Life as a Medical Detection Dog: Birthday Boy

Hey dog fans, how's it wagging? Well yes I know it again has been an age since I've been on here, but with all the sunshine I've been somewhat distracted sunbathing and playing in the big outdoors. I hope that perhaps you've been enjoying the weather too...and therefore I won't have left you in eager anticipation of this my latest blog.

Today is my 2^nd Birthday...

and as edible treats could cause issues with my current type of alert training (L & M have to be quite strict), I was taken out for a nice big walk around 7am before it got too hot and then we did a quick drive to Pets@Home where I was allowed to pick whichever toy I wanted. Well my first choice was a lovely little brown bunny…or maybe the brown and white one or…anyway apparently they weren’t toys so I had to move on to the correct aisle. So next option was the food one and I had fun sniffing all the bags of dog food while L seemed distracted looking for something in her pockets. Unfortunately her mobile phone was out of juice so the photo of me picking a toy didn’t get to happen. I’m not too bothered anyway, sometimes with L it’s like having the paparazzi with me as she always wants to take photos to ‘capture moments’. I found a really cool blue & red fabric football…which had two pieces of rope at each end. The red was very similar to my work jacket and I was sniffing, just about to pick it when a cocker spaniel puppy at the other end of the aisle gave a few excited barks. I think she had the task of picking out a new lead. Anyway as I turned my attention back to my red/blue ball another ball on the other shelf caught my eye and I opted for that one instead. It’s not quite so colourful BUT it did appear to be a bit tougher and as Bracken will also want to play ball with me it seems like the more sensible mature 2yr old doggie choice. So this ball is rubber and has the piece of rope at each end also. As you can see I like it very much…and L has charged her phone since we got home. With it being so hot today we will be spending a good amount of time indoors. I feel quite lucky I’ve moved into a house which has traditional brick/tile floors downstairs. The floor is so cool to lay on in hot weather its bliss. L & M have promised when we do go outside that Bracken and I can have some iced lollies too. And there is always plenty of shade available in our garden, along with two very large bowls of water which get replenished regularly. So as I don’t yet know what the rest of my day/evening holds I’ll update you in the next blog.

As I mentioned last time, I had the adventure of visiting a local primary school to give an assembly presentation with L. It was a lovely sunny day and we had to arrive at the school promptly before 9am. When we arrived I saw a big horse that was all different colours in the car park. I wasn’t sure that L & M had noticed it so I gave a bit of an excited bark (we would have hated to reverse into it as we parked). I soon found out it wasn’t actually a “real” horse but it was just the same size and I felt it was only fair to let people know it was there. When we got out of the car I rushed to sniff it and find out exactly what it was. M thought that was cute and tried to take a photo but I was sniffing it at super speed and she didn’t manage to press the button in time (as you can see below)…

After the horse statue meeting a nice man came out to greet us and escorted us into school. We signed in to announce our arrival and then got led through a large hall into the staff room where I got to say hello to a number of the teachers who were all very smiley and happy to meet me. Once again I was in my work jacket and so they could all tell I am “something special”. Our neighbour Ali was there too, so I was very happy to see her. But she must have forgotten to bring her dog Max with her cos he wasn’t about anywhere??? After L & M had stopped talking with Ali and the teachers, we were left alone in the staff room. In the background I could hear the noise of lots of children and chairs being pulled on classroom floors. Our big moment was about to begin…

We went into the big hall and there were two chairs at the front. As we were getting settled lots of children started to come in. They walked in in long lines and all sat on the floor in front of me (smallest ones at the front & biggest at the back). They were all watching me as they walked in…I hadn’t expected to see quite so many. As more and more came into the hall, we even had to move the chairs back a bit to make more room for them. L asked me a few times to sit, but when I tried my back legs slipped away from under me (imagine how a frogs legs stick out at the sides) and so I decided it was probably best not to sit if I really didn’t have to. I stood and looked at all the children…who were all looking back at me. Then the assembly began and Ali explained to the children who we were and that L was going to tell them about my very special job. Medical Detection Dogs also have a power-point presentation which has been written to educate children about what dogs like me do. So this was on a screen behind us. L asked who had dogs at home and lots of the children raised their hands. We talked about how well behaved I had to be and how it was important for me to follow commands when out in public working. L asked me to do the sit command, which I did to the delight of the kids but she finally noticed how slippery the floor was, so she asked me to lay down which was more comfortable. After this one of the boys wanted to know if I could roll-over on command? I didn’t get the opportunity to see though as L explained that rolling over wasn’t needed that much when we’re out, but that she was sure the boy must have a very well trained and clever dog at home. The children raised their hands to tell us about all the different assistance dogs they know that belong to family and friends and then it was the children’s turn to ask questions. Lots of the questions seemed to be more statements about their own pet dogs and what they could do…but there were also a few good one’s like “Can Frodo go to toilet in the park?” All in all the assembly lasted for about 30 minutes and as the children stood and left in the same long lines I got a lot more smiles and a few waves goodbye. It was nice to see all the children and apparently it was a good bit of training for me too. In fact things went so well that we have been invited back to help with a couple of classes in the next school year. This is good as Medical Detection Dogs are actively seeking to educate about what they do and have invested time and effort into creating a Curriculum Guide which allows schools to link teaching and learning to real life and purposeful learning experiences for school children. So the school has a choice of what sort of lessons it can be included in and for how long a duration (week long, term long or more). All of this resource can be found on the Medical Detection Dog website

http://medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk/schools.html

I am beginning to adjust to my celebrity status as I get out and about more. L & M took me for a quick shopping trip into Sainsbury’s. While we were walking around, trying to locate all the items on the list a lady approached and asked L if she could take a photo of me. She explained that she follows Medical Detection Dogs on Twitter and thinks the dogs like me are wonderful. So if you happen to be the nice lady who I met in Sainsbury’s and you are reading this…Welcome to my blog. I told L she should have mentioned that I write one. I’m hopeful with your technology prowess that you will have found me! I haven’t seen the photo yet on Twitter but I do hope it’s a good one and I’m looking as handsome as normal.

OK, enough of this typing on my birthday…we’re all going out in the garden to enjoy the sunshine and my new ball toy…

… well it didn’t survive as long as we’d hoped…but I’m still having fun though…