We’ve all seen the dogs trotting across campus with their yellow vests and cute, floppy ears, but where did they come from? How can I get one? Those are service dogs in training — training to be the best they can be.
Training service puppies looks to be the new trend on campus thanks to the Guide Dog Foundation. Many Terps with a desire to give back and make a new furry friend have opted to become puppy raisers through the foundation. Puppy raisers take care of an eight-week-old puppy until it’s 14 to 18 months old and ready to enter formal training to be a service dog.
Trainers take on a series of responsibilities when raising a puppy and even more when raising a service dog. Puppy raisers are expected to socialize the puppy and make it comfortable in all different settings so when placed with its future owner, the dog will have less adjusting to do. The dog rarely leaves your side; that means taking it to crowded lectures, the grocery store and wherever else you go during the day.
“The untrained puppy goes everywhere with you, and that means pulling on the leash and jumping on strangers,” says Leeza, a senior who recently finished raising a service dog through another organization.
Puppy raisers are also responsible for teaching the puppy basic commands — sit, stay, lay down, come — as well as how to walk on a leash and use the bathroom outside. Lucie, who currently raises Orwell II, a black Labrador retriever says “[training] is super time consuming, and it requires so much patience. It can be really frustrating at times when your guide dog hits a regression period or isn’t learning something as fast as you would like, but it is super rewarding.”
The puppies must also attend classes because some level of formal training is necessary during the early stages of development. Training not only allows for learning but for your puppy to interact with other puppies, which is just as important as socializing with humans.
Raising a puppy on campus is exciting, but as a full-time student, it doesn’t come without challenges. Lucie sheds light on a problem most of us probably don’t think about: “the biggest challenge with Orwell thus far has been dealing with the questions from strangers. Especially when they accuse him of being fake or accuse me of not having a disability. I know that if it’s frustrating for me as a puppy raiser, I can’t imagine how irritating it can be for people with visual impairments that require guide dogs.”
Raising a future service dog seems to be a rewarding experience, and puppy raisers here at UMD would agree! When it is time for your puppy to return to the foundation, he or she will enter formal training to be a service dog or guide dog for someone with disabilities. Lucie says “knowing that dedicating all of this time to raising will pay off when [Orwell II] gets to be someone’s guide dog makes me super proud. It’s rewarding knowing that I am doing something selfless by raising him so that someone else’s quality of life will be improved.”
If you’re interested in becoming a puppy raiser, you can apply here!