Some shots of Vesper's life before Coronavirus lockdown, and during

It's been a strange time recently hasn't it? 

Fortunately our wonderful dogs are still being trained during the Coronavirus lockdown by our fabulous volunteers in their homes. So, Vesper is being looked after (and her training maintained) by John and Debbie, her Volunteer Puppy Trainers, ably assisted by Puppy Training Instructor Heather.

"Debbie is just maintaining Vesper's training at the same level," Heather explains. "There isn't anything new to add at this stage, just checking in that Vesper is healthy and still practicing her sounds. We are doing video calls to check the soundwork, health checking and grooming and group puppy classes."

It's been so impressive to see how the trainers and volunteers have worked around the constraints of lockdown. Video calls, virtual puppy classes, emails, texts... they would use smoke signals if that's what it took to help each other! We hope to bring you more photos showing how they manage this together as a team, but for now, for Vesper, here are some from just before the Coronavirus lockdown, and a couple during. 

Let's do this in order shall we? Here's Vesper in less bothersome times, when she could readily meet up with friends (and so many friends...)

Vesper is left, with River (centre) and Flash. They looked so content and relaxed together - and they will again, when this is all over.

You've met Flash and River before. Just as a quick reminder, Flash is Vesper's half-brother from another litter, and River is, well, a friend of the family! Even though they're different shapes, sizes, colour and breeds, they get on really well together.

Vesper and Flash in particular had a lot of fun together, and would meet up often before the Coronavirus lockdown. We had some hot days just before lockdown, and they showed how much they love playing together in the water.

We've shown them splashing around happily in a previous Pupdate. If there's one thing better than a photo of two happy black Labs playing in the water, it's two photos! That makes four happy black Labs playing in even more water!

Since the Coronavirus lockdown however, it's been more of a domestic scene for Vesper. Fortunately she's made friends with Yoshi the cat! 

"Yoshi is nine years old," Debbie tells us. "They've been interacting a lot more recently. If you'd told me they'd be this close, I wouldn't have believed it."

Interestingly, this is probably going to help Vesper's training. We want our dogs to be happy and calm around other people and animals. As we all know, cats and dogs don't tend to make the closest of housemates, but it's entirely possible that, when we eventually match Vesper with a deaf person, that person will have a cat - or another dog, or several of each - and it's essential that Vesper will happily settle into family life with them all. Judging by the photo above, this won't be a problem! Yoshi looks quite enamoured of Vesper!

Walkies and energy-releasing runs are still allowed however. Vesper is getting plenty of these.

There's something interesting about the photo above. It almost has a 'painted' quality to it, don't you think? We like it! Ears everywhere, tongue out - it's what all dogs should look like when they're enjoying downtime.

Finally, let's just admire our Vesper one more time. She's so handsome (yes, girl dogs can be handsome too!)

Look at that glossy coat! She's so healthy.

We are so lucky to have such great volunteers as John and Debbie. They're looking after Vesper so well during this time, as we know all our volunteers are, with all our dogs. It's during these times that realise how much support we get from them, and from you, our sponsor. So, from all of us, thank you so much, once again, for your kindness - and for sponsoring Vesper!