Voila! I've cracked the code to do blogging, at last.

Now I start again. I'm still on the learning curve, always will be.

These are some of the things I learnt from puppy raising.

We started puppy raising six years ago. Our bundle of joy was a ten week old cross golden retriever. Her name is Sabina and her Mum was Tipper, a gentle blond Labrador and Dad Roo a very beautiful good natured Golden Retriever.

We studied the guide lines and did every thing our Supervisor told us to do. She grew into a gentle, loving, placid young dog. She was chosen to breed. We thought she would have made a very good Guide dog but on reflection we now realise that she did not have the drive to do the work. Having babies was a much better fit for her.

Oh the struggle to make the decision to release her and not keep her. Our reason was that we wanted to keep on puppy raising and not become brood keepers. She went to live with Jane. Jane loved her and she was taken all over the place. She then had her first litter. So cute. We asked for one of the pups to raise. We were given Sizzle. But I have jumped ahead.

After Sabina left us we were given a black female Labrador to raise. She arrived at ten weeks old and not well at all. Eventually the diagnosis of Guardia was made and she slowly recovered. Her name  was Jean and was she a handful!

We thought that we were 'experienced' so this was going to be fun.
I decided it was my turn to be the primary carer as Howard had been the primary carer for Sabina. At four months old I found that I could not control feisty Jean. She had a mind of her own and I handed her over to Howard. She was hard work. The problem was she was far too bright and had the drive of an ox. If we didn't keep her busy all the time she found things to keep herself busy. Once she arrived very proud of herself with a CD that she had carefully taken out of the CD cabinet. I think she was choosing her own music. I would not have put it past her.

Eventually, much to our joy, we handed her to a the trainer. Good luck!
Everything was done to get Jean to the standard required to guide. The problem was that she was fully sponsored by an elderly man who had named her after his departed wife. So all the stops were pulled to get her through.
Finally she was ready to be matched and just then a young lady with Tunnel vision had phoned to say that she needed a dog. This was a match made in heaven.

Julie was a hard working young lady. She had two jobs and Jean was required to help her get to work by train. All was well.
After three years hard work, Julie had to surrender Jean as her situation had changed and there was not enough work for Jean. What to do with a dog that was fit, healthy, intelligent and 5 years old?

A wonderful man took her and trained her in no time at all to be an assistance dog.
We had the joy of meeting up with her again and we could not believe how obedient she had become.

Take two of this frustrating learning curve. Still have hiccoughs. Oh well .... keep trying. If at first you don't succeed.

More Learning Curve.

How frustrating to forget passwords and how to get started blogging. Hopefully I have it sorted now and blog away. BUT I don't think it is sorted. This is a test run... a learning curve