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Puppy ClubFundraising Market Day, an annual holiday event held on the beautiful Arrowtown Village Green, is a fun day chock-full of entertainment, music and a variety of stalls selling artwork, crafts, plants, pottery, food, etc. This year the festival had a new addition to the line-up, the colourful and eclectic Mobility Dogs stall! A few months in advance of the day, we began sourcing home-made items to sell. On Market Day our stall was overflowing with donated baked goods, fudge, relishes, jams, vinaigrette, artwork, plants, handknitted dog coats, nutritious dog treats, beaded jewellery and ‘Emmit’s’ Limited Edition Bling (fancy collar covers, festive neck garlands and ‘designer’ bandannas). Visitors to our stall not only enjoyed shopping but also had fun trying their luck at guessing the number of dog nuts in the jar and placing bids on Rusty the life-sized pooch crafted out of galvanised iron and donated by a neighbour (not to be confused with mobility dog 'Rusty' sponsored by Rodd and Gunn!). ‘Emmit’ and ‘Elsa’ certainly did their part in our fundraising effort by hanging out with Grant and Tony next to the stall in the cool grass, under the shade of the big maple trees looking incredibly handsome and cute in their holiday bling. One glance at these gorgeous Goldens and festival goers had no hesitation digging deep into their pockets to find a coin or two to drop into the donation bucket. A highlight of the day was a visit in the afternoon from MD team, Amy and ‘Bonnie’. They had flown in from Auckland earlier in the day and spent a few hours at our stall answering questions and talking to people about Mobility Dogs. It was a real treat for people to see our two puppies in training and working girl, ‘Bonnie’.
Many thanks to all the kind folks and businesses that helped to make our stall a success, and special thanks to Lakes Environment, Queenstown for waiving the food stall fee. It was a great day, and we were pleased to raise more than we expected for Mobility Dogs. Southern Lakes District (SLD) Puppy Club
‘Emmit’s’ Update At just over a year old, ‘Emmit’ understands all of the designated commands and praise words as described in the Puppy Raising Manual. We find it is necessary to review the less-used commands two or three times a week so that he doesn’t forget them. Fortunately, he is now very reliable on the recall command, even with high level distractions such as greeting another dog. ‘Emmit’ is now showing just how strong he can be. When first going on an outing, it takes a few minutes to settle him down; he has a tendency to pull on the leash, but this is getting to be less of a problem each week. We are also working on his jumping up when greeting people he knows, i.e., puppy-sitters.
‘Elsa’s’ Update ‘Elsa’ is a bright, energetic and lovely, light tan Golden Retriever puppy who is managing to steal many hearts in and around the SLD. In fact, a person at Market Day wanted to know if she was for sale and if not, where a puppy just like her could be found! At four and a half months, she’s progressing on schedule with her commands and has mastered: her name, bizzy bizzy, sit, come, wait, okay, drop it, go to bed, down, shake, no. According to Viv and Tony, ‘She’s taking her time’ getting her relieving schedule down. Whew…hurry up, ‘Elsa’! The biggest concerns at this stage are pulling on leash, jumping up on people and her relieving issues, but there’s plenty of time, and these will come in due course. Socialisations ‘Elsa’ arrived a few months before the beginning of the holiday season and jumped right into her socialisations (after her final round of vaccinations), accompanying Viv and Tony to Christmas parties and events. Members were quite smitten when ‘Elsa’, wearing her festive holiday collar, bounced into the Garden Club and the Vintage Car Club Christmas parties.
Another special experience for ‘Emmit’ is when he accompanies Shona to the Lakes District Hospital. Shona works in cancer treatment, and “Emmit’ has had the opportunity to play the therapy dog role as he sits quietly with patients receiving chemotherapy. Thank you, Rotary Club of Fiordland In mid-December we received a letter of thanks for our presentation last November to the Rotary Club of Fiordland in Te Anau. A cheque was enclosed and the kind words: ‘We were all very impressed with the dogs’ discipline and abilities and really enjoyed the evening…(we)hope that this cheque can go some way in furthering the work you both do’. On that bright note, we bid you farewell for this month and wish you Happy New Year from the SLD Puppy Club. Judy and Grant Puppy-raisers, Puppy Development Liaison
Posted: Mon 19 Jan 2009 |
© Copyright 2008 | Mobility Assistance Dogs Trust | Registered Charitable Trust CC24410 | New Zealand
‘Elsa’, the second puppy to be raised on the South Island, arrived in October, and now we can truly justify calling ourselves a ‘Puppy Club’. Our growing club currently consists of ‘Emmit’ and his raisers (Judy and Grant), ‘Elsa’ and her raisers (Tony and Viv, right) and our dedicated puppy-sitters. Since the last journal posting, we are pleased to welcome new puppy-sitters, Sarah, Shona and Robert (below). Puppy-sitters are an essential element in a puppy club, ready and willing to step in, sometimes on rather short notice, to help out the raisers and take a puppy for 3-5 days. Praise to our puppy-sitters! 
Our Puppy Club meets twice a month and is an opportunity to recognise accomplishments (both puppies’ and raisers’), discuss challenges, answer questions and problem solve. A practical component of the meeting is the demonstration and observation of the pups’ commands and working with the raiser and pup to reinforce, revise or change behaviours. Meetings are a valuable way to come together to share, to learn from one another and to receive the support so necessary in raising a puppy. 
'Emmit' & 'Elsa' relax at Walter Peak High Country Farm
Recently, we took both ‘Emmit’ and ‘Elsa’ on a scenic cruise across Lake Wakatipu on board the heritage steamship, the TSS Earnslaw. Our cruise took us to Walter Peak High Country Farm where the dogs found it fascinating to touch noses with the baby lambs and observe, from some distance, the curious llamas, deer and Highland cattle. After enjoying traditional morning tea, we took the dogs to the nearby beach for some playtime in the water. ‘Emmit’ did his best to demonstrate the dog paddle stroke for ‘Elsa’, but she was just a bit hesitant to throw caution to the wind and take the plunge. Biting at the water as it slapped the shore and dodging the lapping waves, she was in the ultimate puppy paradise. 
‘Emmit’ has had some special experiences while with his puppy-sitters. When he is with Sarah (right), who works at the Queenstown Resort College, he spends the day either on his mat beside Sarah at reception or greeting students as they enter. In her puppy-sitting notes Sarah recently wrote she’s sure ‘he could learn to answer the phone or take student inquiries from time to time’. In addition to reception duty, ‘Emmit’ happily goes with Sarah on her work errands around Queenstown.