Bertie and his Nanny

After Bertie reached the ripe old age of eight weeks, he lived with a nanny for a couple of months. These are kind people who look after our puppies until we've found suitable Volunteer Puppy Trainers for them. They also give our puppies basic training, as you will see below!

Bertie's nanny was called Vanita. "It was a privilege and a joy, a steep learning curve and lots of funny moments. Everyone loved Bertie!"

It didn't take Bertie long to settle in.

The only problem seemed to be which basket was the most comfortable!

Bertie and Vanita's daughter Kara hit it off particularly well...

"He could be initially shy of adult males but he was instantly happy with children, especially girls," Vanita tells us.

"Once he warmed up to them however, he was happy with everyone!"

Vanita made sure the family made the most of times in between lockdowns where they could enjoy some time off. "We took a trip to visit my in-laws in Scotland. This photo was taken at Irvine Beach on the west coast."

Happy faces all round! And that's Vanita getting some well-deserved R&R in the background too.

As well as enjoying heing half-buried in sand, Bertie liked running around the dunes...

... and having his first experience of the wibbly wobbly wet stuff! (Joined, it would seem, by the intrepid soul who actually took this photo!)

It wasn't all playtime and downtime though. Vanita and Kara helped Bertie get a great start to his training journey. Here he is inspecting his first ever 'qualification' - his Puppy One Star award!

We use these awards to officially recognise how well a puppy's doing. It's like a 'milestone' in their training. By passing his One Star, we now know that Bertie can play well with people and other animals, and has mastered his basic cues such as 'sit' and 'wait'. It's a real achievement, especially during lockdowns and social distancing, so very well done Vanita, Kara and Bertie.

Let's finish off this Pupdate with a fun video of Bertie just loving a bit of playtime. Back to Vanita: "He loved this toy. It was very funny watching the interaction as Bertie first barked at it, then realised it wasn't a threat, then realised how he could play with it by pulling it backwards!"

Vanita laughs: "Overall, I'd describe him as a big brown softie!"

He's still quite little, but definitely brown, and definitely soft!

We hope you enjoyed this new Pupdate. Bertie's off to a great start in life, and this is thanks to your kindness in supporting him. So, until next time... thank you for sponsoring Bertie!