Linda and Ringo visit Mona’s class

Our volunteer Linda visited Mona’s class with her dog Ringo to give a demonstration. Below is her account of the day.

“On 20 March 2025, Ringo and I were invited to visit Mona Valkenborg’s classroom at Freinet School Het Tandwiel in Bernadettestraat 258 in Sint Amandsberg. Mona presented her masterpiece, a big project on assistance dogs.

There were several workshops throughout the day, really impressive to see how she had worked this out all by herself!

Ringo and I took on the ‘training guide dogs’ part outside.  Three groups had a short explanation of the path from puppy to guide dog and Ringo was then allowed to show in the playground and in the street a number of things guide dogs can do.

As a reward, at the end Mona gave him a toy grunting piglet and also a gift voucher to spend in a dog shop. This voucher was handed over to Scale Dogs. He still loves to play with the piglet and, miraculously, it turns out to be Ringo-proof.  Although I have to say that I also oversee the piglet’s life a bit myself 😊.

We were also allowed to place a piggy bank that could be kept in the classroom until the end of the school year. Today we went to collect the piggy bank at the school! And there were lots of coins in it for Scale Dogs!

A big thank you to Mona and her class for that support for Scale Dogs!

And now enjoy a virtuous holiday!”

Thank you to Linda and Ringo for the effort, as always. Thanks also to Mona and her classmates for the support! We wish you a fantastic summer holiday.