December 2021 Newsletter

As much as we hoped this year wouldn’t be full of COVID restrictions we have still had to deal with the ongoing setbacks associated with border closures. For much of the year travel to NSW and VIC has been prohibited from SA and this has had a great impact on our sourcing of potential dogs and placements.

This year we placed 23 Hearing Assistance Dogs to those in need. These dogs improved the independence and security and proved vital to reducing the feelings of isolation that can surround hearing loss.

We were able to accredit 17 dogs, of which 6 were done through an online forum. Accreditation occurs after the dogs have completed their minimum of 3 month follow up in the home, and allows full public access rights.

This year we have had 26 Foster Puppies being placed into their foster homes where they had love, attention, learnt boundaries and were socialised. There are currently 19 pups in Foster care.

We have had many wonderful sponsors both Lions Clubs and individual supporters of our puppies which we are very grateful.

The volunteer program has continued to thrive with their being over 30 volunteers involved in the program. They enrich the lives of the dogs through, calming activities.

We also continued to be hard at work on our Capital Campaign with the hope we will break ground in mid 2022 subject to Council approval.

Our Medical Alert Dog Program is continuing to be developed and we expect that our first successful dog will be placed in mid 2022. We currently have one dog in training and 4 puppies in the foster program.

Our Corporate Sponsors have continued to engage with us with new partners Zoetis coming on board to provide Simparica and Cazitel preventative treatment to all our dogs and puppies in our training program.

Blackhawk along with Mt Barker Pet Care Centre fed all of our dogs and puppies at the National Headquarters.

Our breeding centre was established with the support of Mt Barker Pet Care Centre, Bunnings—Mt Barker and Modern Teaching Aids Australia.