Dogs and their trainers met for our monthly get together at Hajogyari sziget. It was quite a big group, with 20 dogs, their host families and our guide dog trainers. Emese Barkoczi Kiralyne has planned playful activities for the dogs, which serve as a foundation for the forthcoming guide dog training as get older. These dogs – all part of the M litter – are still young but are no longer puppies: they can learn a lot as part of the initial training.
We were lucky with the weather: it was bright and sunny and not too cold either. Everybody enjoyed the warm autumn sunshine. As always the dogs were allowed to run around freely in the first part of the session, which was followed by practising commands such as ‘stay’ and ‘come’. Most of the dogs did really well in these exercises and follow the instructions obediently. Many of our members at the Barathegyi Guide dog charity, who haven’t got puppies to look after at the moment, still joined us at these monthly training sessions. We are very proud and happy to have such a committed group of people volunteering for the charity.
Two more friends, Aniko Nagy and Sandor Szell also joined us with their guide dogs Bruno and Ikon, who have already finished their training. Bruno and Ikon, although already qualified guide dogs, were happy to join in with the younger puppies in all the activities.
Our volunteers, who raise these puppies before they start their guide dog training, also had the chance to experience walking around blindfolded.
As the end of the session, our dog trainers Emese Barkoczi Kiralyne, Maria Kovacs Nyirine and Hermina Nyiri presented a particularly difficult task for the puppies: they had to walk past a tray of tempting yummy dogs treats and squeaky toys and obey the command ‘come’ as instructed by their puppy handlers. Most of the dogs managed to complete this difficult task by keeping their attention undivided.