much loved family dog, Scooby.

From a training point of view the challenge is to make sure he doesn’t start to associate going out of the house with a bad experience, so we will keep trips out short and fun. As he is now house trained we can also start taking him into nice warm supermarkets and shops!

Rochester has discovered that he  very much likes the fire! There is nothing more cosy than a nice fire on a cold day and this is something Rochester has embraced! Like a number of previous dogs he has worked out the optimum distance between himself and the fire to ensure maximum warmth versus minimum injury! There really isn’t anything more content than a dog asleep in front of a warm fire!

Dogs idea of dog food

Rochester seems pretty good so far. He isn’t overly interested when we are eating our meals  and seems quite happy to sit in his box or play with his toys. So if he’s not eating all this other stuff, what is he eating? Well he is on Eukanuba large breed puppy complete food and seems very happy with it. We soften the kibbles with a bit of warm water and he has four 50g portions a day.

Mans idea of dog food!

"put me down, I'm not a fairground attraction"!

Guide Dogs need to be trained to relieve themselves on command. Guide Dog owners need to be able to control when and where their dog relieves itself to avoid a working dog deciding it needs to go when it’s on it’s way to the supermarket! To achieve this puppies learn a command to associate with peeing and pooing …. “busy busy”.  You might feel a little self-conscious calling this out at all times of the day .. but it soons wheres off and Rochester now knows when to ” busy”. The problem is to avoid using the command in general conversation, “have you had a busy day at the office” , “I’m so busy at the moment”, “it’s going to be a busy weekend”!

If you work in the medical profession or indeed if you are overly interested in your own waste products you will be familiar with the Bristol Stool Chart, An invaluable aid to categorising poo! For Rochester’s first 10 days we have had to do the same process for every “big busy” … oh what a joy!  The Guide Dog vet team are constantly monitoring and adjusting the care given to over 1000 new puppies a year and this task is a small part of that. So a good thing … but I’m glad it’s finished!!

Petra teaches with "soft paws"

Sadly Petra died, leaving  Bob to “teach” the puppies in her own unique way! Bob doesn’t like dogs and in particular puppies! She will stand her ground and whack a dog if it gets too close, in fact she has been known to seek them out to “teach them a lesson”! On the one hand this is good; the puppy quickly learns “Don’t mess with cats”. However if the price of this lesson is being maimed by a bad-tempered cat; then it’s not worth the risk. So until Rochester can dodge the punches we have to keep on eye on the two of them!

p.s. Spike’s rules for dogs were :-

1.  We are mans best friend
2. Dogs bury bones!
3. Dogs chase cats!

 See the full episode and a bit of Tom and Jerry nostalgia at YouTube .. “That’s my Pup!”

The first night was a restless, sleepless affair …. not for the puppy, who slept soundly with only the ocasional bit of “yipping”. The real challenge was Bob the cat who realising that her empire was being challenged spent the night running her claws down the bedroom door like a crazed prisoner in a long forgotten dungeon, unfortunately we were the ones who felt we were locked up! Probably for our own protection from the vengeful instincts of Bob.

Rochester has settled into a good routine of playing, eating, sleeping and begining to learn about “being a Guide Dog”. The priorities for the first few days have been house training and socialisation. The former is going well (more on his toilet habits in a later blogpost; there’s something to look forward to!) and there has been no shortage of friends willing to help with the latter. So after a couple of days settling in Rochester was ready to receive his first visitors! He has been confident and friendly when meeting new people which is an encouraging sign for the future. He is also warm, soft, cuddly and still posessing the unmistable “puppy smell”, so is therefore willing to accept cuddles from anyone!

And now it’s back to sleep …. again!

Just arrived

We are sitting down with a drink after the first hectic 8 hours with Rochester our new guide dog puppy.  He arrived at midday with our puppy training supervisor and a bag full of stuff. Food – check, leads – check, big book of instructions – check! There has of course been no time to read anything, what with playing, feeding, peeing and pooing!

Rochester is a Golden Retriever/Labrador cross or in guide dog acronyms; a Grel! He is 7 weeks old and weighs in at 3.5kg. On the low side for a 7 week puppy, but he was one of a litter of 12! He certainly isn’t lacking an appetite and has been eagerly waiting for each of his feeds.

He has settled into his indoor kennel and has quite happily made his way into it without any encouragement….. which is where he is now after what has been a long and exhausting day; and that’s just us!

Indoor Crate

The new guide dog puppy arrives tomorrow and its fair  to say there is a mix of emotion in the house; excitement, a bit of anxiety and the anticipation of  a little canine whirlwind disrupting out neatly ordered lives!

Cosy new bed

So today’s task is to puppy proof the house. First job is to put up a couple of stair gates to create a safe puppy friendly area in the house. Our house has a lack of doors and at times likes this it doesn’t seem quite such a neat idea! Next a cosy home for him to call is own. (Yes he is a male, but that’s all that’s being revealed until tomorrow!) We have used indoor kennels for all our dogs to keep the puppy safe when we are out and to give him a bit of his own space.  Added to this is an old fruit tray from the supermarket for a bed and one of my old fleeces for bedding, not that we’re being cheap you understand! The box will get destroyed and the fleece smells of me! So hopefully nice and reassuring as he settles in, although I’ll obviously want it back as it’s one of my favourites!

Under or over?

Next up is the garden safe for any budding puppy Steve McQueens? It’s all fenced but the gates have now got wire at the bottom to prevent any limbo breakout. The pond is a puppy magnet and is now covered with a bit of trellis.

Bob inspects the stair gate

So we’re all happy …. well not quite I’m afraid. One member of the house already has a hunted look on her face; the Dark Lord herself, our ill tempered cat Bob …. she won’t be happy!