Volunteers needed to help with shortage of service dogs: “Puppy raisers are the backbone of our organization”

Service dogs are common throughout the world. First used to assist the blind, the friendly animals have since proven to be valuable therapeutic companions for a wide range of conditions.

Nowadays, a huge number of people rely on service dogs to alert them to dangerous blood sugar fluctuations, interrupt panic attacks, and detect allergens by scent.

Demand for service dogs is growing day by day, and with that comes a big problem: the organisations that train them are struggling with a shortage of volunteers willing to raise them from puppies.

Before becoming guide dogs, puppies are raised by volunteer raisers who provide them with a loving home and essential early training. These individuals help socialize the puppies by exposing them to various environments, sounds, and experiences they will encounter as working dogs. They teach basic obedience, house manners, and confidence-building skills.

Guide dogs being delayed due to shortages

The role is demanding, time-consuming, typically unpaid, and requires forming a deep bond with a dog only to part with it later.

Assistance Dogs International have revealed that this shortage has led to longer waiting times for those in need of a service dog. “Some of our members say the shortage has reached a critical stage,” said ADI Executive Director Chris Diefenthaler. “They are having to delay the placement of an assistance dog with desperate families and individuals because a shortage of volunteer puppy raisers and socializers means they can’t train assistance dogs fast enough.”

Molly Elmore, the program manager at Warrior Canine Connection, a service dog nonprofit, said that “puppy raisers are the backbone of our organisation. They’re the only way it all happens.”

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If you’re in the United States and want to help, you can contact your nearest ADI centre and volunteer to change someone’s life for the better.

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