Lions Club of Victor Harbor & Port Elliot

Welcome to our beautiful sponsored puppy “Victor”. His story begins with his birthday on the 13th June 2023 at ALHD Breeding Centre to mother “Poppy”.

His training began within 8 weeks of being in the centre. Victor was exposed to wearing a collar, being brushed, having his nails trimmed, ears cleaned and being handled from a very young age. To succeed in our world he has been exposed to sounds at very low levels and increased over time. These sounds include the television, radio, children’s toys that play music, loud male & female voices to traffic noise, rain, thunder and dogs barking. He has slowly been introduced to the outside world in the puppy play area at ALHD to freely investigate, manipulate and interact with small and safe obstacles. Victor has been introduced to sitting or standing for treats and encouraged to be calm around people to prevent jumping or attention seeking behaviour. Crate training has been introduced to ensure Victor is conditioned to going in and out of the crate by choice and not being scared of the door being closed.

On Tuesday 8th August was an exciting day when Victor went into his foster home. The foster carer came to ALHD training centre to collect Victor which took just over an hour as Mary from the Puppy Team and Laura from the Medical Alert team needed to go over the care and training of Victor with Pam Victor’s foster carer. It was lovely seeing the excitement when Pam met Victor for the first time.

Thank you to everyone involved with ALHD for all the work you do with these beautiful puppies. Watch this space for updates of pictures and information on Victor. We will all be lining up for puppy cuddles…💕🐾💕

Certainly can’t miss those beautiful blue eyes… Our October update from ALHD on Victor’s progress is an interesting read.

Thank you ALHD and Foster Pam for all the work you do with Victor…what a little star.

Victor has made great progress in  his December update. He has had three sessions dedicated to become accustomed to having a head collar to enhance his walks with foster carer Pam. A head collar is unlike a muzzle, but instead has a thin strap fitted around Victor’s mouth. This way his focus can be directed back onto Pam more and Victor can still take treats when he’s a good boy.

Victor has been learning new manners and is now trained to come and sit at the door for his collar before walks, eliminating the need for a chase. His sit stay is also progressing well, enabling door opening while he’s on lead. His loose lead walking has notably improved since using the head collar.

Victor is still experiencing car sickness, but there’s progress. Short drives have been introduced and Victor has been taught to jump in and out of the car, diverting his attention from getting anxious about car rides, a strategy that’s showing some  positive effect.

Just to mention Victor has had a fur cut and looks very different…we will wait till his fur grows back a little bit before we post another picture.

Victor received an early Xmas present from Santa and he was absolutely thrilled, thinking more spoiling would be ahead🦁🎄
Merry Christmas to all & a Happy New Year.

New photo as promised and so so cute.💕Update for February 2024 Victor is certainly growing…still so very cute💕

It’s great reading about what Victor is up to.  We are certainly very lucky to have sponsored such a beautiful pup. Victor Harbor & Port Elliot Lions Club is very proud of Victor and of all the trainers and Foster Carer Pam involved in Victor’s development……thank you💕