Facebook fun

Our Facebook page has been up and running for a few weeks now and we already have a growing number of people following what we are doing which is really great to see.

To make our Facebook page easier to find we have added a link to the bottom og the blog - just scroll all the way down to the bottom and you can follow the link through.

We have enabled the ability for fans to post photos and comments, so if you have met some of our dogs and would like to share the images then please feel free to post the images. We will take down anything that is wrong, or dodgy, but other than that if you would like to share your experiences of working with the Trust then we would love to hear them.

Happy birthday to us!

September 28th marks two years since we signed our Trust Deed, and while we had already existed for some time before that, the Trust Deed formalised all our thoughts and ideas and made us the Perfect Partners Assistance Dogs Trust.

The past two years have been a bit of a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, but it has also been a ride that none of us would have missed.

On the positive side we have a great bunch of people who are training dogs for people who need them, while also creating a supportive and caring community that supports the needs of our volunteers and our clients. As we become better known, we are also encountering more and more people who want to help us source and train dogs for our special clients.

On the not so positive side we were all devastated when one of the dogs we were training died due to complications from a medical procedure when he was just a year old. Thank you to all the people who supported us through this painful and shocking experience.

And now, we give thanks...

We would like to recognise the support of our patron Jeffrey Masson and his wife Dr. Leila Masson. Jeff has been a source of inspiration for us, and Leila has been a wealth of information about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and biomedical treatments for children on the spectrum.

Thank you to all of our supporters and sponsors of the past two years, who are listed on our website in alphabetical order. Without our sponsors and supporters we would not be able to provide our services.

Thank you to Carol-Anne and the community of Mangere Bridge for making us feel so welcome when we have had craft stalls - the funds raised from the sale of donated craft goods have been a fantastic boost for us.

Thank you to the staff at Auckland City Libraries who have purchased friendship bands, scarves, hats, and other items in support of Perfect Partners. Your purchases helped us to raise funds in the beginning and helped to lay the foundation for future fundraising.

Thank you to the community of Kingsland who have donated their small change so generously over the past two years at the Kingsland Liquor Centre. This collection box has proved that small change can go a long way.

We would also like to thank CJ and team, and Eei Von who have been a great source of articles and books as we have researched international best practice and the current state of assistance dog training and use. You are all awesome and we would not have found even half of what we did without your support, searching savvy, and above all patience.

Thank you to Margaret from Arangold kennels, you have trusted us with two of your amazing dogs, and they have proven to be the perfect choice for us and our clients. We look forward to a long partnership with you, helping people in need through the use of specially trained companions.

And thank you to anyone else that we may have missed on our website. The success of Perfect Partners depends on the support of our local communities, our sponsors and supporters, and the generosity of the general public.

Toby's fan club

Over the past few weeks a lot of Toby's friends have been asking how he is. I always tell them that he is doing well and really enjoying his family, but sometimes a picture can say more than a thousand words.

Today Toby and his family met up with two of his puppy raisers, and one of the dogs that he was raised with. While it was very exciting for everyone, Toby took to the experience with more decorum than you could usually expect of a nine month old puppy. After a walk around North Head, the dogs were allowed off leash to play on a local dog friendly beach.

The photos say it all really - Toby is happy, healthy, and in love with life. While he is moving into his "teenage" stage, he still has a strong desire to please (and to be the class clown).

There are more pictures on our flickr.com page if you would like to see more than this one photo of him and Dewey.

The entries to the blog are slowing down at the moment as we are waiting for another client who needs our help to select and train a new puppy, but we will keep you up to date with any special events or fundraisers that are happening.

Thank you to everyone for your support, and we look forward to posting more news in the future.

Perfect Partners on YouTube

We have now created a Perfect Partners channel on YouTube so that we can post videos of our dogs, and so that we can add interesting videos to our favourites.

The first movie is about Toby, a Companion Dog that was recently placed with his family here in Auckland. While the movie is mostly made up of still photographs, there are also some short segments of him doing training and playing.

We hope you enjoy seeing the movie.

New photos for flickr.com

While sorting through all the photographs that we have taken of the puppies raised by Perfect Partners to look for images to use for publicity purposes we came across a selection of photographs of the other puppies that we thought people might like to see. We have uploaded them to our flickr.com account so everyone can see them.

Dogley is a Labrador cross Golden retriever and was selected and trained for a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Auckland. He was trained by a puppy raiser family and then placed in the family home with ongoing training. He was placed in late 2007, and is now two years old. While he is no longer with Perfect Partners, we have put up some of his puppy raising pictures to show his part in the history of the Trust.

