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.

October 15, 2008

Weekly update – 39 weeks

Tomorrow is the 16th October and that means Harry will have reached the grand old age of 9 months. He’s very different from the cute little pup that turned up at just 6 weeks old, and although he’s still cute, he’s starting to behave much more like the mature dog he’ll eventually turn out to be.

Harry waiting patiently for dinner

Harry has always been pretty intelligent and learns quickly, especially when a treat is on offer, so teaching him the various commands for his obedience training was never particularly difficult. Like all Labradors, Harry is seriously food orientated and when it comes to meal times he always lets us know, even if we’re just 5 minutes late with his dinner.

We actually gave up mentioning the word dinner a long time ago, because the mere mention of the word sent him running, faster than the speed of light, into the kitchen so he could sit and wait in a very focused manner beside his bowl. Recently we have run out of different words to use, so we have now started to spell the words out. What we hadn’t bargained on though, was a pup that could spell. Yesterday we spelled out the word D-I-N-N-E-R and couldn’t believe it when Harry shot out the room and headed straight for his bowl.

Despite the fact that he still has stitches, he insists on lying in his favourite position – doing his frog impersonation. If he ever decides to go swimming (instead of just paddling) we’re pretty sure he’ll be doing the breaststroke and not the doggy paddle.

Harry doing his frog impersonation

Harry’s week has been fairly boring. He’s been quite restricted on what he’s been allowed to do, and much to his disgust he hasn’t been allowed to jump in the car, on to a bus or even a train. Although he has been out to the local shops, the library and a Pilates class, he much prefers to go further afield so he can travel in the car or on public transport. The only good thing about this week, as far as Harry is concerned, has been the relatively good weather – it means he’s been able to spend lots of time lying in his favourite spot in the sun.