Magazine of
Seeing Dogs A working name of The Seeing Dogs Alliance Training Dogs to Guide Blind and Partially Sighted People Issue No. 37 – Spring 2014 Editors Lindsey & Mike Pannell
Charity No 510224 (England and Wales) Registered Office 116 Potters Lane, Send, Woking GU23 7AL Tel: 01483 765556 Fax: 01483 750846 Email:
[email protected] Website: www.seeingdogs.org.uk
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CONTENTS FROM THE EDITORS
3
SECRETARY’S REPORT
4
DOG THEFT
7
2 TRUE TALES
9
DOG NEWS
11
BARNEY
13
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
14
ENVIRONMENT vs BREEDING
16
PUBLICITY AND FUNDRAISING
18
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DONATIONS
21
OK, I’m ready to go! 2
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FROM THE EDITORS Hello, and welcome to the spring issue of Lead On. By the time you receive this, we hope the weather will have improved. We hope you are all keeping safe in the gales and rain. In this magazine, we have some really interesting articles from Neil Ewart. Please read carefully, and take seriously, the one on dog theft. It really has become a problem in many areas. There is, as always, our Secretary’s report, dog news, and publicity and fundraising news. Read how our two puppies are getting on. We have had one or two big packages of stamps recently. These, together with some we have collected locally, have raised £17.50; so thank you very much everyone. It seems unbelievable that we have been editing Lead On for just over eleven years, and we feel it’s high time we let someone else bring fresh ideas to the magazine. We shall be giving up the editorship at the end of the year, and are appealing for someone to come forward to take on this important and interesting job. In addition to possessing good English grammar and spelling skills, an editor will also either need to have the ability to handle computer graphics, or have access to someone who can. Please contact us, using the details on the front cover of the magazine, if you 3
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either have these attributes yourself, or know one person who has all of them, or two people who could share the job. Use of email is essential. We have been printing, collating and distributing the magazine, but this could be done separately if someone else has the skills. The closing date for articles for the summer issue will be Monday, 30 June. Have a good spring when it comes. Lindsey and Mike
SECRETARY’S REPORT Hello. It’s time for my first report of 2014. Let’s hope it’s a good year for Seeing Dogs. First of all, Neil Ewart was coopted as a trustee and elected Chairman on 4 January, although, of course, he will have to stand down at the AGM and offer himself for reelection as a trustee. He has agreed to be Chairman for a year and then review the position. All officers are elected by the trustees each year, so he will be in the same position as the Vice-Chairman, who is Mike Pannell, and me. The CIO won’t start operating till 1 January 2015. It will, hopefully, be registered some time this year, but we didn’t get all the preparation done in time for it to be registered at the end of 2013 and start operating on 1 4
seeingdogs.org.uk January this year. This means subscriptions for this year will still be due on 1 April. We haven’t yet fixed on a date or venue for the AGM. Cliffden and the Lauriston didn’t have enough available rooms for the dates we require. If we can’t find a hotel with available accommodation, we shall have to hold the AGM on Saturday, 4 October, at RNIB, with a Trustees’ Meeting in the morning. Strictly speaking, to fit in with our current Trustees’ Meetings schedule, this is when we should hold our fourth meeting of the year. Assistance Dogs (UK) have new membership rules. They no longer have provisional members, they have candidate members. In order to be a candidate member, we have to be an applicant member of the International Guide Dog Federation. I thought this was the same as being a provisional member of Assistance Dogs (UK) used to be as far as guide dog organisations were concerned – i.e. a charity had to have at least five qualified partnerships having worked for more than a year. However, I’ve just filled in a form for applicant membership of IGDF, and one of the fields asks if a charity has at least one qualified partnership, so maybe the rules have changed. In order to be a full member of both Assistance Dogs (UK) and IGDF, a guide dog charity has to have at least 20 qualified partnerships having worked for more than a year. We were told that partnerships no longer working at the time of an application to be an applicant member of IGDF or a candidate member of AD(UK), or a full member of either organisation, but which worked 5
