Are you interested in Guide Dog Training? You should try getting a taste of guide dog training by starting off as a guide dog puppy raiser. About two years ago I decided I wanted to raise a guide dog puppy, but thought…where do I start? Here’s my journey to becoming a Guide Dogs of America Puppy Raiser.

My Rescue Dog Linus

I’ve always had a love for dogs and about three years ago rescued an Australian Shepherd Black Lab mix from the Carson shelter. If you want to read more about my rescue dog Linus take a look at this article: Dedicated to My Dog Linus. We always had family dog when I was growing up, but Linus was MY first dog, MY responsibility. Raising Linus was a real joy for me and really stoked my interest in dogs. I started researching rescues, shelters, and service dogs.

The Pet Expo

A couple years ago I attended the Pet Expo in Costa Mesa, CA. It’s a great event located on the OC fairgrounds with tons of dog and animal products, exhibitions, booths, rescue groups, and food (for people). After visiting and seeing the many dedicated volunteers at the Pet Expo I decided that I should dedicate some of my free time to helping these non-profit organizations.

Cuddly Canines

Several months after the Pet Expo I contacted one of our local Puppy/Dog Rescues named Cuddly Canines. Cuddly Canines is a wonderful rescue group that saves mostly litters of puppies from the Riverside Animal Shelter in Southern California. I sent them my information and told them I’d be interested in fostering a litter of puppies and what do you know a couple days later I brought home 7 German Shepherd puppies from the Riverside Shelter.

The puppies were adorable, a little malnurished, but absolutely adorable. Take a look at my article on Puppy Adoption and Fostering to see a picture of the Shepherd mixed puppies I fostered.

Poopies

Sorry to get off subject, but one thing I learned about puppies (or maybe it’s just shepherds) is that when one goes poop they all go poop. Kind of like BackDraft (if you saw the movie: “You go, We go”. I learned this first hand on the ride home from Riverside. Almost immediately after we left the shelter one of the puppies pooped in the crate. Of course, this was a sign for the others to poop (7 poops + 1 crate = lots of poop in the fur) …ehhhhh…disgusting!!! To make matters worse it was one of the hottest days of summer and even though we wanted to run the air conditioner we had to open the windows to breathe. Cleaning poop off of puppy fur is not a fun job.

Guide Dogs Organizations

I loved raising the Shepherd puppies. It was a lot of work, but well worth the effort. I next set my sights on becoming a Guide Dog Puppy Raiser. I researched the internet to find as much information as possible and found three Guide Dog Organizations in California:

1. Guide Dogs of the Desert International – Palm Springs, CA
2. Guide Dogs for the Blind – Campus’s in San Rafael, CA and Boring, OR
3. Guide Dogs of America – Sylmar, CA

I was unable to find a puppy raiser application on the Guide Dogs of the Desert International website, but did send an email to the puppy department. Unfortunately I never heard back from their organization.

While flipping through the OC Register Pet Section I came across a short classified ad on Guide Dog Puppy Raising with a contact phone number. I called the number and spoke with the Orange County Guide Dogs For the Blind group leader. This group was comprised of mostly young adults in a 4-H group. I did get the chance to attend meetings, but ended up not joining the group.

When I first started my search to become a puppy raiser I sent a puppy raiser application to Guide Dogs of America. After about four months I was contacted by the Orange County GDA group leader. It seemed like a perfect fit. The puppy raiser meetings and puppy training were held 5 minutes from my house. Our group leader came to the house, interviewed me, and inspected my house to make sure it was puppy safe. Finally, I received my a manual on how to raise a GDA puppy. One month later I picked up Stetson from Sylmar.

Becoming A GDA Puppy Raiser

My step-by-step process to become a GDA puppy raiser:

1. Go to the website and fill out an application.
   • I’d also read through the website and try to absorb as much information as possible.
2. Wait until a GDA group leader contacts you
   • I contacted the puppy raising department twice by email to try and speed up the process – I had nearly given up hope…BE PATIENT!
3. Have meeting with GDA group leader for interview and house inspection.
4. Attend group meetings and be sure to sign in.
   • I was told that people who attend meetings regularly have priority on getting their puppies

You can probably speed up this process if you know someone (ME) who is currently raising a puppy or working with Guide Dogs of America.

Are you interested in Guide Dog Training or Puppy Raising? Do you want to train Guide Dog Puppies? Let me know what you think.