I can safely say that after six years of doing my job, I still love it! No two days are the same and no matter what I've planned in my diary, something new that needs my attention always crops up. It can be anything - from a puppy developing a tummy bug to one of my Puppy Walkers needing advice on a specific issue.  It's unpredictable and that's what makes it fun and interesting.

I work alongside two other Puppy Walking Supervisors who cover different regions in the country. They are pictured here with me. From left to right is Suzanne Walsh (Puppy Walking Supervisor for Dublin South), Orla Glavin (Puppy Walking Supervisor for Cork) and my Team Leader, Ken Brydon (Operations Manager for IGDB).   

My job is to ensure that we have enough volunteers to foster our pups in my area from the age of 8 weeks until they're ready to start formal training at around 12 months of age.  In the ideal world, we would love to place two litters a month, and split these between Orla, Suzi and myself, each getting 2 pups out of each litter.  However Mother Nature is ultimately in charge so while we aim to manage a tight breeding schedule, we need to adapt to the delivery dates of each broodbitch.  It usually ends up being a feast or famine!

Fostering a pup sounds simple enough, but there's quite a lot to it.  The commitment from Puppy Walkers is 100%.  Our aim is to ensure that during the first 12 months of a puppy’s life, they are provided with a solid foundation for their future training and role as a guide or assistance dog.  The two key areas we focus on are socialisation and basic obedience. My goal when working with my team of Volunteer Puppy Walkers is to ensure we help each dog acquire its skills while maturing into a calm, confident, adaptable and willing dog. If they display these traits by the time they go on to formal training, we have done our jobs well.

Supporting our Volunteers Puppy Walkers involves holding regular Puppy Training Classes and being available for any problems that may arise.  The Training Classes provide an opportunity for the pups and their respective Puppy Walkers to interact with each other.  In these classes, I am able to share skills while also evaluating each pup's progress and troubleshooting any issues. For the first three months, the focus is on positive reinforcement and our pups are given quite a lot of freedom.

It's very important that learning is fun for the pups and that their experience is at all times positive. A happy puppy is a willing puppy. During the first couple of months, they learn basic commands such as sit, wait and come; they master their toilet training (‘busy busy’), get use to the sound of a whistle which is an essential tool in further training, and learn general good behaviour. From six months on, additional commands come into the training, such as 'settle', 'quiet' and 'steady'.  They learn things like how to walk past other dogs without pulling to have a sniff, walking past food and not getting distracted and how to give a calm greeting. The last couple of months are about fine tuning and getting any issues under control in preparing for their next stage of training in Cork. The habits that the pup develops in the Puppy Walkers home are the ones he will have in his future home.  A pup needs clear boundaries and is generally a happier pup when he knows what he may and may not do.

When training a dog, observing their behaviour is essential to getting an understanding of what may work for each individual dog.  While the training principles stay the same, the specific training tasks take into account each dog's unique temperament and traits. Much of my job involves observation so that I can in turn support our Puppy Walkers as they foster our pups. Over the fostering period, I spend one-on-one time with each of our Volunteer Puppy Walkers. I would typically join them while on training walks with their pup to observe their pup in various situations, coffee shops, shopping centres, on a bus or a dart or a luas, using stairs, walking across different floor surfaces, reactions to people, places, recall while on a free run etc. I can honestly say all of my pups quite like coffee shops.  Each dog is unique and what is easy for one is perhaps more difficult for another - no two pups are the same, even from the same litter. 

Last week I had a puppy who didn't like walking on a particular floor in a shopping centre. The floor was a shiny black marble with a silver speckled pattern. To help the pup become comfortable with the new surface, I called on the services of another pup who didn't mind the black marble floor. The best way to help a dog overcome a particular issue is to have another pup that doesn't have the same issue join you on a walk and not force the pup to do something he is not comfortable with.  In this example, the moment the pup in question saw the other dog walking freely on the black marble surface, he simply followed suit and the problem was solved.  Next time he won’t even think about it.  Like humans, each puppy learns at their own pace, so when an issue crops up, we don't insist on addressing it immediately as we don't want the dog to develop any fears through negative reinforcement.  We would rather leave it for a while and come back to the task at a later date.

Both Puppy Walkers and I are constantly stopped by members of the public wanting to say hello to our pups. They  normally start with “I know I shouldn’t but can I..."!  As ambassadors for IGDB, its important to be courteous but there are times when we simply have to say ‘no’ - especially if we are trying to get our pup to concentrate.  In spite of having to say no at times, I am always amazed at the amount of goodwill and generosity the public show towards our dogs.

So, in closing, I can honestly say that a day in the life of a Puppy Walking Supervisor is never dull! I'm out and about all day which is just the way I like it and I have the privilege of working with a wonderful group of Volunteers who care as much about our work and our dogs as I do!