Wanted: puppy raisers for Guide Dogs Australia

Illawarra dog lovers are being called upon to join Guide Dogs Australia’s puppy-raising community to help make ready the next generation of canine companions.

Over a 12- to 14-month period, volunteer 'puppy raisers' provide care, consistent training and plenty of pats to prepare Labrador recruits for a lifetime of service as guide dogs, therapy dogs or companion dogs.

Ensuring that each puppy leaves the program healthy, happy, house-trained and well-socialised, the Puppy Raising program not only provides increased independence, confidence and friendship to a future companion but is an extremely rewarding experience for the volunteers, said Shell Cove puppy raiser Carol Robson.

“To see them progress from [being] a little pup to becoming this fully-fledged guide dog or therapy dog or companion dog – whatever this leads them to – I would say that that's the most rewarding thing,” Carol said.

“I just think it's such a privilege to be entrusted with the dogs… and all we do is we give them confidence and socialise them, and [provide] a little bit of general training, but really, the heroes are the dogs.

“I think it's a really good program for families as well… just to be involved with the raising of the dog and helping them to become the best that they can be.”

For many years, Carol had wanted to become a puppy raiser, as she lived near the Guide Dogs Centre in Glossodia. Working full-time meant that prospect was put on hold. Then when she retired to Shell Cove, Carol decided there was no better time or place to sign up.

Carol has been involved in the program for over three and a half years. In that time, she’s helped Doris become a guide dog for a vision-impaired woman in Canberra and seen Carmel enter the Defence Community Dogs program – trained by inmates at correctional centres to be presented to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression at no cost. She's also helped Sparrow, who she took on for six months of temporary care, enter the Guide Dog Breeding Program.

Just four weeks ago, Carol was assigned Honey, a 12-week-old yellow Labrador, who she is smitten with.

“She’s a sweet little thing… super confident and also a little bit cheeky,” Carol said.

“She's got a bit of attitude… [but] they're very intelligent. She's a beautiful little puppy.

“Her brother is actually down here as well and they're so alike, so when we went to training last week, it was so hard to tell them apart.”

To become a puppy raiser, you must be home for most of the day. The puppy can't be left unsupervised or without human company for more than four hours at a time. You must have a living environment with a suitably fenced yard, be able to walk your pup daily, be available for regular training sessions and live near the Guide Dogs Centre in your area to liaise and train with Guide Dogs’ Puppy Development Teams.

In the Illawarra, our closest Guide Dogs Centre is in the Wollongong CBD, where Carol frequently meets the local Puppy Development Team and fellow puppy raisers. She also sometimes visits local cafes, Wollongong Botanic Gardens, Puckey’s Lagoon and, closer to home, Shellharbour Marina.

“Apart from the training, which is once a week – I think it's for eight weeks, it's once a week and then it goes to once a fortnight – in between [those] times, the other puppy raisers in the area make up little socialisation events so we get the dogs socialised with their siblings or other Labradors,” Carol said.

“We do go down to the marina quite a lot because there's different walking surfaces down there and there's quite a lot of stairs, so we're teaching them to walk up and down stairs properly without lunging down or running down. There's metal, there's wood – lots of different training surfaces – and they seem to quite enjoy that.

“We’ve also been to a few beaches and the other place we went to last week was [Puckey’s] Lagoon at North Wollongong, and it's quite good for the puppy raisers [as Guide Dogs] supply you with a long lead… so they can run around and go in for a swim if they want to go in for a swim and you've still got hold of them without any fear of them running off.

“A lot of them like to get in the water and splash about.”

Puppy raisers are guided through training and taught how to instil good manners and feeding, toileting, grooming and walking routines into their pups. They are also provided with most of the essential care items, including dog food, preventive medicines, collars, leashes, grooming equipment, a crate, approved toys and free veterinary care.

After at least 12 months of training, socialising and just the right amount of cuddles, the puppies move on to begin more training. While Carol accepts there are many challenges involved with puppy raising – as with caring for any pet – the most difficult is certainly saying goodbye.

“There’s no sugar-coating it – it is very difficult,” Carol said.

However, she says, Guide Dogs will often pair you with a new recruit before you farewell your pup. And, at the end of the program, knowing your pup will go on to become someone else’s all-important companion makes the experience so valuable.

“Really, we're not doing it for us, we're doing it for other people that want a better life.

“We get such good feedback from the people that get the dogs, whether it be sight-impaired people or people that have them as therapy dogs, we get great feedback from them… so that's what makes it all worthwhile.”

For more information on how to become a puppy raiser or temporary carer, who often look after the recruits while their puppy raisers are on holidays, visit the Guide Dogs website.