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Kera is a
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Meet Kera:
She is a Guide Dog Puppy in Training!
My dog is a mixed breed called a goldador and was born in Florida and came to me at 8 weeks old to live in my home and be a guide dog puppy in training. Her job is to follow in my footsteps and get used to living in a hustling-bustling world! Eventually she will go back to the facility in Florida where she was born to be trained as a guide dog.
SouthEastern Guide Dogs in Palmetto Florida raises dozens of guide dog puppies each year and volunteer puppy raisers like me raise them til they're old enough to handle the sophisticated training they'll need in order to learn to lead the blind.
I am training Kera to become a seeing eye dog for the blind when she is older. Here's a picture
of us at one of our guide dog training meetings.
If it turns out she's not suited to lead the blind, Kera will have a career change and work as a therapy dog, police dog, wheelchair assistant or be adopted by a family. As a guide dog puppy raiser, my responsibility is to make sure Kera is emotionally and mentally prepared to face the challenges she will encounter later in life. As result, lucky Kera gets to go lots of places that other dogs don't normally get to go...
Although they are not legally required to, many friendly businesses extend the same freedoms to my guide dogs puppy in training that they would to a certified guide dog. We can go in stores, restaurants and movie theatres together - all of which are great exposures for Kera!
Twice a month, she accompanies me to regional guide dog puppy meetings in Charlotte, North Carolina. These meetings are our opportunities to share announcements, swap dog-training tips, and educate the public about the role of guide dogs in helping disabled folks.
Another important aspect of these meetings is the fact that they offer the dogs great exposure to unusual sights, sounds, and smells. Although Kera accompanies me in my daily errands around town, she quickly became accustomed to our normal routes. The library, post office, and grocery store aren't exciting to her any more. They don't take her out of her element or rattle her cage.
We have to find more exciting things to interest her!
The guide dog puppy trainers who will eventually provide Kera with the skills she needs to lead the blind have told our group of puppy raisers that although you can obedience train dogs of any age, you can't always help them build a solid constitution. It's important that dogs are exposed to a variety of new experiences from puppyhood so that they're able to withstand loud noises, scary smells, or blustering people without becoming fearful or aggressive. This tolerance for unusual situations is very important to the blind folks who will eventually count on our dogs for their guidance and safety.
In order to provide our puppies exposure to a variety of unusual situations, our chapter of puppy raising volunteers is always thinking up fun, new things to do with our dogs! In the last few months we've had
- Puppy Spa Day - Where we massaged and groomed our pups to a shine!
- Blindfold Spaghetti Dinner - Our pups had a funny view as we ate pasta blindfolded. Slurp!
- Dixie Classic Fair - A day for the dogs! They enjoyed the many exotic farm animals!
- A Train Ride - Whoo Whoo! All aboard the puppy express!
- Watch the Charlotte Checkers - A hockey game on the ice!
I'd love to tell you more about our adventures! Why don't you enroll in the FREE newsletter that details my adventures with Kera! Maybe it will give you some fun ideas of things to do with your dog or your family!
As you can see, we do a wide variety of things that keep the pups guessing. When I hop into the car and start driving down to Charlotte, Kera never knows what she's in for.
Of course, sometimes, we just focus on basic obedience, walking near traffic, or interacting with friendly strangers.
If you've ever considered raising a guide dog puppy, I encourage you to contact a guide dog school in your area. Just type Guide Dogs into the search below and see what google comes up with for you! It can be a great way to sample dog ownership if you don't have experience with dogs, or aren't sure if you can make a 10-year commitment to a dog. Happy Puppy Raising!
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The night you got home and discovered a surprise....
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