National Service Dogs looking for help raising puppies

The National Service Dogs (NSD) are looking for puppy raisers in the community.

The organization said it can be challenging to find volunteers to help train and raise all the puppies in their care that go out to people around Canada. Currently, they have 12 Labrador retriever puppies that are ready to start becoming service dogs and need at least six local volunteers.

“We have been around for 28 years, we’ve placed over 660 service and facility dogs across Canada, our volunteers work really hard for us,” Danielle Forbes, executive director of NSD, said.

“You’re doing the house training, the basic obedience and socialization. It’s a lot of work and you’re supported throughout the process. So, we provide all the food, veterinary care, we have our puppy program instructors.”

Forbes said the NSD prefers volunteers live within a 45-minute radius so they can easily get to the training centre in downtown Kitchener.

The organization advertises it can be a good opportunity for families to try their hand at raising a puppy while their child gets volunteer hours. University or college students are also invited to raise a puppy as many local campuses support service dogs.

All puppy raisers are supported by NSD during the time the puppy is in training – which is around a year.

More information on what it means to be a puppy raiser can be found on their website.