Last week the representative of the South African Guide-dog Association finally had a chance to come and see me in connection with my application to be a guide-dog puppy raiser!
As I mentioned before, raising guide-dog puppies is something I have wanted to do for many years. My situation was never ideal though- working full day, living in a flat, raising the knucklehead, etcetera- and now that I work from home and my knucklehead is a grown up its something I can actually focus on.
I am so excited!
Its quite a process to become a puppy raiser let me tell you.
I sent my application in a few months ago and their rep, Monica, could finally come and see me and check out the house and chat to me about the program and what they expect from us for the year the pup will be living with us. She liked the way we handle our pets now, that our dogs are well behaved and treated like dogs, as much as we love them.
I think the interview went very well, and within a few weeks we'll know for sure whether we will be receiving a puppy or not. There's a long waiting list, with people who have raised puppies before getting first "dibs" and then the people who applied before we did and so and so forth.
Once the pup comes to live with us we'll go through a 10 week training and socialisation program with SAGA, and the pup must spend time at their kennels every month. The pup will be going everywhere possible with me, and I will have to introduce him to people of all ages and colours.
Then once the pup has grown up he will go back to SAGA's kennels to get the rest of his proper guide-dog training with their professional trainers, and that takes about 6 months. Then there's a bit of a graduation ceremony where we will be able to meet the pup's new "person" and tell them how the pup was whilst growing up. Then when the pup retires after about 9 years service, the family who raised him can have him (or her) back to live out his retirement as a loved family pet.
I will be blogging about the whole adventure right here so you can read all about it, and I intend to make full use of blogging and social media to create awareness of SAGA's cause as well.
As I mentioned before, raising guide-dog puppies is something I have wanted to do for many years. My situation was never ideal though- working full day, living in a flat, raising the knucklehead, etcetera- and now that I work from home and my knucklehead is a grown up its something I can actually focus on.
I am so excited!
Its quite a process to become a puppy raiser let me tell you.
I sent my application in a few months ago and their rep, Monica, could finally come and see me and check out the house and chat to me about the program and what they expect from us for the year the pup will be living with us. She liked the way we handle our pets now, that our dogs are well behaved and treated like dogs, as much as we love them.
I think the interview went very well, and within a few weeks we'll know for sure whether we will be receiving a puppy or not. There's a long waiting list, with people who have raised puppies before getting first "dibs" and then the people who applied before we did and so and so forth.
Once the pup comes to live with us we'll go through a 10 week training and socialisation program with SAGA, and the pup must spend time at their kennels every month. The pup will be going everywhere possible with me, and I will have to introduce him to people of all ages and colours.
Then once the pup has grown up he will go back to SAGA's kennels to get the rest of his proper guide-dog training with their professional trainers, and that takes about 6 months. Then there's a bit of a graduation ceremony where we will be able to meet the pup's new "person" and tell them how the pup was whilst growing up. Then when the pup retires after about 9 years service, the family who raised him can have him (or her) back to live out his retirement as a loved family pet.
I will be blogging about the whole adventure right here so you can read all about it, and I intend to make full use of blogging and social media to create awareness of SAGA's cause as well.
3 comments:
Oh Angel- good on you! We would love to do it too some day.
Good for you!! This sounds like a fun experience but I don't envy trying to train a new puppy like that though!! I look forward to reading about it!!
wow - what a great project. I hope they choose you.
Post a Comment