What Is Involved with Raising a Guide Dog from a Puppy?
Most of us are able to move about without much help, or perhaps we can move about without any help. There are others, however, who need a helping hand.
Some of those individuals may have disabilities, such as blindness, and they need help just to move from one place to another. That is where guide dogs can assist, and they can make a difference in that person’s life in an amazing way.
Occasionally, we may see somebody who is working with a young guide dog. We recognize them by their vest, and most of us realize that we should just let them work and not distract them from their job.
A Look At What You Don’t See
What we don’t get to see, however, is what goes on behind the scenes. The video we have for you below really helps you to see that there is a lot involved in the process.
Although the video doesn’t show a step-by-step guide on how to raise a guide dog from a puppy, it does show the emotion and the bond that takes place when one of these puppies is trained. It’s something that most people don’t even consider when thinking about guide dogs.
The process starts at a facility operated by a business named, ‘Guide Dogs.’ Prior to the pandemic, they would breed dogs and have about 1500 puppies that could eventually be a guide dog every year.
Due to the pandemic, they had to shut down temporarily, and they lost a lot of their staff. They are catching up, but the numbers are still smaller than they used to be.
When a puppy is approximately seven weeks old, they are sent out to a family that will raise them and train them for approximately one year. They train these dogs and are part of their lives every day.
A Sad Day Arrives
The real difficulty happens when the initial training is over and the young dog has to go for more advanced training. The goodbye is painful, and you can see that when the woman in the video has to say goodbye to the service dog that she raised from a pup.
As she says, however, the tears are worth it. They have a bond with these amazing dogs, and some will follow those dogs for the rest of their lives. Others will say goodbye and never see them again.
Of course, there’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes to ensure that these dogs are ready to care for their human, but this is a look that you don’t often see.
