Balloon festival perfect for dog in training

It’s 6.30am and the sun is starting to peek out from behind the clouds.

On Innes Common, teams of teal t-shirts bustle about on the dew-tipped playing fields, concerned about the lack of wind this morning.

The crews are concerned that the hot air balloons won’t make it over the reeds and water of  Lake Rotoroa.

They’ve spent the last hour unfurling the colourful nylon envelopes, joining the baskets to their respective burners, and making sure propane gas is going to the right place.

Volunteers donning hi-vis yellow vests usher children towing proportionate First Credit Union balloons and their caffeinated parents out of the way of the crews.

The stand inflating the little balloons are flat tack; alternating between green and light blue, tying them to string and passing them to the next little hand in line.

There is easily a thousand onlookers gathered on the lakefront already eager to catch a glimpse of physics at work; not unlike windscreen condensation on the rows of parked cars.

A local politician—recognisable from election year billboards—seems taller in person and a Waikato radio DJ bellows out over the assembly from atop a cherry picker.

It’s loud and crowded.

A cacophony of whooshing flames, whining tots and baristas tamping ground beans.

The perfect place for a Hamilton-based Mobility Dog in training like Ava.

The seven-month-old Golden Retriever pup diligently follows her trainer Elaina Saunders through the throngs of people, practicing her handling skills.

She is learning how to help an owner living with a disability.

When Ava is fully-trained, she will be able to open and close doors, turn lights off and on, press buttons for pedestrian crossings, and even unload the washing machine.

It’s hard being cute and at eye level as small, squawking children; many of whom are bursting to stroke her velvety, cream-coloured ears.

Apparently, adults are worse behaved than kids when it comes to keeping their hands to themselves.

Two women bend down to pet Ava, ignoring her work uniform—green vest with the Mobility Dogs logo and an L-plate—and Elaina has to remind them not to touch working dogs.

Balloons Over Waikato is a good opportunity for Ava and Elaina, a chance to acquaint the pup to hot air balloons for the first time.

If Ava were to end up assisting someone who lived in Hamilton, she will now be ready for the annual event unlike ordinary dogs who may bark or get scared by balloons flying over their backyard.

Getting used to the unexpected will be her life for the next two years because not only will she need to overcome that with her eventual owner, but Ava will be going to prison.

A joint venture for Mobility Dogs and the Department of Corrections, Ava will begin training with a Wiri or Spring Hill prisoner as part of the Puppies in Prison programme.

For now, raising the puppy is Elaina’s full-time job and she enjoys the challenges of attending events like Balloons Over Waikato—an event that Ava will perhaps attend with her new owner in years to come.