Vanessa Koekemoer

Part 44 – Last goodbye

Once a Guide or Service dog has been matched with their new owner, they spend the first few weeks together getting to know each other and building that special bond. During that time they work together with the GDA Trainers to learn how to do their special jobs specific to their owner and how to […]

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Part 43 – Training update

So I have been in training for a while and it is going very well. My trainers say that I’m learning really quickly. They told Mom that I was a gentle boy and very eager to learn and that I enjoyed learning. That made Mom really proud. Weekends are great! Mom picks me up on

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Part 42 – New adventure

Until we are around a year old, our Puppy Raisers have to do as much socialising with us as they can. So I went out with Mom as often as I could, and we visited many different places like shopping centres, markets, nursery schools and so on. We also went to parks with other puppies-in-training

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Part 40 – Weekend boarder

When puppies on the Puppy Raising Scheme are about one year old, they go back to South African Guide-Dogs Training Centre to start their formal training to become Guide Dogs, Service Dogs, or Autism Support Dogs. They go to ‘school’ and learn from Monday to Friday, and on weekends they go home and have a

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Part 38 – Out and about

As part of our socialisation, we have to go out and experience as many things as possible. We went to an expo and there were loads of people and things to see. There was a helicopter and people could pay to go up and fly around! We didn’t go fly but Mom took me closer

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