Weekly Tails From Southeastern Guide Dogs – Early Education for our Puppies

Training for guide dog work starts early for the puppies at Southeastern Guide Dogs. Each litter of puppies born on campus is handled by people right from the very start. Their first two weeks are spent in a whelping suite with their mother, and staff members dote on them throughout the day, making sure they are getting the love and attention needed to thrive.

At two weeks, the puppies move over to the Nursery area. Here they begin being handled by volunteers who have drawn the lucky position of helping out with Early Puppy Socialization.

To start, the pups are picked up and gently turned on their backs; they get their paws massaged, and their ears lightly pulled – all to get them used to being handled.

Next the puppies’ real training begins! They are introduced to collars and leashes and the idea of walking with someone. They also get to walk across all different kinds of surfaces, like rocks, gravel, grass, and tile, because you never know where a guide dog might be asked to go.

The puppies also are exposed to a variety of sounds, from thunder to vacuum cleaners and hair dryers. These all are sounds they will certainly encounter while living with their puppy raisers and later with their handlers.

Guide dog puppies-in-training are all crate-trained, so exposure to crates during Early Puppy Socialization is essential. The puppies learn that the crate is not a big scary thing, but a way to escape from their rambunctious litter mates when they need some quiet time – a calm oasis, if you will.

But probably one of the best things these little puppies begin to learn is potty training, at least our puppy raisers think so! We have gotten lots of feedback from the puppy raisers that by the time they bring the pups home at 9-10 weeks of age, they are already housebroken.

As you know, when these puppies grow up, they will be expected to travel in all sorts of modes – planes, trains and automobiles.  So, to get them used to the feeling of motion, we put them in a Radio Flyer cart and wheel them around. We even have a skateboard for them to ride around on. We have yet to figure out how to get them to do kick-flips, but maybe some day.

When the puppies turn six weeks old, they move over to the Puppy Hugging area, and that’s where the general public helps us out with socialization. Five days a week (every day, except Sunday and Thursday) from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., we invite you on to our campus to sit on the floor in the puppy hugging area and play with our pups! 

It is excellent for our puppies because they get exposed to many different sorts of people. It’s great for the community, because everyone can benefit from a little puppy love.

If you are interested in volunteering for Early Puppy Socialization, you need not have any previous experience, just go through our Volunteer Orientation and request for that assignment – it’s that easy!