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for more than a year, still count towards the target figure. Accreditation is not required for applicant membership of IGDF or for candidate membership of AD(UK). I’m not sure whether candidate members are allowed to send two representatives to AD(UK) Board Meetings, but as we are not yet an applicant member of IGDF, we are not allowed to attend another AD(UK) Board Meeting till next November, when all those charities aspiring to be candidate members will be allowed to attend. The same discrepancy still exists between guide dog charities and other assistance dog charities with regard to full membership of AD(UK). I don’t really know what the criteria are for other assistance dog charities with regard to candidate membership. I’ll repeat my usual appeal for trustee nominations. You can either nominate yourself or someone else. However, I think any new candidates we identify will probably need to be “appointed”, the term used in our CIO constitution, rather than “co-opted”, when the CIO is operating. We shall still require them to be elected by the membership at the AGM following their appointment. We still haven’t found a Treasurer. I now have an advert on a volunteers website created by the Institute of Chartered Accountants. The advert will be on the site till 22 April, although I suppose it can be renewed every three months. Let’s hope we find one quickly, however. Chris Parker 6
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DOG THEFT – DON’T BE A VICTIM According to statistics, Dog Theft is on the increase. Stolen dogs are sold on for money, holding the owners to ransom, breeding and, worst of all, dog baiting. Fortunately, compulsory microchipping legislation is due to come into force in 2016. This is a tremendous step forward in assisting the reunion of missing and stolen dogs with their owners. However, Dog Theft Action and other associations would also like included in the legislation compulsory scanning. This would ensure that every organisation that handles stray and found dogs must automatically scan for the microchip. Another major factor in combatting Dog Theft is public awareness and prevention. It is amazing that dog owners are still unaware of the dangers. Often I see dogs tied up outside shops, left in cars, running free in unsecured gardens and out of sight of the owner when walking. SHOPS Leaving your dog tied up outside a shop gives a thief the opportunity to speedily unhitch the lead and make off with the dog. An owner cannot keep a constant eye on their dog whilst shopping. It is better to leave the dog at home and give it a separate walk at another time in the day. 7
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CARS Owners leave their dogs alone in cars, usually for a period of time whilst parked. Thieves can quickly smash the window, enter the car and steal the dog. It is safer to take the dog with you, or again, leave it at home. GARDENS Thieves can open the garden gate, and it has even been known for dogs to be dragged over a hedge or garden fence. Gardens should be made as secure as possible, especially the back garden. Fence Tagging is on the increase. This is a method where thieves mark your fence or gate to indicate there is a dog in the property, thus earmarking it for possible theft. WALKING Dogs can be snatched from your grip while walking. This can be done so speedily that the owner does not have time to react, and at the time the owner is threatened. Your dog should be always in sight when walking, and you should be aware of people around you at all times. OUTSIDE KENNELS Please make sure these are as secure as possible. Ideally, your dog should be already microchipped, and you should hold current photographs. Public Awareness of Dog Theft is essential. If you protect your dog, it will deter any would-be thief. If, sadly, your dog goes missing, or is stolen, contact the Police, Local Dog Warden, Rescue Kennels and a Missing Dog Site, e.g. Dog Lost. 8
seeingdogs.org.uk It is a pleasure owning a dog, and with these simple precautions, you could save yourself a lot of heartbreak. Lady Sylvia Tabor Chairman Dog Theft Action www.dogtheftaction.com This information was kindly sent to us by Neil Ewart. Please read it carefully, and take it seriously. We personally know of people who have had their dogs stolen, never to be seen again. Thank you, Neil, for bringing this important issue to everyone’s attention. The Editors
2 TRUE TALES by NEIL EWART I have been reading stories of dogs’ actions from the past. Two I would like to share with readers. A Hearing Dog, Bertie, the Yorkshire terrier, used to work for a deaf person in Aberystwyth. Unfortunately, his owner had to 9
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spend some time in hospital and Bertie was allowed to stay with him, lying at the foot of the bed. Although he was still “on duty”, he would happily lie still for most of the time and watch the world go by. But, suddenly he started to frantically bark at the patient in the next bed. He was in time to alert the medical staff to the fact that the patient had actually stopped breathing. Staff rushed to her side and Bertie undoubtedly saved her life. Blue, an Australian blue healer, lived in Florida with an owner who was 85 years old. One day he rushed to her defence when she lay helpless after a fall, and was about to be attacked as she lay prone on the ground. This was no ordinary mugger, but a large and very hungry alligator! Blue did not hesitate, but attacked the predator and drove it off, despite suffering multiple puncture wounds and a nasty stomach gash. The alligator was obviously much larger and incredibly more powerful than the dog, so it must have taken some guts to fend it off.