Dogley relaxing at his family home

Theo is a Golden retriever who came from Arangold in Christchurch, and is another example of the lovely dogs that come from Margaret. Theo was paired with a women with seizures and had already begun alerting prior to her seizures, providing a 5-10 minute warning of seizures. Sadly for all of us Theo died due to complications from a medical procedure not long after his first birthday. There are lots of photographs of Theo during his training, and at play - particularly with his canine friends.

Theo bundled up in his baby blanket shortly after his arrival in Auckland

We hope that you enjoy the photographs of where we are at, and where we have been.

There's no place like home

The past few weeks have been busy times for Toby, his family, and his puppy raisers as training has moved towards placing Toby with his family.

For the past week Toby has been settling in with his family and learning the ropes of his new home. He is completely at home with his new family and the transition has been smooth with only a few teething problems. His family absolutely adores him, and he is proving to be everything that they hoped he would be.

Training and hands on support for the family will continue for several more months, but for now the important thing is that Toby bonds with his family and settles into his environment - something that he is doing with flying colours.

Toby is a real credit to his breeder who selected a wonderful puppy for the family. His puppy raisers built on this foundation with training and socialisation that has made him a happy, affectionate, and charming young dog. We look forward to working with Margaret in the future to train more Arangld dogs to become valuable companions and assistants for children and adults with special needs and their families.

At least 20,000 new friends

Over Easter weekend Toby came with us to the Royal Easter Show at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland. It was a chance for us to see how he would cope with a really massive crowd - and the answer is that he thought he had just found about 20,000 new best friends.

He was a real hit with the crowd, and it was fantastic to see that everyone listened when we asked them to only pat him while he was sitting as we are working on him not jumping up on people so that it is concrete for him that it is not acceptable. He was there for 3 hours, and in the end he fell asleep which made even more people come over and have a look at him.

He was a real drawcard for Outreach Therapy Pets, though we had to be really clear about what Outreach did as opposed to Perfect Partners as it was really easy for people to get confused. We also met a really lovely lady who was really interested in Toby, and when she found out Toby was from Christchurch she asked about his breeder as she is from Christchurch and looking for a dog. Hopefully she gets in touch with Arangold because the dogs are all fantastic.

Last week Toby also came to the Mount Roskill Community Library where he met about 80 people who had all come along for a special storytime and the chance to learn more about what dogs can do for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder - a great tie in for the summer holiday programme topic which is communication. After some stories and songs Toby came out and sat with his puppy raiser as she explained what he was for and what he was learning, answered some questions, and then met everyone who had lined up to say hello to Toby. He was a huge hit and he made some new friends. Marion, Danielle, and the rest of the Mount Roskill Library team were fantastic as usual, making everyone feel at home and totally supported.

Toby has also said goodbye to the team at the Blockhouse Bay vet clinic. The team has provided excellent care for Toby over the past few months - always helpful, friendly, and approachable (although Toby may have preferred not to be neutered). They took really good care of him and he is all ready to go to his family in the next few weeks. It's not the most flattering photo, but here is Lance giving Toby a treat so that we could get a picture of them together.

That's all for now. Look for some more blogging in the future as Toby moves towards living with his family permanently.

Toby's life lesson # 7 'poo makes you smell good

You may not believe it, but at least once a month I get covered in 'poo. Not that my puppy raisers mind, they usually use conditioner afterwards anyway.

Most of the time they use Fidos which has lots of different kinds of shampoo, and they are all soap free so I don't lose all the oils in my coat. They have used Emu oil shampoo, Oatmeal shampoo, and even some really nice Aloe shampoo.

Because my puppy raisers have dogs that do therapy pets visits, they have to bath their dogs regularly which means that they have had lots of 'poo choices - and they can use either the Creme condition of the Oatmeal conditioner.

I have to say that it does leave my coat nice and soft and shiny, and they say I smell nice - though I'm not completely convinced. I am sure that the other dogs are laughing at me sometimes when I smell like 'poo instead of like dog.

Vee Eee Tee spells vet

Today was a big day for Toby, he was neutered this morning which was a bit of a challenge for all of us - including Toby.

First there was last night when he had to go out on the lead rather than going with the other dogs for a last "busy" before bedtime. And then this morning he wasn't allowed breakfast, and he was kept inside except for a few on lead trips outside for some more "busy" breaks. And then there was being left with the vet clinic staff instead of staying with his puppy raisers.

But it was only a small hurdle overall with Toby in very good hands of the team at the Blockhouse Bay vet clinic. Toby has been going there because his puppy raisers take their animals there and the standard of the service and care is very high. The whole team took good care of Toby and made (what he no doubt thinks) a suitable fuss of him on the way out the door.

The only reminder of his trip now is a little tenderness - and a brand new fashion accessory for the next week or so while the stitches are in.

