September 9, 2026
Becoming a Guide Dog puppy raiser with Guide Dogs Australia plays a really important role in helping people with blindness or low vision.
To find out more about what it takes, and how it feels when you have to say goodbye to your little buddy, I spoke with Kerry who has helped raise six Guide Dog Puppies to date.
I originally took on my first Guide Dog puppy as we had two dogs pass away from old age within six months of each other. The connection actually came about because one of my daughters works for Guide Dogs Australia, so she thought it would be really rewarding for us.
It’s wonderful. It’s very rewarding. They’re very loving dogs. And it’s wonderful just helping out a charity like Guide Dogs because they do rely a lot on volunteer work and community support.
We get everything we need to take care of the puppies supplied from Guide Dogs. We must go on a couple of training sessions and incorporate them into our family life and home life. It is our role to help teach the dogs general manners and how to behave such as not to jumping on the furniture and things like that, going shopping, just getting used to loud noises, kids, and all the different things that they will be exposed to in later life as part of their socialisation.
Guide Dogs support us in both the training and in general. They’re just wonderful! We have training sessions and we socialise the puppies together. If there’s any issues that you have at all with with your pup, any problem that you’ve come across, they will help us out with that. We get the food, the bedding, their collars leads, bowls. Plus NexGard Spectra supports Guide Dogs with parasite protection every month from their puppy training period, right through to, and including, their retirement.
It is very hard to say goodbye to your puppy. However, you do know that when you raise a Guide Dog puppy they’re going on to make a difference in somebody else’s life which is very, very important and that’s why we do it for. But we do all shed a tear. Whenever we have to take them back to Guide Dogs for their new home, there’s always a box of tissues waiting.
The rewards are just wonderful. The dogs are so loving. They are so full of love and loyal and the community actually gets behind you as well. I know when we’re out training or in public, everybody always stops and looks and wants to chat with the dogs and find out about them. It’s such a rewarding experience and I would urge anyone who is considering getting a puppy, but isn’t sure they can commit for the 10+ years that you need to be able to commit to when you have a dog, to consider helping Guide Dogs Australia by becoming a Guide Dog puppy raiser.
Guide Dogs provides a range of services to help Australian’s living with low vision or blindness find their confidence and independence. This includes:
It takes almost two years and more than $50,000 to breed, raise, train and place one Guide Dog. To learn more about the work of Guide Dogs, read our article HERE.
Guide Dogs relies on volunteers, donations and community support to help breed, raise and train future Guide Dogs.
If you would like to become a Puppy Raiser, sponsor a Guide Dog, volunteer or make a donation, visit the Guide Dogs Australia website.
Learn more about how to interact safely and respectively with a Guide Dog and their Handler in public, click HERE.
About the Author: Lara Shannon is a certified dog behaviourist and trainer, pet food nutrition specialist, Executive Producer and Host of Pooches at Play on Channel 10 and editor of Poochesatplay.com. Lara also runs her own dog training business in Melbourne’s Bayside area and is the Author of World of Dogs and Eat, Play, Love Your Dog
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