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DOG
NEWS
Magnus and Marvin, the golden retriever×yellow Labrador siblings, have now qualified with their new owners, Mark Donovan, of Chelmsford, for Magnus, and Trevor Groves, of Hemel Hempstead, for Marvin. Both Mark and Trevor are extremely pleased with their dogs. This brings the total number of working partnerships to 15. We have actually trained 20 partnerships, but two dogs had to be rematched, two retired with health problems and one has retired because, although the dog would have been able to continue for another year or two, the owner had developed health problems and did not feel she could continue working Willow, our first dog to qualify as a Seeing Dog. 11
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After taking expert advice about the wisdom of training Buddy, the yellow Labrador puppy which Roger Lomax, our former Treasurer, was puppy rearing, after Buddy had a grade 2 mast cell tumour removed, we decided to reject him and rehome him with Roger. We didn’t manage to find another suitable puppy rearer for Barney, the yellow Labrador which was donated to us by a lady living on the Isle of Wight, after he had to be removed from his original puppy rearer, who couldn’t cope with a lively puppy and a young child. Janice Bishop, who can no longer puppy rear for us, but did agree to foster puppies or dogs for us on a short term basis, very kindly agreed to take Barney for us until John Grave, our Guide Dog Mobility Instructor, could take him to finish his puppy rearing, after training Magnus and Marvin with their new owners. John took him just before Christmas. He is reported to be doing very well. I don’t have any news about Zoe, the Hungarian wirehaired vizsla that Penny Stratton acquired in the summer, but she has written a short article about her progress for the magazine, and you can read about her later in this issue. Neither John, Geoff or, I have managed to see Zoe yet, as we have all been extremely busy recently. We still haven’t had any luck finding new puppy rearers. John has been very good at helping us out with puppies, but he can’t look after a puppy when he’s training clients. We need someone fairly urgently to puppy rear a golden retriever or a German shepherd, 12
seeingdogs.org.uk as one of our clients will be retiring his German shepherd fairly soon. Once again, I’m appealing to you all to look for suitable puppy rearers for us, particularly people who live in the Midlands or some parts of the South-East. Chris Parker
BARNEY by JOHN GRAVE Barney came to me just before Christmas. Having first seen him on the Isle of Wight when I went to pick him up, I was unsure what to expect. He was a typical excitable puppy that wanted to take on the world. I needn’t have worried. I was delighted to see a responsible young dog settle into his new home. As you would expect from a young male dog, he can be lively, inquisitive and wilful, but on the whole, he likes to please, and loves to be around you. He has done a lot of travelling with me, and has found himself in all different parts of the county, but he’s just accepted it and settled 13
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down in the back of the car. The work carried out by Lia and Janice during his puppyhood has been brilliant, and my thanks go to them for their hard work. Barney will now start his Seeing Dog training, which I’m sure he will like, as he is always keen to learn. He is calm in social settings and responsible to the handler’s requests. He’s not too keen on the shiny floors that you find in supermarkets, etc, but he always works hard to overcome his fears, which is a great quality to have in a dog that is worried. With support and incentives, this is improving all the time, and I anticipate it won’t be a problem towards the end of his training. He still has a bit of growing to do, and needs to put a few more pounds on in weight, so that he doesn’t get blown away on a windy day, but it’s been a good start. I’m looking forward to training him.
