We had a surprise visit from Sonya O'Sullivan this week. She dropped in with her daughter to see how Hector was getting on with his training. She was very impressed at how mature he looked.
At this stage I have now started attachments. I ask one of my colleagues to play the role of a child. Tara kindly agreed to be my child in the photo below and she is attached to Hector using a belt around her waist and an attachment lead attached to Hector’s jacket. We start nice and gently asking Hector to do his work with two people on either side of him. Gradually I ask Tara to overstep the kerb or drop the handle and run and as she does so I give Hector instructions. Tara will also do typical child behaviours such as skipping, tapping, picking up sticks and waving them. Gradually I will ask her to do more intense behaviours such as turning and shouting. I will see how Hector copes with these.
After a few weeks I will attach a child to Hector. I use my young niece and nephew for this along with some of my colleague’s relations. The children will do more natural child behaviours and can be more unpredictable. The dogs also will have no respect for the child so I need to be sure that they behave themselves and will not try to take advantage. After another few sessions I will attach Hector to a child with Autism to get the most realistic experience.
At this stage I have now started attachments. I ask one of my colleagues to play the role of a child. Tara kindly agreed to be my child in the photo below and she is attached to Hector using a belt around her waist and an attachment lead attached to Hector’s jacket. We start nice and gently asking Hector to do his work with two people on either side of him. Gradually I ask Tara to overstep the kerb or drop the handle and run and as she does so I give Hector instructions. Tara will also do typical child behaviours such as skipping, tapping, picking up sticks and waving them. Gradually I will ask her to do more intense behaviours such as turning and shouting. I will see how Hector copes with these.
After a few weeks I will attach a child to Hector. I use my young niece and nephew for this along with some of my colleague’s relations. The children will do more natural child behaviours and can be more unpredictable. The dogs also will have no respect for the child so I need to be sure that they behave themselves and will not try to take advantage. After another few sessions I will attach Hector to a child with Autism to get the most realistic experience.
Over the 11 weeks I will take each of my 5 dogs home individually for a
couple of nights. I took Hector
home for a couple of nights to see how he settled in and to see if he had developed any bad habits like chewing, crying, barking or landscaping. It was also a good way to see how he behaved while travelling in the car. He was very well behaved and we had a few fun play sessions. He is still fond of chasing his tail!
I have also started looking at the matching process where by I match Hector to a suitable family. I will update you on this process soon.
couple of nights. I took Hector
home for a couple of nights to see how he settled in and to see if he had developed any bad habits like chewing, crying, barking or landscaping. It was also a good way to see how he behaved while travelling in the car. He was very well behaved and we had a few fun play sessions. He is still fond of chasing his tail!
I have also started looking at the matching process where by I match Hector to a suitable family. I will update you on this process soon.
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