After spending about a year in a puppy raiser's home, the puppy (now a grown dog!) returns to Guide Dogs for the Blind for 6-12 more months of formal training where he or she will learn to guide a visually impaired partner.  Puppy raisers are responsible for providing all the socialization, basic training, attention, and love the puppy requires to become a guide dog canidate.  The actual guidework training is done by the professional instructors on the Guide Dogs campus (in either California or Oregon).

"Recall Day" is a day of mixed emotions for raisers.  It is very sad to see the puppy they have loved for the last year go, but it is exciting that they may someday have a career as a guide dog or go on to serve the community in other ways.  Many raisers think of leaving for formal training as being like going to college!

Check the latest news (on the right hand side of the web page) to see what phase a puppy is in. Click on, or hover over, the phases to see the training steps.