Along with everything else we do, we are sometimes guide dog puppy raisers too! When we are raising a guide dog, the puppy goes with us many places we travel and accompanies Veronica to school .
The guide dog organization is often the breeder of its puppies, and the organization actually owns them. Sometimes the puppies come as donations from other breeding programs. The puppy raiser's job is to take an ordinary puppy who will chew, bark and whine, who is not housebroken, and turn it into a trainable dog.
Raisers keep the puppy until it is between 12 to 18 months of age. The goal is to socialize the puppy so it will be a friendly, even-tempered adult dog. Early socialization is essential. Guide dog puppies need to be exposed to as many people, places and situations as possible. Having the young pups out and about helps them learn to be very controlled on the leash, calm in public, and immune to the distractions that will hurt their guide dog abilities.
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(Left: Gunner, Right: Helen, under Veronica's desk)
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About Puppy Raising
The satisfaction of puppy raising comes from doing something for those less fortunate and seeing the dog graduate with it's master. But even the dogs who don't make it as guides end up in valuable roles. Some end up working as therapy dogs and a few are selected to become breeders because of their exceptional traits. The dogs are evaluated as they grow to determine if a pup will be trained as a guide or be selected as a breeder.
About half of all pups raised and returned to the school will 'make it' as guides or breeders. These are ones with the health to go the long haul and the disposition to keep focused on work despite all distractions.
Puppy raising also provides wonderful opportunities to educate the public about service dogs. Raisers get to stop and talk about these wonderful animals everywhere they go. Students in Veronica's classes learn how to live around guide dogs just like the dogs learn about being around kids. They learn about the special needs of people who use service dogs and the students overcome their fears and insensitivities.
Gunner: Our first guide dog puppy makes it!
| We got to watch as Gunner grew from the smallest pup in his litter to a giant of a lab, and from a goofy pup hanging out in the classroom.... | ||||||
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... to a fully-trained, working guide!
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Helen: Gunner's little sister gets her shot.
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We finished the puppy raising stage for Helen, who is Gunner's half-sister. She stayed with us longer than Gunner, even joining us for a move across the state. Helen became very attached to Veronica. She completed full training, but just wasn't quite right for a guide because they couldn't find a good match with a blind person. So, instead, she ended up working as a therapy dog for a young cancer patient.
Tug: Sometimes You Just Don't Match-Up
We brought little "Tug" home with high hopes. But we and he did not match-up well as a raising team, so we brought him back to the guide dog facility so he could be matched up with a new puppy raiser family. Not every puppy is the best match for a raiser home. In Tug's case, his whole litter was pretty high-strung and needed a lot of extra time. 
This little guy did not like being left alone. When put in his crate or on a tie-down he would bark and strain non-stop until someone came. Tug lived up to his name, on a few occasions tugging our couch across the floor as he pulled against the tie-down! Needless to say, he would not be as good at school as Gunner and Helen had been. Tug having such a severe case of separation anxiety, caused us to rethink our ability as his raisers and we agreed it would be best for him if he was raised by a family that could be home with him.
Looking Ahead...
With puppies of our own beginning their show careers, the time isn't right to start another guide dog. We look forward to the chance to share our home with one of these rascals again, but in the meantime we will continue to donate pups to a local guide program.
