Dog owners needed to care for puppies

The Malta Guide Dog Foundation has so far successfully arranged for a total of five fully-trained guide dogs to be supplied to visually-impaired owners this year. Now the Guide Dogs Association of France has agreed to supply two Labrador puppies to the foundation in September for further training.

The puppies will need to be placed into the tender loving care of dog owners who will act as puppy walkers. The young dogs will need to spend 15 months with a family who is prepared to provide basic domestic and road craft skills under the careful eyes of our experienced puppy walker supervisor. Advice will also be available at a central dog training school. The period involved will be from September each year and the dogs will be assessed after this phase for suitability for final training at the Helen Keller School in Messina, Sicily.

In addition to this we are looking for puppy minders, people who are prepared to look after a pup should a puppy walker have short commitments off the islands.

Those interested should send an e-mail to guidedogs@keyworld.net with details of the family circumstances and willingness to help.