Whilst taking our little dog, Muffin, for a walk round the neighbourhood the other day I met this lady and her little dog, a beautiful Labrador puppy.
We stopped to chat, how you do, dog owner to dog owner.
This 16 weeks old Lab is a Guide Dog Puppy in Training. I discovered through our little chat, perhaps everybody else knows this but I didn't, that the Puppy Walkers keep the puppies for around 12 months. Their task is to socialize them and give them basic training. The puppies are taken everywhere with the walkers, on buses, trains, in crowds, mixing with other animals etc. At the end of the 12 months the puppies then go on for actual Guide Dog Training.
He looks angelic doesn't he? The walker was telling me though that he was really lively and quite a handful to look after. I'm sure she'll sort him out. After 7, or was it 8 puppies, I think she knows what she's doing!
Kathleen.
3 comments:
How gorgeous, it sounds a bit like fostering.
What a beautiful dog. I would hope that the tasks the dog has trained for would make it easier to give it up after 12 months together, but i think my heart would break every time. About 10 years ago I saw a blind man walking with his guide dog. When they stopped at a red light, the dog sat and looked up at the man and wagged his tail. I will never forget that sweet gesture that his owner never saw.
Hello Kathleen,
Lovely blog and nice post about the Puppy Walker role.
I'm a volunteer for Guide Dogs myself and I recruit volunteers presicely for this role in Scotland.
Thank you for promoting it here,I'm sure you have inspired many people to volunteer for us!
Best,
Katherine
katherine.terao@guidedogs.org.uk
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