5 things...

I've been working from home for over 3 months now. I had an office setup already in place for working my freelance jobs so the transition was fairly easy. I have developed a new daily routine that keeps me focused on my work as well as allowing me to have regular breaks and take time for myself. Here's how a typical weekday for me looks... 6.45am: Wake up. Shortly before lockdown started, we got a black Labrador from Finland called Vauhti. We traveled to London to collect him from Heathrow having our original plan to collect him by boat/car. He usually wakes us up at 6.45am every day, tail wagging, waiting for his walk. I sometimes take him to a nearby park where he can have a good run and it gives us a chance to get some exercise and enjoy nature. My favourite route is to go to a local reservoir which is more secluded and I get to walk along a river. I've never been particularly outdoorsy, but since we got Vauhti, I spent much of my day outside and have grown to love it. L...

One of my favourite things to do when visiting my family in Finland is taking the dogs for a walk around the Espoo neighbourhood. When I first went to Finland I met Gapu (9) who was a permenant member of the family and Vauhti (3) who was being trained to be a guide dog. Vauhti would go back to the guide dog school for periods of time and then spend time with the family the rest of the time. Vauhti Vauhti passed the guide dog training test earlier this year and was subsequently homed with a visually impaired person. If the dog does not pass the test after a year, they are not taken on as guide dogs and are homed with families. The family has worked with the Guide Dog school http://opaskoirakoulu.fi/?lang=en since 1999 when they adopted their first dog, Cola. Cola Reko and Gapu With the recent addition of Reko, a white Labrador to the family, I thought it would be nice to look at how my Finnish family got connected to the Guide Dog school and ended up givi...