Nutmeg and family

Nutmeg is living with Wendy, who is one of our fantastic volunteer puppy socialisers. These lovely people look after our pups in their first year of life, helping them grow up to be well-behaved dogs with basic training.

Here, Wendy tells us more about Nutmeg...

"Nutmeg has a very outgoing and adventurous personality. It takes us ages to walk anywhere because he wants to say hello to everyone he meets and everyone wants to meet him." Well, we didn't call him an affectionate explorer for nothing!

"He loves cuddles and loves nothing more than curling up on my lap for a quick early morning cuddle." Awwww! And that's why volunteer puppy socialising is so popular!

"Nutmeg particularly adores children and happily follows them when we’re walking until I call him back. My niece, Jessica, is now 5 years old and has grown up with the puppies that I socialise. Nutmeg loves nothing more than playing chase with her on our walks and cuddling up on her lap when he’s tired."

Our volunteers take our pups to puppy class, helping them learn new obedience skills as well as becoming accustomed to being around other pups and people. Wendy describes his first ever class: "It was the first time Nutmeg had been around a dog since leaving his litter mates and so was very excited. We played the ‘pot game’, which is a game involving treats in a pot and the puppies are given the treats when they display the behaviour we are looking for. It teaches them patience and self-control. Nutmeg worked very hard and was exhausted when we got home."

Here's Nutmeg being a bit of a pooped pup after class...

Our socialisers also take our pups out and about for walks. Below is a photo Wendy took of Nutmeg on his first walk off his lead. As Wendy says, "He thoroughly enjoyed himself and was a very good boy, coming when called and meeting lots of new people and dogs." What a good Nutmeg!

Wendy took that photo while on a walk with another socialiser, who owns brood Ginny (Nutmeg's mum!). Below you can see Nutmeg making friends with Chilli, an older half-brother also from Ginny. Chilli is a demonstration dog for Hearing Dogs, which means he accompanies people who give talks at local events.

It's a family affair! The very happy-looking cream Cockapoo below right is Crumble, Chilli's sister (which makes her also Nutmeg's half-sister) . And behind them... mum! Ginny is one of our broods, from whom we breed our generations of amazing hearing dogs.

Wendy will be going for regular walks with this extended family, so look out for more photos on the Puppy Pen!

Finally, when we asked Wendy what she thought of Nutmeg, she said: "Affectionate, adventurous and intelligent. Nutmeg is the perfect puppy, he’s a delight to have in the house, and he’s very loving. He’s going to make a recipient very happy and proud one day."

We hope you enjoyed this Pupdate about this 'affectionate, adventurous and intelligent' little pup you've sponsored. If you have any comments, tell us below! In the meantime, thank you so much for sponsoring him.