Now that Willow is ten months old and nearing the end of her puppy training, we have contacted her Puppy Walker, Hilary, to find out how she has been progressing over the past few months.

Hilary tells us that Willow is a very intelligent but wilful young lady; her basic command work is good and she walks well on the lead. She holds a good basic guiding position, just ahead of Hilary and to her left with light tension on the lead. For a while, Willow became a little stubborn when she was out on a walk and would just stop and sit down. There was no obvious reason for this behaviour but it may be because she knew the route and decided that she didn't want to go that way and preferred to go somewhere else. This behaviour is now diminishing and her walks are improving.

Willow has also been suffering from motion sickness when she is in the car, so travelling for any length of time was a problem. Hilary is now taking Willow for her free runs via the car so that she has a positive experience at the other end to look forward to and the regular short journeys are helping considerably.

Willow has excellent social behaviour around other dogs and animals and children of all ages. She is well behaved and confident in a busy town centre, happily using lifts and stairs without fuss. Hilary does plan on doing more with Willow on these areas over the next few weeks just to ensure that she is up to speed, in time for her to enter formal training in a few months. Willow is content to be around busy roads and heavy traffic and isn't at all fazed at the sight and sound of an emergency service vehicle.

One last area for improvement for Willow and Hilary to work on is her spending routine. She is predictable and clean in the mornings but her afternoon walks can be a little more hit and miss.  This should develop more as she matures.

When left alone for short periods of the day, Willow is well behaved and not at all destructive. Willow has not yet had her first season but this could be due any day now. Once this is over, Willow will have a few months to recover and then she will be spayed ready to go into one of our formal training schools.

Both Hilary and her supervisor, Elaine, are happy with Willow's progress as we are sure you are. We hope that have enjoyed following her adventures and look forward to celebrating her first birthday with you soon.