Picture of Harry

Hi. My name is Harry, I'm a Guide Dog Puppy in Training and this is my Blog.

Atherton Appeal

Harry supported Guide Dogs' appeal to equip the brand new training school for the North of England at Atherton. He was keen to help as he was to be one of the first puppies to train at the new school.

Harry was at the launch of the appeal on 7th October 2008 where he got to meet the Press. One of the newspaper articles can be seen here.

March 19, 2008

Weekly Update – 9 weeks

Today Harry turned 9 weeks old.

The last week has been another week of changes. Suddenly, on his eighth night at Number 58, Harry got the hang of going to bed. As a result we are no longer walking around like zombies and suffering from a lack of sleep. The bags under our eyes have gone from suitcase size to handbag size, nothing a bit of concealer can’t cope with.

We dropped into the vet’s again to see how heavy he’s got and were amazed to discover he’s now 8.4 kg. That’s an increase of 1.3 kg in a week! Unbelievable. His tail now measures 8.5 inches (22 cm).

Harry has also grown in confidence over the last week. He’s figured out how doors work and that he has to step to one side when one is opened. He’s started to look up and be aware that there are all sorts of goodies on the kitchen benches, delights yet to be discovered, if only he could reach.

Harry posing

Harry is doing really well with his obedience training. He understands and responds to the commands ‘come’, ‘sit’ and ‘give’. He is especially good with the ‘give’ command. It’s great that he gives up his toys and bone when asked, but when it’s a mouldy leaf or a worm he’s found in the garden, then sometimes asking him to ‘give’ doesn’t seem such a good idea.

Toilet training is coming along nicely, he cries at the back door when he needs to make a deposit, which we’re very impressed with. He’s not so fastidious when it comes to puddles though, especially if it’s raining outside. Or windy. Or too cold. Or he’s just too darn tired to drag himself out. He’ll stand on the step, sniff the air and make a decision. Do I go out in THIS weather or should I just stand here and do it now? No amount of encouragement will get him out if it’s both windy and raining. Overall we currently stand at about 80/20 in our favour.

Harry posing again

Harry still objects loudly to travelling in the car. He’s fine when we’re stationery at the traffic lights, or the car is reversing, but when we’re going forward his vocal objections can be heard 3 miles away. So today his very good pal Goldie (also a Guide Dog Puppy in Training) came for a ride with him in the car. Goldie is older by about six months and much more ‘grown up’. She showed him how to behave in the car and that all the howls, screeches and squeaks were totally unnecessary. As a reward they got to go to Costa Coffee where the humans had a welcome caffeine injection, and the pups had a snooze.

We’re hoping that Harry has learnt from Goldie and from now on there will be peace in the car.

We’re not going to put a bet on it though.

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