Woof!

March 31st, 2026

Our retiring President Sandra opened the meeting welcoming members and our speaker for the evening Bonnie and her black labrador Arthur from Canine Partners, who treated us to a very interesting evening hearing about this wonderful charity.

Bonnie began by telling us a bit Canine Partners, since 1990 the organisation has been training dogs to assist in the everyday tasks that may be difficult for adults with disabilities. In the early days the charity would raise funds to buy puppies to train to help adults living with a disability.

However, the cost of the puppies rose, and the decision was made to breed their own puppies instead. This means that they have control over the bloodlines of the parents, who are chosen for their temperament as well as an ability and a willingness to work. They currently have anything between 50 and 100 dogs in the breeding programme and have partnered 1,000 dogs since their inception.

Foster parents are essential part of the organisation. Once the puppies are ready to leave their mum, they are settled with their foster parents who have the joy and chaos of their dog’s puppyhood while beginning the training the dogs need. They are socialised with both dogs and people, taught the basic commands of sit, stay, down etc., and all the while being exposed to as many different environments as possible.

The young dogs then go to Canine Partner’s new National Training Centre at Fields Farm in Leicestershire, where their education is continued until they are ready to be partnered with their human companion. Their working life will continue until the dog is about 12, when they are retired to live out the rest of their life as a pet.

Not all dogs are right for this demanding career, and some do not complete the whole of their training. Bonnie’s Arthur had the right temperament, but there was a worry about his hips possibly causing problems later in his life, so he was withdrawn from the programme. Bonnie bought him from the Trust, and he has taken on the role of Ambassador, accompanying her to talks such as we enjoyed.

Charming and well behaved, Arthur took centre stage for the talk. While he was beautifully patient during Bonnie’s talk, we could all see that he was itching to demonstrate that he can open cupboard doors, assist in dressing and undressing his adult, pick up a dropped phone, keys or coins, (even down to a fivepence piece), and all the while showing intense pleasure at being able to do what his human asked of him.

Arthur and Bonnie received a prolonged round of applause in appreciation, and thanks from us all.

The meeting continued with notices and announcements before concluding for the month. Our usual collection for Horsham Matters had focussed particularly on items for women to mark International Women's Day in March.

Another way we celebrated International Women's Day was by thinking about the wonderful women who had been important to us in our lives, maybe by inspiring us into a certain career, or perhaps by showing us unbounded love, kindness and advice, or just by being a totally awesome female role model. Many Bombshells kindly shared images of these women along with a short passage explaining their connection. Please click here for the link to view what they shared with us. https://www.broadbridgebombshellswi.co.uk/about-3

Coffee mornings included one at Sumners Ponds. And cocktail club resumed at the Rock Bar in Horsham where we lots of us enjoyed an evening of fun, laughter and cocktails.