EJ plays his part to
assist fundraising

Front row l-r Caroline Coe and Layla (11-week-old golden retriever), Allen Parton, Sandra Parton and EJ (16-week-old Labrador); back row, Rob Retallick store manager, Bev Daffin Co-op, Glenys Rowe and Lenny (11-week-old golden retriever), Nigel Moran Co-op, Gill Lewer Co-op and Cara Wright Co-op.

TAKING the lead from Endal, Endal Junior (EJ), then 16 weeks old and currently in puppy training to become Endal's successor, was attending his first fundraising event for Canine Partners.

The staff of the Clanfields Co-op have been raising funds over the last year to buy the new recruits at Canine Partners collars, leads and other essential pieces of equipment required in their first few months of training. For the last 12 years the staff have witnessed first hand how much benefit and enablement a disabled person can gain from a canine partner by having Endal visit the store nearly every day and helping his human partner Allen Parton. The amazing way in which Endal enables Allen in his daily life has not been missed by the staff at the co-op and they unanimously decided to try and support Canine Partners in their efforts to enable more disabled people like Allen.

Left-right: Glenys Rowe and Lenny (11-week-old golden retriever), Allen Parton and EJ (16-week-old Labrador), Rene King Co-op, Caroline Coe and Layla (11-week-old golden retriever).

Mrs Rene King, who had organised the fundraising, said “All of us in the store wanted to feel we were doing something that really mattered and would make such a significant difference. We are all too aware that equipment costs can really mount up for any organisation such as Canine Partners. This way we can add week by week to the donation and we were so amazed at how quickly our efforts mounted up. Hopefully one day we’ll see some puppies out and about and have a great feeling of pride knowing that we have all played our part and they are sporting leads and collars given by us. We are now very fortunate to see EJ coming into the store as part of his early socialization and to know that we are contributing to this wonderful cause really matters to us all. The puppies come into training in teams with names starting with the letter of that particular intake - currently the L team carries the latest recruits."

Southern Co-operatives has been providing services to local communities in the South of England for more than 130 years. One of its founding principles is to support voluntary and self-help organisations in the areas around its stores.

Puppy parent families take the new puppy at eight weeks old and socialize the puppy for up to 14 months after which time the puppy enters advanced training to become a fully fledged canine partner alongside its disabled partner. Part of the socialization requires that the puppy regularly attends puppy class for one hour a week and what the puppy is taught in class is then reinforced by the puppy parent families during the following week.

"Equipment costs really and do add up," said Sandra Parton, puppy operations manager at Canine Partners. "Now with nine puppy satellites around the country and up to 65 puppies in training at any one time, the bill is always growing. This sort of donation makes such a huge impact and to see the new recruits kitted out in their new leads and collars is wonderful. All our puppy parents love to take home their new fluffy bundles with a puppy pack with new equipment in it. We are truly grateful to the staff of the Clanfield Co-op for their generous donation of these essential packs of puppy equipment. It really does get these raw recruits off to a great start in their new careers as Canine Partners. The icing on the cake of today's proceeding has to be the addition of a further donation of £100 made by the Southern Co-operative head office.

Anyone who is interested in becoming a puppy parent or would like to help Canine Partners can contact the charity either by ringing 01730 716030 or by visiting the website at www.caninepartners.co.uk for further information.

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