Week 45 - Quella 'faces the music'

In July of this year, there was a procession taking place in the next town, and leading the procession was a brass band. I took Quella along to watch this, to see her reaction to the band. She did not like it at all, and headed away from the noise before it got anywhere near to where we were standing.
In the same town there was a Remembrance Day parade last week, with the same band leading the parade. We went along to watch the parade, mainly to see if Quella had gained more confidence around the band. This time she was so much better, she actually sat and watched, and was quite confident as the brass section passed by, which was closely followed by the bass drum, which was a bit too loud for her, she then got up and was eager to move on. There is not a lot more I can do about that, short of buying myself a bass drum to practice with. I don't suppose it will matter too much if Quella goes to be a Brood Bitch, but if that doesn't happen, and she then goes to train to be a Guide Dog, maybe I will find out when the band practices, and ask if I can take her along to a practice session.
Last week I had some brilliant news that Rea (pictured with Maya, on my introduction photo) has qualified as a working guide dog, and working with a lady in Skegness. Those words were music to my ears, and made me so very proud, that I had helped lay the foundations for that eventual partnership. Rea has been in training longer than any of my previous dogs, as a mild skin condition flared up, so she was kept back from moving on to advanced training, for several months, until the skin condition was cleared up. She was actually still there when Maya, the German Shepherd arrived at the training centre, to start her training, in June of this year, and they had spent three weeks there together, they were allowed to play together a few times. They did know each other as they had spent six months together with me, as I had a long overlap with those two. Now Rea has qualified, I will be sent a lovely framed photo from Guide Dogs, of her proudly wearing a nice white harness.