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL? by Penny Stratton The last few hectic weeks of 2013 were full of thrills and spills for Zoe. Excitement levels were at an all time high and her concentration close to zero. The wet and windy weather was not helpful. She was on a mission to chase down and catch every flying leaf, as well as litter on the pavements. She was 14
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thoroughly entertained by all the hustle and bustle, and in her view (not mine), it was important to meet and greet just about everyone she could see. Even Father Christmas became her new “best friend” when he came over to say hello. She was fascinated by him, and that long flowing beard was SO TEMPTING!! Supermarkets became no-go areas. Trying to steer her around trolleys piled dangerously high with goodies was close to impossible. The thought that someone could run their wheels over her feet kept us well away until the New Year. We seemed to be in a very dark tunnel. Now we are in 2014, and as if by magic, she is showing that sometimes (not always) she can be calm and reasonable. She is starting to grow up, and at last she is more willing to concentrate. We visited a 15
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primary school last week and her concentration became fixed on a furry hat. Fortunately, this hat was hanging on a hook at the side of the classroom, and was not on some child’s head! This puppy has been challenging, but hopefully, we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.
ENVIRONMENT vs BREEDING by NEIL EWART We know that both breeding and the rearing of any puppy have profound effects on its temperament. I was amused to browse through a book, written in the 1930s, about training working dogs, which contains observations made about the “indeterminable effect of environment in human studies”. “There is a source of error which unavoidably penetrates these studies. We ask ourselves whether the sons of noted scientists would as frequently make outstanding records themselves if they were raised in families lacking cultural and other advantages. We recognize the existence of the environmental factor, yet we cannot measure its influence satisfactorily. Thus, in practically all studies of resemblance studies in humans, the conclusions drawn can only be approximate. The effect of environment seems to be proportionately less upon individuals representing either of the extremes of ability. 16
seeingdogs.org.uk “A genius appears capable of rising above the most handicapping environment; a moron can accomplish little, despite all the aids modern civilization can give him!!!” This is certainly true regarding any dog’s temperament. Many who have gone through the most horrendous situations can quickly bounce back, as they are genetically very sound. Others, who have poor genes, are never right, no matter how well they are socialised. The simple formula is to breed dogs which are sound for temperament, but then also socialise them thoroughly. This way you have every chance of bringing nice dogs into our world. But what of those whose genes mean their temperament can be described as “weak”? If it is not extreme, then could upbringing mask problems and the dog stand a chance of living a reasonable life without being too much of a pain to live with? Of course, many owners don’t seem to mind, and will excuse or ignore weaknesses. Fine if the dog is kept out of trouble, I suppose; however, it must be remembered that this may be fine, but the dog should not be bred from!! The extreme dog, viz, the one with genetically very poor temperament, is frequently a danger to those around it and, undoubtedly, lives a pretty miserable life. Socialisation will not help. The behaviour is often blamed on some past bad treatment or trauma, but I do not believe this. As stated earlier, dogs which are 17
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basically sound for temperament will bounce back. I would like to give just one example. I met a lovely little rescued dog that was friendly with everyone he met. He was sound in all conditions. He was rescued after some low life had poured petrol on him and set him alight, causing very bad burns. Fortunately, someone had doused the flames in time to save him, and with care, he had made a full recovery. Placed in a lovely home, he now gives no indication of his ordeal. Why? Because that was his true nature!
