Most of the pictures of Frappé show her snoozing in different positions and the reason for this is obvious: Zsófi, the puppy’s new host family, finds it much easier to take a picture of the super energetic 9 week old Labrador while he is asleep. Zsófia Horváth, a former nurse, joined our foundation as a puppy host family after having worked with many visually impaired patients and realising how high is the demand for fully trained guide dogs. After a little consideration, she decided to help our foundation by volunteering to look after a puppy in the first year of its life before it enters the official guide dog training.
Zsófi chose Baráthegyi Guide Dog School after seeing our page pop up on Facebook multiple times. We recently published an advert looking for new puppy host families. Having read through the detailed description of what this position requires, she felt convinced to join us as a volunteer. “The long article pretty much answered all the questions I had” – she said. “I applied but was doubtful that I would be chosen because I didn’t have any previous experience with dogs. I have two cats, but I wasn’t sure if that was enough.But when I had the initial meeting, I was told that sometimes having no prior experience with dogs is even better, because you just do what they ask you to do with the puppies” – she added.
However, being a puppy host family didn’t turn out to be the experience she expected.
Little Frappé arrived 4 days ago and my sleep is more disturbed. Although the puppy is a good sleeper, I check on her multiple times during the night in case he needs to go out. I hope I will get used to having her stay with me. It’s a whole new experience watching her all day, learning how she communicates with me. I think having a puppy is a bit like having a new baby. I feel the weight of responsibility as well, making sure I am doing everything right
– she explained.
It only takes 3 minutes
Our experts from the foundation managed to explain to her that nobody is born to be the perfect ‘dog whisperer’. Our job at the foundation is to help both our puppy hosts and our visually impaired clients. Judit Erdélyi, the foundation’s Puppy Coordinator visited Zsófi on Wednesday this week to discuss topics such as walking with a long leash. The training leash we use is 5 metres long and it allows for a better walking experience for both human and canine. They also discussed how Zsófi should take the lead and allow the puppy to follow her and reward her behaviour afterwards in the correct manner.
They also practised how to make the dog sit at a zebra crossing. The command to use is ‘SIT’ not ‘STAY’ which could be confusing for the dog. Once they are ready to cross, she should use the command ‘GO’. Zsófi said she felt really eager to make sure that she trains the puppy everything he needs to learn well. It seems that Frappé is eager to learn as well: it only takes her a few minutes to figure out what we ask her to do.
I am tired and it’s hard work, but I really enjoy it. I see more dogs when we are out and about and realise how many of them don’t respond to recall. Since this is my first dog, I just realised how much work goes into having an obedient dog. It’s not like all the dogs know straight away how to behave, it takes a lot of practice and patience. It’s great to have the support of the experts at the foundation, so that I can ask for help if I need it. I am learning a lot each day through this experience.
We wish Zsófi and Frappé a happy, joyfull year together!
