The Giving Coast
SRQ DAILY WEDNESDAY PHILANTHROPY EDITION
WEDNESDAY FEB 14, 2024 |
BY BARBIE HEIT
The extraordinary dogs of Southeastern Guide Dogs have been remodeling the lives of individuals with imaginative and prescient loss, veterans, and youngsters for many years—at no cost to the recipients. The top-notch pedigrees in this system, perfected over 4 many years of selective breeding and hundreds of hours of coaching, type unbreakable bonds with individuals who want it most. While these canine companions are certainly particular, they might not be the superheroes they’re with out the assistance of volunteer puppy raisers who present limitless love, care, socialization and basic coaching from the very begin.
Leslie Shepard, director of puppy elevating companies, says volunteer puppy raisers are important to the organization’s mission to serve folks with imaginative and prescient loss, veterans, and youngsters who want a greatest buddy. “Most people are familiar with the work that we do and what our mission is. There are many different ways to support our organization, including financial support from generous donors as well as our walkathon–our largest fundraiser of the year in Sarasota taking place on Saturday, March 2 at Benderson Park–but I’m not sure many realize that a big way to help is by contributing their time as puppy raisers,” she says. “We have 250 puppies born on our campus every year and every year and we need 250 puppy raisers to raise those puppies for us and help us provide services for people in need.”
Puppy raisers can “host” a puppy for anyplace from three to 12 months by taking a puppy home, offering love and educating them basic abilities that they’ll want for his or her future profession. “There are a couple of very specific commands that are needed for working dogs that we teach our puppy raisers,” says Shepard. “For example, someone with vision loss can’t be worrying about whether their dog is getting food off the counter or picking up shoes and moving them, so our puppy raisers teach the dogs to be trustworthy in the home. When the pups come back to our campus at 14 to 16 months of age, our professional trainers take over, layering in the necessary guide dog skills.”
The organization has two working canine packages for the pups to be skilled into: the information canine program for many who are visually impaired and the service canine program for veterans coping with results of publish traumatic stress. They even have a talented companion program the place a canine could also be matched with a toddler who has a visible impairment or could also be struggling a difficult loss.
For those that need to be a part of this system with out dedicating months of time, turning into a puppy sitter like Stacey Vianello is perhaps an excellent choice. “When puppy raisers go on vacation or need some time away, I step in and help out for a few hours, days or weeks,” she says. “It’s perfect for me–I get the fun of a puppy without a long-term commitment.”
If you wish to study extra, plan to attend the subsequent Puppy Raiser Informational Session on March ninth from 9:00 am to 11:00 am the Southeastern Guide Dog Palmetto Campus, 4210 77th Street East, Palmetto, 34221.
