Puppy Raisers raise and train puppies in a loving home environment. They teach house training, basic obedience and house manners. Puppies are placed in the home for 6-18 months. After that time they are returned to Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs for specialty training.

An important part of the Puppy Raising program involves exposing the puppies to settings and situations similar to what they would experience in their working life. Experiences would include walks, grocery stores, church, meetings, trips, shopping malls, movie theaters, etc. Each puppy is provided a special training vest identifying it as an assistance dog in training.

Puppy Raisers are required to attend classes at the Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs facility. In addition, puppies must visit the Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs facility twice monthly for evaluation, field trips, and to learn problem solving skills.

Puppy Raisers need a fenced yard or outdoor kennel area and must allow the dog to live in the house.

It’s always difficult to say good-bye to someone you’ve grown to love. This is especially true when it’s time for the puppy to return to Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs for specialty training and placement. But the reward of Puppy Raising is in the knowledge that your hard work will improve the quality of life and independence of an individual with a disability.

Before placing the dog you’ve raised, Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs carefully screens each disabled applicant. The individual must:

* be committed and responsible
* be financially able to care for a dog
* be kind and compassionate

Interviews are conducted to match the personalities of the dogs and individuals. After placement, Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs maintains a continuing relationship throughout the dogs life to ensure the continued well being of the dog.

Responsibilities of Puppy Raisers

Early experiences help ensure success in later training. We provide a crate, collar, leash, and food.

The Puppy Raiser is responsible for:

* lots of exercise daily – long walks, runs and panting puppies
* diligence with housebreaking
* regular attendance to our dog classes
* special games at least twice a week
* car rides all the time
* walks in populated places and places with buses, traffic, and trucks
* walks in parks and forests, especially important for young puppies to increase their learning capacity
* go inside to new and interesting places at least once a week
* take the puppy to meetings so it learns to wait quietly
* discourage barking except during playtime
* absolutely no feeding from the table – only from the dog dish
* no rough housing
* no tug-of-war games with people