Our Doncaster office was delighted to hold a raffle and cake sale on Wednesday 7 November 2018, with all proceeds being donated to Support Dogs; a charity which trains assistance dogs for people with autism, epilepsy or who have a physical disability.
What do Trainee Support Dogs do?
Trainee Support Dogs Cobble (four months old) and Marky (seven months old), both yellow Labradors, joined us for the raffle and cake sale to tell us all about what they are training to do.
Cobble and Marky explained that until they are about 15 months old they will live with their Puppy Socialiser. The Puppy Socialiser’s role is to let the puppies have freedom as well as train them in manners, teach them how to be well behaved dogs and to introduce them to all manner of things that they will come into contact with when they are fully trained Assistance Dogs, such as crowds, other animals, shops, vehicles, and glass lifts. By living with their Puppy Socialiser Cobble and Marky also learn how to live in a family setting.
Training School
After the Puppy Socialiser stage, Cobble and Marky will attend Training School during the day. They will live with foster carers on an evening and on a weekend close to the training centre. The foster carers will continue the work started by the Puppy Socialisers and promote their social and family skills. Once trained, they will be allocated to their human (and their family) to become an integral part of their life.
At Training School Cobble and Marky will be assessed to see which area of assistance they are most suited to and will commence specialist training in that area.
If trained as a seizure dog, they will be able to tell their human who has epilepsy that they are about to have a seizure which will ensure their human can get to a safe place in time. Support Dogs is the only charity in the UK which trains dogs who can then warn their owner that they are about to have a seizure.
As an autism assistance dog Cobble and Marky will keep their human (child or adult) safe and away from dangers that they would not ordinarily realise were there.
If the pair train to become assistance dogs to a physically disabled human, they will be able to do all manner of things for their human, even stripping the bedding and putting the washer on!
The assistance dogs help to transform otherwise restricted lives for not only their allocated human, but often their human’s family as well, by giving them the confidence and independence they need to help them live a full life.
Special thanks to those who donated for the event:
- Jaysters Catering of Bawtry who donated a cake for the cake sale
- Raw Instinct Dog Training of Rossington who donated a raffle prize
- Serenity Holistic of Doncaster who donated raffle prizes
- Nuffield gym who donated raffle prizes
