Summer Holidays

Hello again Everyone!
Almost time to go back to school.  Griff can't wait.  He's really missed all the fuss and attention from staff and pupils.
Griff has had a busy summer.
He has been to Milton Keynes to see Monica,  his puppy walker,  and her family and had the chance to run in the park with his old friends.

Here is Griff with Monica,  Edi and Irene at the field.

Then meeting up with old friends, Zinzan, Tag and Bruno.  A lovely run round the field was followed by a rest in the shade with Monica.

Thank you for inviting us!

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS DOG? Tess

I know,  we've been missing for ages,  sorry...
However Tess is even more missing... So please share

6th August - An Update - Is Guide Dogs offering a reward for Tess?

Guide Dogs is not offering a reward for Tess and discourages anyone else from doing so.

While we are doing all we can to find Tess, and are greatly appreciative of the fantastic public response we have had, we do not want to encourage financial rewards for the return of missing guide dogs as we do not want to put guide dog owners in a potentially vulnerable position.

A guide dog is the key to the outside world for a guide dog owner and we continue to urge anyone with information on Tess to contact Guide Dogs on 0800 68 88 409.

Please help us find Tess, the missing guide dog

Thousands of Guide Dogs volunteers and supporters have joined our appeal to help find missing guide dog Tess.

The six-year-old black curly coated retriever went missing while on a free run with her owner in Nairn, a seaside town about 16 miles east of Inverness, Scotland.

Please help by sharing this poster. You can also find a PDF link on our website to download http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/news/2014/august/please-help-us-find-tess-the-missing-guide-dog

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Happy Birthday, Griff!

Sunday 29th June and it's Griff's 2nd Birthday!  Lots of cards and presents and Good Wishes

New responsibilities



Some of our older pupils have started exercising Griff.  He seems to enjoy it,  as do the pupils. 

Cake Sale Success

Congratulations to year 13 on a great cake sale. As well as Monica and her family visiting Griff for the morning,  Sue Bushell from Guide Dogs came.  The cakes were lovely and £42 was raised for Guide Dogs.  Griff didn't get any cakes,  but fortunately Monica brought him some treats and his fluffy toy dog.

 This is taken from their facebook page

Guide Dogs Birmingham Mobility Team

Yesterday at 12:15 · 

Had a lovely morning at Priestley Smith School - I met Griff their Buddy Dog with his puppy walker Monica Fodor and her parents, we were welcomed by staff and students and enjoyed lovely cakes baked by year 13 who had a cake sale and wanted to donate the proceeds to Guide Dogs - £42 raised thank you everyone. Don't forget if you want to follow Griff you can on his blog griffbuddydog.blogspot.co.uk

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Here  he is later in the day,  cuddling up with his dog.

Cake Sale and Puppy Update

I emailed  Paul and Jonquil to invite them to our Cake Sale.   Sadly they will not be able to come this time,  although Monica,  Griff’s puppy walker is coming.  Yay!  Griff will be excited!
However, Jonquil has sent us this lovely email on the progress of Misty’s puppies.

Misty's puppies went up to the National Breeding Centre on May 27th, when they were just 6 weeks old.  The following day they went through their Puppy Profiling Assessment, which is a series of tests which give a good idea whether a puppy will respond to the very demanding training they will have to undergo to become Guide Dogs.  The puppies think they are playing games!  All of Misty's puppies passed with flying colours, so they have been accepted for puppy walking, and they are now out with the volunteers who will keep them until they are about 14 months old.  There, they will learn the basic commands, and be given lots of experiences so that they are familiar with things they may meet in their future career.  For instance, they will go on public transport, into shops, and out and about so that they learn how to behave in public.
I know that Monica did all sorts of things with Griff, such as taking him up the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth.  Perhaps she included some of her photos in the album she gave you.
Finally, the puppies now have names - they are given their names when they pass the assessment - so we have : Zebedee, Zara, Zoe, Peter, Gweny, Rocket, Zea, Islay, Zorba and Bingo.  The ones that begin with Z were chosen by people connected with Misty;  those that begin with other letters are sponsored names, chosen by generous people who have given money for the right to name a puppy.  For instance, Islay has been named by the group of puppy walkers where Misty grew up in Scotland, after a Scottish island.

To see video footage of Guide Dog puppies or to find out more about sponsoring follow this   link to Guide Dogs

Fund Raising

Our sixthformers are planning a cake sale in school to raise funds for Guide Dogs.
Watch this space to see how they do.
Griff is very fond of cakes,  so let's hope they can sell them before he gets his paws on them,  or should that be jaws?