Introducing Poppy!

We look forward to receiving updates from Smart Pups each month! See below for the latest:

MARCH 2024

CHARACTER OF SMARTPUP: Poppy is calm and settles very well, even though she si still in her training this attribute is needed for a well trained Assistance dog.

SKILLSET LEARNED: Poppy has been out extensively with both her trainer and dedicated Foster and her confidence grow is heartwarming.

EXCURSIONS, OUTINGS AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES: Poppy has been a regular at the Sunshine Plaza, cinemas,  arcades, cafes and restaurants.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Poppy has spent weeks on a Prison rotation, she was assigned to two young men who doted on her the entire time she was there. Although she went in with a good skillset, she certainly made nice progress upon her departure on Thursday 21st March. 

FEBRUARY 2024

CHARACTER OF SMART PUP: Poppy is calm and settles very well, even though she is still in training, this attribute is needed for a well trained Assistance dog.

SKILLSET LEARNED:  Poppy has been out extensively with both her trainer and dedicated Foster and her confidence grow is heartwarming.

EXCURSIONS, OUTINGS AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES: Poppy has been a regular at the Sunshine Plaza, cinemas,  arcades, cafes and restaurants.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: For many years, Smart Pups have been involved in the Palen Prison Program, on a rotation of Smart Pups training. The inmates take this role very seriously and it's quite a prestigious job title within the system. Only select few earn the priveledge to become a trainer. This program helps fast track essential skills and the pups love the 24/7 human interaction. 

Poppy was recently matched with a local Queensland family with two young boys of 6 and 3 years old, are very active and both have ASD. The family are patiently waiting for Poppy to complete her training and can't wait for her to join the family later in 2024.

JANUARY 2024

CHARCTER: We have seen Poppy come along in leaps and bounds making great progress as the weeks go by. She has always been a pleasure to work with and loves to please. Poppy continues to draw attentiont wherever she goes but at least she takes her role seriously once in her service vest and stays focused on her handler - a must for successful dogs.

SKILLSET: General obedience making steady progress with less visual cues (hand signals) and becoming more responsive to verbal cues alone.

EXCURSIONS, OUTINGS AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES: Due to excess ongoing heat this summer, we held many of our group training classes in our large air-condition training room. Some of our valuable fosters attended to help the training team and up-skill their own handling skills. With their help, it makes our dogs more adaptable and less dependant on their main trainer. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Poppy had a wonderful Christmas with her foster family and of course she got spoiled! Poppy spent 2 full weeks with them while Smart Pups closed it's office over the break. Now we are into another year, we will have to see how Miss Poppy progresses and start looking for a potential match.

DECEMBER 2023

SKILLSET LEARNED: Poppy has been busy exploring all that December has to offer with the festive season. We have also made the most of our fully air-conditioned training room and from this, I have been working Miss P in several group obedience classes where she gets the opportunity to be handled by alternative people amongst many dogs and distractions. Her wonderful weekend foster carer – who also volunteers twice a week in her training, outings and classes to help get Miss P to be a very adaptable and resilient pup for her future client, has also assisting in Poppy gaining exposure to shopping centres and venturing out of an evening to also enjoy the festivities. 

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS AND DEVELOPMENTS OBSERVED DURING THE MONTH:  Poppy is such a sweetheart and kicking goals in the real world, nothing seems to faze her, and the team are thrilled with her progress. 

EXCURSIONS, OUTINGS AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES: As you can see from the photos, Poppy participated in multiple different exposures during the festive celebrations and has been a great assistant to her foster helping get organised for Christmas! 

NOVEMBER 2023

ACHIEVEMENTS:

Poppy has blossomed beautifully this past month. I have gently guided her, through daily training, into environments which initially made her feel uncomfortable and unsure. From this, her self-confidence has grown and she has shown to be quite a sassy young lass.  Whilst still sensitive to random loud sounds, this has markedly improved overall. Poppy has made great progress in her weekend fosters' home working through all the 'noisy' home appliances which initially made her flee and hide to now ignoring them.

TRAINING:

This past month, Poppys' lovely weekend foster has been working closely beside me a couple of mornings a week for training sessions. It is important the fosters have the skills to handle the pups not only in their home but when they want to take them out. Afterall, we don't want our pups to learn 'bad' habits!  Not only that, consistency is very important to ensure she grows into a great little Smart Pup.

NEW SKILLS ACHIEVED:

Travelators and escalators. Not as easy to train as one thinks. Limited access up our way to teach this skill as only 1 small shopping centre has a travelator. We made a couple of trips to Sunshine Plaza to work some of our pups to become confident walking on and off both of these. Pups need to have full confidence with their handler to guide them through the process. Poppy succeeded!

OUTINGS:

Poppy has been to a games Arcade, watched ten pin bowling, multiple shopping trips, restaurants, trips to Bunnings, local shopping precincts and a ferry ride along Noosa River.

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