Raise a Puppy, Change a Life - Volunteer Puppy-raisers urgently needed! (West Coast Region)

With eight litters of puppies on the way, we need your help!! 

The Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS) Puppy-raising Program comprises a dedicated group of trainers committed to achieving positive outcomes for our PADS dogs and volunteers. We recognize that the backbone of our program is our volunteers, and strive to serve them with compassion, knowledge, and a solution-seeking mindset.

Puppy-raisers are the volunteers who take young, rambunctious puppies and shape them into capable assistance dog trainees ready to enter Advanced Training.

Puppy-raisers focus on three areas of training:

• Skills (such as walking on a loose leash, sitting),
• Manners (settling well, appropriate household behaviour) and
• Socialization (having confidence in the world around them) using scientific evidence-based training that takes the dog’s well-being into consideration.

Puppy-raising is a full-time volunteer opportunity, with weekly puppy class instruction to help the raiser and puppy grow their skills. Training support, including one-to-one training, is available, as well as scheduled assessments to track the puppy and puppy raiser's progress, and provide Individual Education Plans (IEPs) to focus on areas where the puppy or team is struggling.

Our raisers are a diverse group, including students, retirees, professionals and families. Raising appeals to different people for different reasons, including:

• the prospect of changing lives
• gaining dog training experience
• geeking out over behaviour
• wanting to be part of a great community
• knowing that when you travel or aren’t able to care for the puppy that there is a great puppy-sitting community to provide care
• shorter time commitment than getting a pet dog, and not watching a dog grow old and frail
• wanting to have a dog, but have a busy lifestyle and spend most of the day away from home

Prior to filling out the application please review the following to see if this is the right volunteer role for you at PADS.

The ideal PADS Puppy-raiser:

• is patient and has a sense of humour
• is willing to have a canine shadow with them in public
• enjoys working on structured training daily
• likes teaching new behaviours and working on skills acquisition
• appreciates direct (and sometimes on the fly) feedback and the opportunity to grow in their skills
• is able to follow specialized instructions and willing to adapt on the fly to meet the needs of the dog
• is detail oriented and enjoys providing documentation/written feedback

Time commitment:

Being a Puppy-raiser is a two-year commitment. PADS is working toward reducing our turn-in age to between 15-18 months. Our sincere hope is that every volunteer who signs onto this role will continue to puppy-raise after their first puppy. 

Additional time commitments include:

• Provide 60 minutes of daily training (in several shorter sessions).
• Attend one-hour weekly puppy training classes with puppy-in-training.
• Approximately 30 minutes to complete and submit the online monthly puppy report form and monthly pup-date.

 Requirements:

• Puppy-raisers must live in the Lower Mainland or Fraser Valley regions.
• Puppy-raisers must be able to take their puppy-in-training to work or school (if applicable).
• Puppy-raisers must be permitted to have a dog in their home.
• Consistency and commitment are key: 60 minutes daily of training (in several shorter sessions) and dedicated care, which includes:
• duration cues (obedience, etc);
• daily grooming and body handling exercises;
• regular socialization opportunities in a variety of environments (stores, restaurants, etc.) - this may include requests to go on or avoid specific outings depending on the training challenges of the dog
• Ability to follow video or written instructions and provide written feedback.
• Physically able to handle dogs that may pull on leash (management tools may be used and will be provided to minimize risk of injury to the volunteer).
• Participation for training may be in-person on occasion (monthly or bi-monthly) and via online learning classes (weekly or bi-weekly).
• No previous dog training experience required.

Additional information about the Puppy-raising Program:

Puppy Selection and Placement

PADS matches puppies to puppy-raisers based upon where we believe the puppy will be most successful, taking into account information from the puppy-raiser as to their lifestyle, as well as notes from the breeder-caretaker, assessment results, and any pertinent medical information. Puppy-Raisers may express a preference for either a male or female puppy OR a particular colour OR a particular breed (generally only Labrador Retrievers or Labrador x Golden mixes are available), and all things being equal we will try to meet the request. In general we do not have a large enough group of puppies available to meet more specific requests. In some cases puppies may be moved to different raisers within the first couple of months if the fit isn’t quite right.

Community and Continuity

Puppy-raisers and puppies are assigned to a cohort led by a trainer. In most cases, the team will stay in this cohort throughout the puppy’s time in puppy-raising. This allows Puppy-raisers to develop a community, be supported by the same coaches, and have continuity of care, with trainers developing a good understanding of a puppy’s struggles and strengths over time.

Benefits:

• Become a part of our amazing community of PADS volunteers, meet other like-minded people and form new friendships!
• Be an integral part of our dynamic training team.
• You'll be supported by a team of staff, volunteer mentors and experienced puppy-raisers throughout your puppy-raising journey.
• Puppy-raising is an incredibly rewarding experience.
• Feel a sense of overwhelming pride as your puppy-in-training moves on to the next stage of training and closer to his or her goal of becoming a contributing member of society - you helped them accomplish that!
• Learn how about dog behaviour and proper dog house manners.
• Dogs are great for your mental and physical health.
• Feel good about the part you've played in changing someone's life!

How to apply:

Fill out our online volunteer application here.