Now that he is neutered Toby can start moving towards being permanently placed with his family which is a very exciting thing for everybody. Toby has been training with a tshirt belonging to his little person and he will sleep nearby if you have the shirt on the back of a chair, and he has been known to sneak off with it quietly if he can.

So now Toby knows that Vee Eee Tee spells vet - and he is milking it for all that it is worth - as you can see, one Toby wearing an Elizabethan collar.

D is for Doggie Devonport

Today was a great day for dog owners on the North Shore - with the first annual dog day being held at Deveonport.

This was the perfect chance for Toby to meet a wide variety of different dogs in a busy and bustling environment - and it was a huge success. Even though Toby has never mixed with a large crowd of dogs before he took it all in stride - and generally showed really good doggie manners with the other dogs.

The day was fantastic and it was a chance for us to get a bit of a profile in the community, and it was also a chance for Toby's family to spend some time with him. They took him for a walk as a family without the puppy raisers in tow and it was a huge success - Toby went with them willingly and was pleasantly tired when he came back to his puppy raisers.

It was also a chance for his puppy raising family to spread the word about Outreach Therapy Pets. While Toby was having fun with his family, his puppy raisers were out talking to people about Outreach and taking pictures of other Outreach volunteers and their pets, and also taking pictures of some of the fun things that were happening.

Here are some of the pictures from the morning:

Child friendly

Toby has been meeting his little person and their family regularly - but he also spends time with the children in his puppy raiser home.

One of the children is Brandon, who has Autism Spectrum Disorder. Brandon has some issues with reading, so he has been prompted to read to one of the dogs in the house hold - an idea that came from Outreach Therapy Pets here in Auckland. Brandon is reluctant to read to adults, but is more than happy top read to Dini (and he never wonders why Dini has his eyes closed while he is reading).

The other day when Brandon was reading to Dini, Toby decided to join in and sat on the other side of Brandon - he even looked like he was really enjoying it too. Toby spends a lot of quiet time with the kids, and he really enjoys their company.

Toby has also visited Brandon's class at school, which was a good chance to mix with lots of different kids. With Outreach Therapy Pets Toby has also visited Te Papapa School as part of a pet therapy visit.

Toby is a real little charmer, and he makes friends everywhere he goes. When he was introduced to a fire engine he completely charmed the crew, who were interested in what he is being trained for, and they had lots of questions about how dogs benefit children with Autism.

The time is getting nearer for Toby to move into his home permanently, and he has already had a good time exploring his new home. Toby has been learning to take direction from his family rather than his puppy raiser, and he is already completely comfortable in their company which will make his transition very easy for him.

Changes, changes, changes

It is a time of rapid change for Toby at the moment. Not only is he rapidly growing, but he is also being exposed to new environments, and his training is stepping up further to include more hand signals and higher expectations for his behaviour in public.

Over the past few weeks he has really started looking like a miniature adult, with his long legs and serious expression it is easy to forget that he is only 5 months old. He has also been developing his adult smile, with his adult teeth appearing over the last couple of weeks.

He was chewing on things the other day and left behind a little present for his family - one of his baby canine teeth.

Toby has been meeting his family regularly and has already started working with them, which will make the transition to the family home a lot easier. Toby really enjoys the company of his future family, and he already greets them as members of his pack.

Toby's life lesson # 6

Friends with swimming pools make great friends!

A friend called Ann invited me and my puppy raiser over for a swim in her salt water swimming pool when she found out that swimming was an important thing for me to like.

We went to see her today and her swimming pool is loads of fun - but it was a little chilly today and I only stayed in the pool for about half an hour. The best part about swimming was that my puppy raiser came into the pool with me and I got to follow her around and try and beat her to toys that were thrown in the water.

And I now also know that I can swim really well - even without the life jacket. Here is a picture of me swimming. Can't wait till next time.

Thank you Ann!

Waitangi Day wanderings

Waitangi Day was a big day for Toby, it was the first time that he has visited North Head, and it was the first time that he got to work with his new family.

Working outside familiar environments is really great for dogs as it challenges them and takes them away from the same old, same old. This was the first time that Toby has been placed in the care of his family, and he hit the ground running, while his puppy raiser brought up the rear offering advice and providing support.

Toby charms nearly every person he meets, and the visit to North Head was no exception, with children and adults of all ages interested in him. It didn't hurt that he was wearing a harness with a long line for the adults, and a lead for the kids - not something that you see everyday.

It was an enjoyable outing for everybody, and it was great to see that Toby responds so well to his family. While he still looks towards his puppy raiser, this will slowly change as he works with his family more and more often.

North Head offers a huge training ground where Toby can explore safely - if you ignore the dogs that are running around off lead when they shouldn't be. And when he has developed his confidence a little with his family they can start working on developing his skills by exploring the tunnels around North Head.

