It has been a little under 8 months that we have loved the baby of our family, Quila (“Hund Qweela” as she is known here in Switzerland), and our hearts and home will be forever changed.
10 weeks old 
10 months old
The experts say that an adult dog has the intelligence of a 3 year old child, and a trained dog, a 5 year old child. Needless to say, it feels like we have a toddler in the house. I’m constantly tripping over toys that are left lying around the house, regular naps are a must to avoid over stimulation and melt-downs, the word “no” is easily ignored confused for “yes”, and I have an audience every time I go to the loo.
Hund Qweela is no ordinary dog though, her path was decided long before she was even born and when she reaches 16-18 months of age, she will leave us to start formal training in Basel to become a working dog. Depending on her personality and her skill set at approximately 1 year of age, we will hone her training towards a specific job. She could become a guide dog for a blind or partially-sighted person or an assistance dog for a disabled person (someone in a wheelchair).
There is also a third option … 50% of the dogs that are trained don’t pass the final testing phase, either due to a disability (elbow/hip dysplasia) or lack of concentration, skills, etc. These dogs then get retired and and can become family dogs. Ever tried to teach a dog to walk with a limp? If so, you know where to find me. 😉
Our job at the moment is to raise a happy, confident, well mannered, social dog who responds well to her basic commands. She needs to be comfortable travelling on public transport, walking up and down stairs, getting in and out of elevators, walking through crowds, etc. Quila shines in most of these areas, however she does have her weaknesses which we are working on. She gets easily distracted by other dogs (a lot like me actually) and is over-friendly to anyone who even looks her way. She could get away with this behaviour when she was a puppy but as she matures, dogs (and grumpy owners) are less forgiving.
She’s the friendliest little pup I’ve ever encountered and although we’re supposed to encourage people to ignore her, Quila is happiest when eye contact is made and a hand is extended.
We are working on building up her confidence in certain situations. When she was a puppy, we stopped to look at some sheep through a fence, she got a little too curious and got zapped on the nose by the electric fence and since then we can’t even “baaaaaaa” without her running away from us. She also runs away when the toast pops out of the toaster in the mornings but funnily enough, she’s not at all scared when there’s thunder and lightening or fire works.
When I got involved in this process, I thought that I’d be helping. Helping the school to raise a puppy, helping a puppy to reach her full potential, helping someone build a life with an assistance dog. Little did I know that she would actually be the one helping me. She became my companion when I didn’t know anyone, she helped me to make friends, she got me to start talking to people and to start practicing my German, she’s become the child I never had, a sibling to Julia and a very best friend to us all.
The question that I’m asked almost daily is how am I going to give her up … I can’t answer that. I try not to even think about that. For now, I just enjoy every walk, every cuddle, every lick and every second that I have with this little sweetheart.
Dog love is like no other love in my book.
Yodelayheehoo 