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IN BLOG 21/2018
Jay Has Big Boots To Fill
5 Month Old Nico, Nero And Nicki Enjoy Their Visit To Saundercroft Farm And
Are Also Making Excellent Progress In Their Training
A Wet And Windy Day For Their First
Training Session But That Didn’t Worry Ginny, Arnie, Rogue, Jay And Rebel.
Pictured
from left to right are Ginny, Arnie, Rogue, Jay and Rebel on their first
training session at HQ. Ginny, Rogue and Rebel are 13 weeks old siblings from
Lorockmor working dogs and Arnie and Jay are 11 week old brothers from
Kazzardsway German shepherds.
The first
job was introducing the pups and puppy walkers to each other.
This group of pups will be on the January 2020 Initial Police dog course.
Rebel was a
little unsure of a couple of the pups to start with but that soon changed as
the session progressed.
We started
the pups on the ramps and tunnel to see how adventurous and confident they
were.
They are a
very confident group of pups and took it all in their stride.
We don’t do
any agility jumping until they are around 12 months because of their developing
joints. However they enjoy the ramps and tunnel which are great for resilience
and confidence building provided the pups are taken up and down in a controlled
manner. ( Show Vid 3 )
With
hindsight we shouldn’t have used the ramps as they were slightly wet and a
couple of the pups did slip but it didn’t seem to worry the pups at all.
I then
instructed the puppy walkers on obtaining a fast recall.
We then did
some sits, downs and the early stages of heelwork.
The
excitement started to take its toll and so there was time for one last play
together before everyone made their way home.
Ginny has
settled into her new home with first time puppy walkers Marian and Keith. They
have been getting her out and about visiting Killerton and Exeter city centre
where they bumped into Police dog handler Darryl and Boris.
I look
forward to seeing them all again in 2 weeks’ time.
Jay Has Big Boots To Fill
Jay’s puppy
walkers Alison and Stuart Fleming met whilst serving in the Royal Signals over
40 years ago. They married and after a variety of deployments and Stewart serving a spell in
the Police they eventually moved to
Crediton over 20 years ago.
They had two
sons Rory now 30 who lives and works in Crediton and younger brother Jamie who
just like his parents served in the Royal Signals. Here is Jamie on a tour of
Afganistan.
Alison and
Stewart have previously had German shepherds and their last German shepherd
called Bomber died in 2013.
Tragically
the following year in 2014 their son Jamie was killed aged just 21 whilst travelling
home to Crediton on leave in a collision with a lorry on his motorbike.
Needless to
say their world was turned upside down and it is something that the family will
never fully recover from.
Stewart now
retired didn’t feel the time was right to take on a new dog long term but liked
the idea of raising a Police puppy and making a contribution to the Police and
the community. Welcome Jay.
Stewart
asked if he could name his pup ‘Jay’ as a tribute to his son Jamie. Naturally
the force would consider it an honour. Stewart fully understands that there is
no guarantee that his pup will become a Police dog.
They are
already joined at the hip and I have no doubt that regardless of whether Jay
eventually graduates as a Police dog or not their time together will be
special.
What I can
say is that Jay is a very strong character with the temperament and working
attributes needed to be a Police pup.
Here he is on remembrance Sunday with Alison,
Stewart and Jamie’s friend Tom Bell who served with him in Afganistan paying
their respects . Jamie’s brother Rory was on the parade in his role as a
retained fireman.
Jay was not
in the slightest bit bothered by the noise of the band or the loud bangs going
off. In fact Jay doesn’t seem to worry about very much at all.
Jay
certainly has big boots to fill but I like to think there might be a certain someone
watching over him to help him on his way.
Nero, Nico And Nicki Enjoy Their Visit To Saundercroft Farm And
Are Progressing Really Well With Their Training
This group
of pups are now 5 months old and they were incredibly calm meeting all of the
different animals during our visit on Sunday to Saundercroft farm.
It is my
favourite training day and I learn a lot just watching the reactions of the
pups meeting the animals.
We started
as we always do with the sheep. There are several sheep like AL who have been
hand reared which make them much less jumpy and with Andi and her bucket of
feed the pups are usually more interested in stealing their food.
We usually
start doing some sit and down’s with the pups for titbits just to stop the pups
getting over excited.
We are in no
rush and after a period of time the pups usually get bored and when they are in this state of mind this is
the best time to introduce them.
I would say
that this group of pups bred by Bernard of Kazzardsway German shepherds are
probably the calmest group of pups I can remember on a farm visit.
Next it was
off to see the cows and calves.
Nico is
pictured here calmly weighing up the situation and in the back ground you can
see we were joined by Andi’s son Will and Andi’s mum Jean. Will is always very
entertaining.
For me it
was a pleasure to see such calmness in young German shepherds. Excitability is
endemic in the breed and to see such quiet confidence and calmness made my day.
It was
exactly the same with the horses and the chickens and as always young Will was
never far away from the action.
One last
team photo before another thoroughly enjoyable visit came to an end. My thanks
as always to Jean, Andi and the entertaining young Will for allowing us to
visit.
Those of you
who follow the blog will know that as a young pup Nero had a severe skin
infection ( Puppy Strangles) around his muzzle which required daily medication
and bathing from the breeder and Chris his puppy walker.
I am happy
to report that as a result of their dedication and support it has nearly completely
cleared up.
I was very
impressed with the training standard of these 3 pups on their previous puppy
class up on Exeter race course when they were only 4 and a half months old.
We started
with a lesson on how to lay a track or trail and the puppy walkers all had a go
themselves.
After laying
it they all got their pups to complete the track. They used liver titbits in
every other footstep for the pups to follow.
We then did
some puppy heelwork and some sit and down stays.
I can’t remember a previous class being able
to carry out a group sit stay and a group down stay at such a young age. I was
extremely impressed so well done to the walkers for the hard work they have
obviously put in.
In my next
blog I will be reporting on the boldness assessments taking place with the
January 2019 Initial course dogs tomorrow.
I will also
give an update on the E litter.
From Ella,
Larry and me bye for now.
