We were delighted when the local supporter’s group for “Dogs for Good”, who are raising funds by running our cafe, announced that they had been able to sponsor the initial puppy socialising of a lovely black Labrador pup called Milton and named us as the official Puppy Partner for Milton. Between March and November 2022, the cafe had raised a total of £1164, which is a fantastic sum.
Milton has now moved on the complete the next stage of his training at Dogs fro Good HQ in Banbury.
Our latest update from his volunteer socialiser is below. Milton often visited our fairs and was very popular with stallholders and visitors alike. You can follow his progress here and on our Facebook page,
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Milton was born on 18 April 2022 and is now with Linda, an experienced volunteer puppy socialiser, for about the next 14 months until he can start his formal training as an Assistance Dog for the charity. Milton will be visiting us during this period as it is important that any dog being socialised experiences a variety of environments that they may come across in their working life.
February 2024 Update:
Milton has completed nearly 12 weeks of training at HQ and is about to be assessed to determine where he will be best placed as an Assistance Dog. Linda was told by his trainer that she is delighted with Milton’s progress and how well he is getting on.
October 2023 Update:
Linda comments:
Milton is now 17 months old and has turned into a very handsome boy.
He’s a bit daft at times but so loveable. If you’re sitting on the floor he’ll come over and try to sit on your knee, but he doesn’t fit so well nowadays!
The biggest change in Milton since his last update is that he now swims, and absolutely loves it. He likes nothing better than meeting his brother and pals for a free run ending up with a swim in the local river fetching a float or swimming in the sea watching the fish underneath him. Great exercise, especially in the hot weather
We’ve been to quite a few, very different events with him recently, a motorbike meeting (very noisy), an air show (again very noisy and he seemed to enjoy watching the aircraft flying by), he went on a bus, had a ride on a steam train, went in a wildlife walk and looked through a bird hide and went around the Milton Keynes Museum. All very different things but he took them all in his stride.
We finally found a road in Milton Keynes with his name so he had to have a quick pose. Then a little further on he met his first cat, he just sat and watched it taking the treats we were giving him then walked away from it when he’d seen enough. He’d done so well we went home through a field full of buttercups for him to bounce through, great fun!
Milton paid a final visit to us in September, making a grand tour of all the stallholders, as he is moving onto the next stage of his training. We are both delighted at his progress but sad to see him go.
May 2023 Update:
‘Little’ Milton is now a year old and has grown up into a very handsome, photogenic dog who has learned to pose beautifully for photos.
He has been working hard at Puppy Class and also when he’s been out and about with us. He has now mastered the art of using all of the steps on the stairs instead of jumping over the last one and has been working on his ‘wait’ and ‘stay’ which are both coming along really well. He still has the occasional lunge when on a lead walk but we’re working on it and he is improving.
Milton enjoys doing a bit of fundraising for Dogs for Good as he gets lots of fuss and treats. He’s very relaxed and happily poses for photos.
Although he doesn’t actually swim, Milton does like the water and will paddle up to his neck in any river, pond, sea or even a big puddle. He loves to find a puddle and drop one of his squeaky balls into it, stamp on it until it goes under the water than catch it when it pops up!
He goes absolutely everywhere with us and as it’s springtime we’ve been taking lots of photos with the spring flowers and visiting a lot of Garden Centres. We’ve also visited a couple of car showrooms, motor bike shops, museums along with the usual cafes, pubs and restaurants where he’s been settling down perfectly while we negotiate or eat.
His most favourite toy (apart from the squeaky ball for dunking) is a very tatty Eeyore which goes everywhere with him and is introduced to any visitors. He even takes it out of the dryer after it’s had a wash. The other favourite at the moment is a giant deflated tennis ball which he likes to run around the garden with. We’ll often see him sitting outside on his bed soaking up the sun with Eeyore and his tennis ball beside him.
February 2023 Update:
Milton is now nine months old and officially a ‘teenager’. From the age of six months onwards, the focus for socialiser Linda shifted to transferring the training they have completed at home or in online puppy classes to ‘real-life’ situations and environments; ensuring Milton returns when called if walking in the park and helping him learn to settle in busy places, such as cafes and restaurants.
Linda comments “Milton has been having some massive growth spurts lately and he’s now taller than most of his pals, probably something to do with those long legs of his! He had a great Christmas meeting up with his pals and opening his presents and even enjoyed posing in front of all the Christmas decorations when we were out shopping.
We’ve been out to pubs, cafes and restaurants practising his settles, which he’s getting very good at and will sometimes even lie down and have a snooze. His loose lead walking is coming along nicely too thanks to our one to one meets with our Coordinator and our Puppy Classes; there’s always something to learn. We are currently working on his dog distraction but this is coming along nicely.
Milton has done some fundraising for the charity and has loved being fussed by everyone, adults and children alike. His most favourite thing to do is to run around the park stretching those long legs of his, especially when he meets up with his pals.”
September 2022 Update:
“Milton is a lovely calm and relaxed boy and we get loads of comments on how good he is when we are out with him. He loves playing in the park on his own or with his pals and enjoys running with the bigger dogs in our group.
His training is going well, he enjoys learning new things and the waits and stays are excellent thanks to all the 1000s of photos we take of him! His recalls are also excellent and he will do a U-turn as soon as the whistle is blown, thanks to a tube of Primula cheese, his all-time favourite treat.
He loves playing hide and seek with me, in the house or the garden and is so happy when he finds me. He is such a lovely happy dog, cheeky at times but nice and confident taking everything in his stride and learning quickly.”
This is from Linda’s first report about Milton’s progress and socialisation:
“Milton has been with us for nearly 3 weeks now and has settled in beautifully from the first day. He is a lovely character, very clever and gets on well with our other Dogs for Good puppy (who will soon be moving on to ‘Big School’) and all of his friends.
He is a very cute puppy who will sleep anywhere and a lot (well, he’s got a lot to process) and he squeaks when he gets hiccups sounding just like one of his toys! He loves a run around the garden, stretching those long legs of his (and they’re getting longer every day).
Milton is a very quick learner and has already mastered sit, down, wait, off and leave, and his recall is absolutely brilliant. He went out on his first lead walk in the big wide world last week and he mastered it perfectly with nothing making him nervous and walking nicely beside me on a loose lead. Then we took him out on his first off lead free run and he was amazing, he loved all of the different places and smells. He is a very confident little boy, every time I called him he came running up to me and sat in front of me waiting for his treat. What a star!
Milton has been an absolute delight to have around, he slept right through the night on his first night and has done so ever since, he travels in the car without any problems and is thoroughly enjoying life; he’s even learnt to pose for photos, mainly for the treat of course.
He is such a happy puppy, he has slotted easily into our lives and is already loved by us all, humans and dogs alike, we’re looking forward to watching him grow up.”