More foster parents needed for guide dog puppies

Sarah Longley is foster mum to guide dog puppy Vector

Guide Dogs Sheffield is appealing for volunteers to foster puppies to ensure there is no delay in their training.

The charity aims to train 45 puppies a year at its centre in Tinsley but there is a shortage of fosterers who can look after pups at home from a few weeks old to about 14 months.

There is also a lack of fosterers who can look after older puppies on evenings and weekends while they finish the final stages of their training.

Guide Dogs says the two roles are "vital and without volunteers there's a risk of delays giving someone with sight loss their independence".

Sarah Longley trains foster puppy Vector into helping around the house

Sarah Longley has fostered Vector since he was eight weeks old and started his initial training at her home.

"It's similar to normal puppy training but we introduced him to trains, buses, shops and noisy places so he is hopefully a well-rounded puppy ready to go to the next stage."

Vector is now 14 months and is moving on to the next stage of daily training at the Guide Dogs centre.

Sarah cannot keep him as part of his training is adapting to a new family, but she hopes to get another foster pup.

"I thought I would learn something new, it would be fun and it was giving something back," she said.

"He'll leave us and it will be really hard saying goodbye but it's emotional in a good way as hopefully he's going on to do a brilliant thing."

Kirsty Simpson with Harmony, a guide dog who is in the final stages of her training

Kirsty Simpson is employed by Guide Dogs to train older puppies during the day on a mock street with bollards, bus stops and fake pedestrian crossings.

Although Kirsty is their trainer, Guide Dogs still need fosterers to look after the older pups in evenings and weekends until they fully qualify when they are about two.

She said: "Fosterers are families of all sizes, it doesn't matter if you live alone or you have children, you can even have other pet dogs, because our dogs need to be okay with other animals in the home. You don't need a big garden either.

"You don't need previous experience with dogs, we train everybody and fully support people. Guide Dogs will fund everything such as food, vaccinations and equipment, we just ask for a loving family and a lovely home."

If people are out at work all day, Kirsty suggests fostering an older puppy.

"They are training all day Monday to Friday so you can drop off from first thing in the morning and collect at teatime, then you get to enjoy the dog throughout the rest of the evening and over the weekend."

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