Wanted Puppy Raiser(s)!

The Belgian Centre for Guide Dogs (BCGD) is a national mobility organization that trains guide dogs and makes them available free of charge to people with a visual impairment. Our goal is to help people with a visual impairment to participate safely, more relaxed and efficient in our society with the aid of guide dogs. A guide dog indicates the curb, avoids obstacles, looks for bus stops or stairs and ensures that the user can safely reach his work and participate in sociocultural activities.

The process from "Puppy to Guide Dog" starts with the breeding or purchase of suitable and healthy puppies.
Since it is not beneficial to train and raise puppies and young dogs in a kennel environment, the puppies stay with Puppy Raisers during a year from the moment they are 8 weeks old. Puppy Raisers are an incredibly important link in the training process; they provide socialization, basic training and a warm home. Without the volunteer efforts of these families, we would not be able to train and provide guide dogs to individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

What do we expect from our Puppy Raisers?

Puppy Raisers primarily teach the dogs the basics of how to be good family dog. What do we expect from our volunteers?

• Time, and lots of it. Our puppies are not allowed to be left alone for more than 3 hours a day
• Providing a safe and reliable environment for the dog and raising him to become a stable young dog
• Allowing home visit(s) from a colleague of the BCG's dog department.
• Socializing the puppy with different situations: supermarkets, public transportation, restaurants, the weekly market, ...
• For Puppy Raisers: attend a monthly 'puppy-day' or group training and acceptance of the fact that the puppy will start his training to become a guide dog when he is around 14 months old
• Knowledge of dogs is not necessary. However, you have to be able to handle dogs with common sense.

What do we offer?

• Medical expenses.
• Feeding
• Bedding
• Training equipment
• Professional guidance by a certified puppy instructor
• Nice and friendly dogs
• A fantastically rich experience that allows you to increase a visually impaired person's mobility

Rather interested in becoming a host family?

We have been talking a lot about Puppy Raisers! However, if you would like to look after a dog for short periods like during holidays or weekends and after work, or even if you want to take care of a mother dog, we would love to hear from you! We are always looking for host families who help to take care of our dogs.

Join a free information session

We would like to get to know you during an initial information session for the different types of volunteers involved in puppy raising. We will cover the tasks and expectations, the volunteer experience in detail, and you are welcome to ask questions. These sessions are given without any obligation. In the coming weeks, information sessions will be held at various locations. If you would like to hear more about what being a Puppy Raiser is like, join us!

Momentarily, there aren't any information sessions in English. Join our waiting list by sending an e-mail to bcg@geleidehond.be and get updates on future English information sessions.
You can also join one of the Dutch sessions by filling in the form below.