SueVan is currently with her adult raiser. She will continue to work hard on generalizing her cues and house manners in a new environment, with a new handler. This stage of training is to prepare them for University.
All of the training and care provided to each dog would not be possible without the support of generous volunteers and donors.
Breed: Labrador Retriever
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: December 17, 2022
Sire: GDA Sam
Dam: DWW Della
Litter: ABC
Sponsor: Shelley Sheridan; In honour of Sue Fisher, a wonderful high school friend from the 70’s. We took typing class together, played on the basketball team and our favourite album was Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell. After graduation, Sue moved to Vancouver and we lost touch. Years later, I had a job interview in Vancouver. I called Sue where she worked from a downtown phone booth and she gladly took me in for the night. and drove me to the interview. I got my first teaching job and am so grateful that Sue was available to take my call and was happy to help me out.
Volunteer Team: Alex Leggett & Cole Casford, Bailey Cole
March 2023
Sue is a bold, confident, curious pup! She loves playing and cuddling with her big brother. Sue has accompanied me into work multiple times and does a really good job of settling, napping, and independently chewing on toys throughout the day. Her sit, down, loose leash walking, and impulse control are coming along nicely. People pose a big distraction for Sue, so we have been working on her handler focus outdoors and in public and she’s making a lot of progress.
June 2023
Sue is almost six months old and has settled into being a single dog over the last month. She loves to learn and train, so much so that she sometimes forgets to listen to what’s being asked and instead just quickly offers a bunch of behaviours. We’ve been playing a few games to slow her down such as distinguishing between the kennel and mat cue when they are placed side-by-side. Sue is a funny mixture of eagerly excited and calm! Around the house, she’s happy to nap and cuddle her days away. In public, you can sometimes catch her flopping on her side as she waits to do more exciting things, a signature move she picked up from her mentor!
August 2023
Sue is growing up into such a sweet, enthusiastic pup! She can be excitable, so she continually surprises me with her firm understanding and ability to maintain a position for meet and greets. Sue has enjoyed a few camping, canoeing, and hiking adventures this summer. She certainly embodies the “work hard, play hard” mentality. Recently, Sue has been learning turn and under while continuously working on her basic manners such as loose leash walking and impulse control in more distracting environments.
November 2023
Sue is growing up and learning lots! In the lead up to Halloween she had lots of novel object exposure and continues to demonstrate that she’s a very confident pup. We have thrown some bigger challenges at Sue recently, such as taking the go train into Toronto to attend the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair where she boldly handled large crowds, new noises, and animals. Sue continues to be such a happy pup and ready to take on any adventure. At home, she naps her days away and loves to give cuddles. We are beginning to leave her home alone out of her crate for short periods of time and she‘s been very successful so far.
February 2024
Sue is over a year now, having celebrated her birthday and Christmas in December! She has always been a bold go-getter, but she’s recently been making more mature decisions such as choosing to settle in jacket with very little prompting. She’s working on a few new skills such as walking on the right side, chin, and backing up. She definitely loves to learn! Sue continues to have a lovely off-switch around the house and has earned longer periods of time left home alone uncrated. She’s a sweet, cuddly pup and one of our favourite habits of hers is the way she rests her head on your shoulder from the backseat of the car. Sue has also recently become a big sister and is doing a fantastic job of demonstrating good, calm behaviours around the house.
April 2024
We are excited to welcome Sue into the Fall 2024 class of NSD University in June.