PUBLICITY AND FUNDRAISING NEWS We have done quite well out of the No Win No Fee fundraising project, mentioned in the last issue of Lead On. We have reached over £40,000! We have made a profit of over £28,000. We were very surprised, but delighted, of course, to receive cheques to the value of £600, being the result of donations by mourners at the funeral of the father of a Seeing Dog applicant. Also, someone else 18
seeingdogs.org.uk connected with that applicant has applied to run in the Bristol 10k race, which will take place in May. Unfortunately, we can’t be an official race charity, as we’re not local. However, the runner concerned, Darren Lambden, will be sponsored by friends and family. Mike has sent him some sponsorship forms, and he is distributing them widely. We have registered on the BT fundraising website, MyDonate, so that Darren can encourage his friends and family to create their individual fundraising pages on the website and raise money for us that way. When I last looked at his website page, he had already raised £60, £10 online and £50 via the sponsorship forms. If anyone else would like to raise money for us, the website is mydonate.bt.com. You can donate without registering on the website if you wish. We are also registered on The Big Give. Their website is thebiggive.org.uk. This website doesn’t have individual donor pages. I reported in the last issue that Laura Nicholls, a supporter who looked after our dog, Marvin, a couple of times while John Grave, our trainer, was on holiday, had persuaded the special needs school where she works to organise a Mfti Day, and this event would be taking place in February. It has now been fixed for 27 June. Geoff and I will be attending with Roxy and Sally, although Sally isn’t one of our dogs, and we hope John will be able to attend with either one or two dogs. I haven’t yet contacted The Data Partnership to take up their fundraising offer of giving us the contact 19
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details, for a fee of £500 plus VAT, of 400 people who say they would be willing to donate to us. I responded to an offer from a firm who made ambitious claims about the people they have on their database. They claimed that the lowest donation from any of these people had been £5,,000. However, so far, I have contacted 12 of these people, and all but one of the emails have come back as undeliverable, and I haven’t received a reply from the other one, although she might have donated without telling me. I took the names from the middle of the database. The email addresses were the people’s company ones, not their private ones, and most of the people on there appear to favour children’s and young people’s charities. There are some people who favour animal charities, but I chose people who don’t claim to favour any particular type of charity. I can’t find anyone who favours disability or blindness charities, as some of the companies have these words in their names. I have paid the expenses for this trial, so it has cost the charity nothing. It does, however, show the care that is needed. I have so far booked two Flag Days for 2014, one on 7 June at the Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre, Gillingham, and one on 9 August at Intu Uxbridge, the new name for The Chimes Shopping Centre in that town. I shall be booking others. As always, I’m appealing to members and supporters to remember us in their wills. Although we need funds now, we shall also need them to ensure the charity continues after our deaths. Please let us 20
seeingdogs.org.uk know if you have left us a bequest, or intend doing so. I can assure you, we shall not keep harassing your executors, as some charities do. If you can do anything to raise funds for us, we would appreciate this. We have a Fundraising Handbook, which can be supplied in normal print, large print, braille, by email or on tape. It has lots of fundraising ideas in it. You can obtain this from Head Office. Chris Parker
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DONATIONS To give a donation, or to pay your subscription for one or more years by cheque, please use the enclosed Subscription and Donation Form. If you wish to give a donation and/or pay your subscription automatically each year, please complete the enclosed Bankers’ Order and return it to us, as we need to keep a record of who pays their subscription or donates by this method. We’ll send it to your bank. Payments can be made monthly, quarterly or annually by this method. If you want to combine a regular donation with your subscription using this method, £5 of your first payment of the financial year will be considered to be your subscription. A new Bankers’ Order will replace an existing one. 21
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The Subscription and Donation Form and the Bankers’ Order will also be enclosed with the braille and tape copies, and they will be sent as an attachment to the email copies. If you are a taxpayer and you are giving £20 or more, and you haven’t given us permission to claim Gift Aid on your subscription and/or donation before January 2013, we would be grateful if you could complete the Gift Aid Declaration on whichever of the forms you use, to give us permission to claim Gift Aid. However, please read the information given on it very carefully, as it has changed for new donations given from the beginning of 2013. Payments under £20 automatically attract Gift Aid. You can donate online via our website, www.seeingdog.org.uk, using a debit or credit card, or a Paypal account. In the last issue, we said we hoped you would be able to make regular donations online by the time you received that issue. Well, you wouldn’t have been able to then, but you can now. You can donate, or pay subscriptions, by a direct bank transfer, although if you wish us to claim Gift Aid, and you are giving £20 or more, you will have to complete a Gift Aid Declaration. Our bank details are: sort code 40-52-40, account number 00010645. These details are also on the Bankers’ Order. If you donate online or by direct bank transfer, or if you pay subscriptions by direct bank transfer, please let us know. You can donate anonymously if you wish, either by sending a cheque direct to Caf Bank, 25 Kings Hill 22
seeingdogs.org.uk Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, ME19 4JQ, or via our website. However, we like to acknowledge donations, so we would rather you let us know who you are.
I’m so tired after all that typing I must have a sleeeeeeeeeeeep X
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