Guide dog work lifts former Warwick teacher's mental health

Harriet Pearce admitted raising puppies was difficult but she enjoyed it

A former teacher is crediting guide dog volunteer work with turning her mental health around.

Harriet Pearce, from Warwick, where the Guide Dogs' National Centre is based, said signing up to raise puppies and foster dogs gave her purpose.

She had been very anxious and withdrew from a PhD programme, Ms Pearce stated.

But knowing she was helping prepare a dog "to become somebody's little life changer" was enough to make her feel "a lot, lot better".

However Ms Pearce also admitted "when you have a puppy weeing on the floor and biting everything, it is stressful".

She said dog work "really, really helped" her recover her mental health

Speaking ahead of International Volunteer Day on Tuesday, the former maths teacher said it her life got to the point after she started the PhD where "I couldn't even leave the house".

But later she felt more able to get herself back on her feet and met a guide dog owner who was a member of staff at Guide Dogs.

"She was fundraising one day in Morrisons and it was a conversation with her that convinced me I was needed as a volunteer," Ms Pearce said.

She applied to be a "puppy raiser", when a volunteer takes a puppy at about seven or eight weeks old.

They then teach the puppy "the basics that they need to know about the world" and return them to Guide Dogs after about a year, ready for formal training.

"It gave me a reason to get out of bed in the morning and quite a bit of a routine, as we had to go and do things together, such as listening to the traffic...[and] getting used to shops and supermarkets," Ms Pearce added.

"It really, really helped me recover and get myself a bit closer to where I used to be in terms of mental health."

She said being a "puppy raiser" gave her "a reason to get out of bed in the morning"

Ms Pearce stated she later became a fosterer for guide dogs who were being trained.

The work involved taking a dog of about 13, 14 months old into the training school every day and picking them up, with them being "free to have adventures with your weekend".