A CHARITY is appealing for puppy parents in Wokingham.
Canine Partners assists people with physical disabilities by providing specially trained dogs to help with daily living.
In the UK more than one million people use a wheelchair and Canine Partners believes that a significant number would benefit from an assistance dog.
The charity is appealing to people in Wokingham to house puppies from eight-weeks-old.
Claire Hallett, puppy training co-ordinator at the charity, said: “Our aim as a charity this year is to increase the number of puppies being trained after some disruption due to covid.
“We rely on extraordinary people to take on a puppy for the first 12- to 14-months of its life, the puppy will then have five months speciality training at one of our training centres before being matched with their future partner.”
Prospective puppy parents will be expected to toilet train the dog, instil basic obedience such as sit and stay and teach three core skills which are tug, touch and retrieve.
The three core skills create a foundation for the dog to successfully meet the needs of people with even the most complex disabilities.
Ms Hallett explained: “Tug will start with a toy and develops to opening doors and touch teaches the dog to push buttons where their partner is unable to.
“Retrieving encourages the dog to collect items such as wallets and return them to hand rather than the usual fetch where a dog will place it on the floor nearby – this also helps with daily tasks such as loading and unloading the washing machine.”
Fully trained assistance dogs eventually help with flushing the toilet, helping to strip the bed, put their own food bowls in the sink and some even help other four-legged friends by letting the cat in and out.
Training co-ordinators like Ms Hallett are on hand to support puppy parents, as training involves home visits, one-to-ones, town visits and puppy classes in order to socialise the puppy and get them used to all situations they may need to be in.
The charity also assists with vet bills, insurance and provides a starter kit as well as offering holiday cover when required.
Since the organisation was founded in 1990, more than 900 dogs have been partnered with more than 400 currently assisting disabled people in the UK.
For more information, or to apply as a puppy parent, visit: caninepartners.org.uk
