The Seeing Eye is actively recruiting puppy raising volunteers

Photo courtesy of The Seeing Eye
Lauren Christie, assistant director of canine development at The Seeing Eye

The Seeing Eye is actively recruiting puppy raising volunteers in Essex County.

The Seeing Eye is a non-profit organization that breeds, raises and trains service dogs for people who are blind in the United States and Canada.

The dogs are bred at the organizations Morris County headquarters and then volunteers foster and raise puppies for approximately one year, providing love, care, obedience training, and social exposure during the early stages of these dogs’ lives.

“We rely pretty seriously on volunteer puppy raisers,” said Lauren Christie, assistant director of canine development at The Seeing Eye.

Christie has been with The Seeing Eye since 2013. She was a volunteer puppy raiser before she started as an instructor training the dogs.

She stresses the importance of puppy raisers, who help create positive experiences early on.

“That’s an important step in the process,” she said.

Currently The Seeing Eye has 500 puppy raising families volunteering. The information on how to get started is on their website at https://seeingeye.org/

“There’s a form people can fill out which will connect them with a volunteer who is also a puppy raiser,” said Christie. “They will call them and explain the puppy raising program and invite them to a local club meeting.”

At the local club meeting, interested volunteers will meet other raisers and get practice and hands-on experience. The long-time puppy raisers can answer questions at the meetings which happen once or twice a month.

“Most people are eligible as long as they follow the rules, participate in the meetings, come to outings, and commit to socializing,” said Christie.

Puppies can come into any type of home.

“You can have kids, pets at home, you can be retired,” said Christie. “If you work from home, the puppy will be with you.”

But being a puppy raiser is not recommended for someone working an eight-hour day outside the home because a puppy can’t be in a crate all day.

The Seeing Eye covers all the vet costs. They also send a quarterly food statement. But the cost of toys and beds are the responsibility of the volunteers. But The Seeing Eye does a yearly Benebone, a closed group sale for a discount purchase on durable dog chew toys.

Volunteers will receive the puppy when it is 7-weeks-old. The puppy will live with the volunteers until they are between 13- and 15-months-old. Then they are recalled for formal training. When they first arrive back, they get a medical screen from the vet staff.

“If they’re healthy enough they get assigned to a trainer,” said Christie. “The instructor will teach them to be a guide dog for four months. They do two blindfold tests. If they do well, they are matched with someone who is blind. It’s a matchmaking process.”

Dogs are graduated by 2.5-years-old. Puppy raisers are invited to see the puppy they raised walk with its instructor. Together they work around obstacles. However, the raiser would not be reunited with the dog, as that would be too confusing for the dog.

“When the dog graduates, they go off to live happily ever after,” said Christie.

Puppy raisers will then receive a letter and photo of the puppy they raised.

It sounds heartbreaking, but Christie reassured that most dogs live in the moment.

“They come back here, it’s different, but they’re out playing in the kennel with dog friends. They bond with a new instructor,” she said. “After five months of being away, they’re falling in love with the trainer.”

When a dog gets too old to work as a Seeing Eye dog, most owners keep their dog. Occasionally some return the dogs to The Seeing Eye, and they are offered back to the puppy raiser. And if a puppy doesn’t make the program, the puppy raisers are the first to be called. The puppy is offered for them to adopt, free of charge.

“It’s a win/win,” said Christie. “You raise a dog, hope it’s successful and changes the life of someone who’s blind. But you get the first chance to adopt them back.”

To learn more about The Seeing Eye, visit: https://seeingeye.org/