This outing signals the start of preparations for Toby being integrated into his family. At this point the puppy raisers start taking a step back, supporting the family as they work with Toby rather than leading Toby. Toby is smart and this change should provide a suitable challenge. The more he works with his family the more he will learn their ways of working, and this will make the transition to living with them full time easier.

Waitangi Day was also a chance to take more photos of Toby, and to take some photos of Toby with his family. Having the camera in hand helped the puppy raiser resist the temptation to lead Toby around herself - so there was a double benefit. Here are some of the photos of Toby at North Head.

Toby's life lesson(s) # 5

Don't take dirty clothes out of the hamper in the laundry - even when you get big enough to lift the lid with your nose. This includes taking out the dirty towels from my latest swimming lesson.

Exploring the world

The past week has been all about extending Toby's boundaries and introducing him to the wonders of the wide world. He has been visiting a wide variety of places and businesses as he develops his people skills and his ability to navigate the world.

While Toby is going to be a Companion Dog rather than a Disability Assist Dog with Public Access - his training is essentially the same. Toby needs to meet as many new people as possible, and experience as many new places as he can so that he will be confident and comfortable in new situations as an adult.

Part of his training also involves him spending time with his future family. While traditional service/assistance dog placements don't match the dog to the person until they are fully trained - our programme is modelled on one that introduces the child with Autism and their future dog as soon as possible. This has two benefits - it allows the child to get used to the puppy over time, and it allows the puppy the chance to get used to the individual mannerisms and stimming behaviours of their child. This process also allows the family to get used to their dog over time, and it allows the family to be involved in the training process.

Toby has already met his little person and their family three times, and each time the meeting goes a little more smoothly. The whole process is helped by the fact that Toby is an exceptional puppy who is very sweet natured and willing to learn. While he is still a puppy who makes puppy mistakes, overall Toby is a sensible and loving puppy who loves to learn. While a Golden retriever is not always going to be the first breed choice for every family, Arangold has once again provided us with a very special young puppy with loads of potential.

Toby has now mastered quite a few of his commands. To be considered mastered the dog (or puppy) must respond to the command the first time that it is given 9 times out of 10. By that count he has mastered:

Sit Wait, Busy (toileting command), Crate (entering his crate on command), Car (climbing into and lying down in the car), Come here, and Paw (shaking hands)

Check back to see how Toby is progressing. Each week he learns something new, or discovers a new place to explore.

Thank you to everyone who has provided support for Toby's training - either by supporting our fundraising efforts, or by opening your doors to a training opportunity for a very special young dog.

Toby's life lesson # 4

Always remember your manners and be polite. When greeting people for the first time keep your rump on the floor with all four feet. You can wag your tail, but you need to make sure that all four feet keep contact with the floor (unless you are on your back begging for a belly rub).

When it comes to meal times it is also important to remember your manners. You sit quietly and wait for the bowl to be placed on the floor. While you wait for the release command to eat make sure that you make eye contact with the person feeding you and wait until they say the command and point to the bowl before you eat. Eating as fast as you can is also polite because it shows that you are enjoying your food - at least that's what I think.

And if you remember your manners you get to go on fun outings like swimming lessons at Onehunga Pond.

Moving forward

The past two weeks have passed in a blur of training and waiting for the day that Toby was fully vaccinated and could go to dog exercise areas and socialise with a wider group of dogs. While he has already played with a group of therapy dogs, this was a chance for him to run around outside and make all new friends.

On Saturday Toby went to the Onehunga pond for the first time and meet strange new dogs and experienced swimming for the first time. He was wearing a lifejacket and had a long line attached to the handle of the lifejacket so that he could run around and still stay safe.

The lifejacket is a little large as it belongs to one of the puppy raisers dogs, but it gave him extra float so that he could swim. He wasn't that keen on swimming, but that will change over time.

The last week has also been spent putting together a short movie of photos and some of the video footage that have been taken of Toby over the past five weeks. This is so that his breeder, and his future family can enjoy some of the special moments of the past few weeks, and so that his growing fan club can see how much he has grown. The movie is up on YouTube, but here is the movie for you all to enjoy.

Toby's life lesson # 3

While running around and playing with the kids and the other dogs can be fun, sometimes it is fun to just roll around on the floor and grab the closest toy.

Sometimes this happens to be my tail instead of any other kind of toy - but that is okay. Now that my legs are so much longer it can be hard to grab, but I can still manage as long as I am on my back.

I love playing with the giant tennis ball from Mitre 10, and I love playing with my puppy kong, and tug of war games with the rope toy and Dewey are also fun. It is also really fun when the kids throw toys for me and call me back to them so that they can throw the toy again.

I have already played this game with my special person and I am getting better with practice - the next time he sees me I will be really good at bringing things back (at least that's what my puppy raisers tell me).