Puppy Raiser
Are you a dog lover? Do you have the time to help raise a life-changing puppy? Would you like to make a difference to someone’s life?
As a Puppy Raiser, you’ll provide a 6-8 week-old puppy with the vital foundation for its future role as a guide dog. You’ll be looking after a puppy for 12-16 months and will guide him or her through training, socialisation, the introduction of new environments and experiences while providing a loving home.
This role involves:
- Engaging with our world-class training programme to prepare your puppy for the next stages of becoming a guide dog.
- Providing care and support for your puppy at home e.g., loving, grooming and feeding him or her.
- Socialising your puppy and introducing him or her to a variety of environments to increase confidence – this can be as simple as taking your puppy with you to the shops, office or park as you go about your everyday life.
- Teaching your puppy to be comfortable alone – gradually building up from a few minutes to a maximum of four hours.
- Taking your puppy to monthly puppy classes, and interacting with other puppy raisers in your community whilst refreshing your training and sharing tips.
- Meeting with your volunteer manager as frequently as needed to discuss any changes or issues with your puppy.
- Completing short questionnaires about your puppy’s development.
You’ll ideally have:
- A loving home with enough time to invest in raising a puppy and attending to their needs (e.g. toilet training). If you work from home or have hobbies, you’ll need to be available to give the puppy regular attention alongside these.
- Someone at home who is physically able to handle large breed dogs (around 25-40kg).
- Access to a car, so that you can get your puppy used to travelling.
- The agreement of your landlord to have a dog in the property if you rent your home.
- A safe secure area outside for your puppy to go to the toilet.
Puppies can happily live with other dogs or children. To determine whether you can provide a suitable environment for a puppy in the company of other dogs or children, we will conduct a home visit as part of the application process.
Children under the age of 16 are not allowed to walk the puppy but we encourage the whole family to be involved in some of the puppy’s development.
You’ll get:
The satisfaction of knowing you’re supporting people with sight loss to live actively, independently, and well.
The rewarding feeling of watching a mischievous puppy learn new training techniques to help them develop into a guide dog.
The opportunity to participate in our bespoke world-class training programme – this can help you train your own dogs or advance a future career in dog handling.
The opportunity to have a loveable, canine companion, proven to reduce feelings of stress and improve fitness – you’ll be out walking rain or shine!
The chance to be part of the inspirational Guide Dogs community, meeting like-minded people and interacting with a community of puppy raisers in your area.
A dedicated volunteer manager and fellow peers who will help support you throughout your role.
Pre-agreed expenses.
Training and support.
Puppy classes.
Volunteering for Guide Dogs should never leave you out of pocket. We’ll make sure we pay any expenses related to volunteering with us, including veterinary costs, food costs for the puppy and other materials needed for the puppy’s training.
We will also pay an optional allowance of up to £100 a year to offset additional costs, and we have working agreements with certain bus and train operating companies, letting you take your puppy on short training journeys free of charge.
For more information, or to apply online, visit: https://bit.ly/4kqqng2 or email Emma at VolAttractNorth@guidedogs.org.uk
We also have shorter term puppy raising opportunities, for example to cover holidays.
