Breeding Dog Holder - Brood (We prefer the term Guide Dog Mum Fosterer!) In this role, you will provide accommodation and care for a Guide Dogs Mum in your home, from 12 months until around 7 or 8 years of ages, whilst also providing support during birth and caring for the litters of puppies. “Because my son has special needs, his world can be quite small, he has got so much joy out of spending time with the dogs and because he isn’t verbal it was great to see both him and pups.

In this role, you will provide accommodation and care for a Guide Dogs Mum in your home, from 12 months until around 7 or 8 years of ages, whilst also providing support during birth and caring for the litters of puppies.

“Because my son has special needs, his world can be quite small, he has got so much joy out of spending time with the dogs and because he isn’t verbal it was great to see both him and pups getting so much out of it.” – Susie, Breeding Dog Holder

What you’ll be doing

We rely on volunteers like you to help us improve the lives of people with sight loss. In this role your support will include:
• Providing a safe, secure, and welcoming home environment for the Guide Dogs Mum.
• Ensuring the Guide Dogs Mum is fed, exercised, and cared for to maintain excellent health.
• Using positive reinforcement training techniques to teach or maintain behaviours.
• Ensuring the dog is not left alone for more than 4 hours in a 24-hour period.
• Providing support to the Guide Dogs Mum when giving birth in your home and caring for a litter of puppies in your home for 7 to 8 weeks.

You’ll have

Ideally you will:
• Have a home with a safely fenced garden.
• Have dog handling experience but not essential.
• Have a clean driving licence is desirable and access to a car you are insured to drive.
• Live within an hour’s drive from the National Centre.

If you don’t feel you tick every box but are sure this role is the one for you, please drop us a message and tell us why. We’re open to suggestions and happy to chat with you to find out what’s possible!

You’ll get

Volunteering is a two-way street, so in return for your time you will get a dedicated volunteer manager/key contact who will help you settle in and support you during your time with us. You’ll also get:
• The opportunity to care for and have the companionship of a dog in your own home.
• Dedicated support to develop your dog handling and welfare knowledge.
• The satisfaction that you are part of a committed team with a pivotal role in providing guide dogs for people living with a visual impairment.

Training and support

This role has 8-10 hours of training and then you’ll be ready to go! These modules include:
• Dog knowledge, care, and handling
• Looking after your Guide Dog mum and her puppies

If you have questions about the training requirements, we can answer
these at your interview along with any other support or accessibility
needs you may have.

Volunteering for Guide Dogs should never leave you out of pocket.
We’ll make sure we pay any expenses related to your volunteering with
us in line with our policy.

What we need from you

Criminal Disclosure check necessary? No

We are working hard to make sure anyone who wants to can volunteer for Guide Dogs, but at the moment we have a minimum age of 18 for this particular role.

For further details please contact us at [email protected] or to apply visit www.guidedogs.org.uk/volunteer type in your postcode and search for 'Breeding Dog Brood' and click apply!