Interested in helping to raise a future working dog?
PAULSHOF – If you have a flexible schedule, a love for dogs and a desire to help the disabled, why not volunteer as a puppy raiser for the South African Guide-Dogs Association?
The South Africa Guide-Dog Association is looking for volunteer puppy raisers to help bring up dogs who will one day enter the working world.
On 27 February the organisation held a special open day for the current puppy raisers at their grounds in Paulshof. About 20 Labrador puppies aged under one year and the humans who care for them spent a few hours testing how much the dogs have learned and what situations they still need training in.
“Today there are a bunch of different stations for the puppies to explore,” explained Kelly Watts, a puppy raiser supervisor for the association. “Each station has a challenge for the dogs – one has noises such as a vacuum and a hairdryer, one is filled with distracting objects, one has a human distraction and another dog to see how the puppies respond to strange people and dogs, one has a tub of water to see if they just drink it or try and jump into it.”
It is hoped that these puppies will one day work as guide dogs, support dogs or service dogs, and as such, they need to be able to handle any situation or distraction presented to them. Notes were made on each dog at each station so that any weaknesses can be addressed in training.
The puppies are specially bred by the organisation to become working dogs. At the age of about seven weeks, the animals are placed with puppy-raising volunteers who will take them to weekly training sessions and develop basic skills with them until they are brought into the guide-dog’s kennels to receive more formal training in the skills they will need to assist the visually impaired or other people in need.
The organisation is always looking for volunteers who can fulfil this important work.
“Potential puppy raisers have to love dogs, and some experience in training and owning the dogs will be nice,” Watts explained.
“The people who do this work need to work from home, not work or have a very flexible schedule where they can keep the dogs with them all day, as that is really important [for the dog’s development].
“The dog food is provided by Guide-Dogs, and we also pay for any veterinary care they might need. We will ask the raisers to buy things like blankets and toys for the dogs though.”
If you’ve got the time, dedication and discipline to bring up a puppy which could one day give a disabled person the independence and companionship for a happy life, please contact the South African Guide-Dogs Association for more information.
Details: www.guidedog.org.za;
leighd@guidedog.org.za; 011 705 3512.
Related article:
Top Dogs pay a visit to the Riverside Manor Retirement Village
