Plea for guide dog fosterers to help 'change lives'

A charity is hoping to recruit more people to foster trainee guide dogs in Surrey.

The puppies are taught how to be the perfect companion to people with sight loss.

Puppy raisers play a key role in training the pets to act as guides for their owners and the Guide Dogs charity is hoping to encourage more people to get involved.

Stephanie Billington, who has raised seven Guide Dog puppies, said it was "very rewarding" and that the dogs are "going on to do a jolly good job and to help change somebody else's life".

Trainer Kelly Johnson, who works with the puppy raisers at regular classes at a church hall in Reigate, said the puppies need "a lot of guidance".

She said: “We’re training with positive reinforcement, we use a lot of their food, we use toys, lots of praise like verbal praise, lots of tickles.

“The main thing at this stage is socialising, getting them out and about seeing the big, wide, scary world and making sure that it's nice and positive."

Sam Lane-Serff is training Peter, who at 12 weeks old is the youngest puppy at the class.

“I thought that this would be a really nice way to learn how to look after a dog properly and how to train them," she said.

Puppy raisers look after the puppies for 12-16 months and guide them through a programme of training, socialisation, the introduction of new environments and experiences, says the charity.

Ms Billington recalled the pride she felt “the first time we heard from the Guide Dog owner of our first puppy to hear how much a puppy was loved, but also that a puppy was helping this young man who had been born blind go out and about all over the country to visit his friends".

“He could go and visit his friends and he said the best thing was that when he went to the pub with his friends the dog Sam, who we'd trained to lie down in coffee shops, would lie down in the pub and let him get on and have a chat with his friends, just like anyone else would," she added.

Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, and on X. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.