As the months pass, your job will near completion as your pup is prepared to start formal guide dog training at 14 to 18 months of age. This is a very emotional time for puppy raisers as they balance the pride of puppy-raising with the realization of parting. People often ask whether the first puppy is hardest to give up. It seems that each puppy carves a special spot in your heart that holds the love, joy, and challenges you experienced together. Puppy raisers have one of the greatest responsibilities in the path of becoming a guide dog. Without our raisers, we simply could not produce quality guides.

When your pup is ready to move on to the next stage in the guide dog training process, it will come to the Guiding Eyes Training Facility in Yorktown Heights, NY for the In-For-Training (IFT) assessment. At this time, the quarterly progress and health history of the dog are reviewed, and the dog is put through some practical tests. If the dog “passes” its IFT, then formal guide dog training will begin.