how can you support us ?

We have a wonderful group of puppy raisers that are all very committed to helping us to raise confident, robust puppies that have an adaptable attitutude to happily take on new tasks and environments.  Our puppy raisers attend regular training days so that we can coach them through their journey from the time they welcome the new puppy into their home until when they are ready to bring them back to us to start their advanced training before transitioning across to a person with disability that will be their owner and handler.

Our puppy raisers follow some strict guidelines about how the puppy needs to be interacted with so that they are shaping their behaviour to easily transition across to the job that they will eventually undertake whether it be guide, hearing or assistance dog roles.  Our puppy raiser team have also made life-long friends from sharing this journey with other like-minded and generous people that all enjoy the challenge of helping to make the puppy the best service dog candidate for our trainers to work with.  Some of our puppy raisers live as far away as Toowoomba or the Sunshine Coast but they happily travel with the puppy to attend the training days as it’s a very important part of the process of getting the puppy out and about within the community and learning to encounter new and exciting experiences.

If you wish to learn more about becoming a puppy raiser, reach out and we’ll be happy to chat to you about the process to ensure that you are fully aware of what is involved with becoming an Empower Assistance Dogs Puppy Raiser.