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Leader Dogs for the Blind empowers people who are blind or visually impaired with the tools for safe and independent daily travel. Our goal is to educate, advocate, and share real life experiences of those with blindness. Come learn, laugh, and grow with us.
Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast, where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Heppner with my co hosts, Leslie Haskins and Timothy Cuneo. We are full swing into holiday season. So, what are your guys plans? What do you guys got going on? I mean, I'm sure it's a busy time of year for everybody.
Timothy: Well, for me, it's just, uh, going to go traveling up to see family up in North Georgia mountains and possibly going up to the Nashville area for Christmas Day itself and just having a good old time like usual and watching how much I spend. So, uh. Right.
Leslie: What do you do in the Nashville area on Christmas Day?
Well, uh,
Timothy: Cheryl's sister lives out there, so we visit them for a couple, two, three days and go to, you know, the services for Christmas Eve and get up the next morning and go have breakfast with some of his family and, and then we go back and have presents and all that stuff. So, I mean, we have a good time.
Hopefully it doesn't snow and we get back to Atlanta for the, all the bottom [00:01:00] falls out. So,
Leslie: so you're not going to hit up Broadway and check out all the bands and live music and all that.
Timothy: We've done that, but we haven't done that with Glacier yet. It would be cool to go downtown Nashville, and Nashville is a great place to go to if you want to, with all the boardwalk and, and there's a lot of music everywhere, especially Music Row and stuff.
Nashville is a cool place to go to Christmas time. Yeah. I guess I'll get a plug. Hopefully Nashville sponsored
Leslie: this podcast. Right. City
Christina: of Nashville. I would love to go to Nashville. I've been before,
Leslie: but. It's been a while. I've been too. And I am always blown away by the talent of the musicians and they like bop around to all the different places and like play with different bands and like they're all so talented that it doesn't matter.
They just like know all the songs. Like you can't walk
Christina: in anywhere without live music and I like thrive with live music. Thrive,
Leslie: you guys. That is a statement. I,
Christina: yeah. You know what? I'm drinking coffee this morning so I am extra like. [00:02:00] Alive
Timothy: today. Well, what's cool about the bars is sometimes the uh, you don't know One of the country singers may show up out of the blue, right?
Leslie: Some of the bars down there, right? You might get a
Timothy: free concert. I mean, you just never know,
Kate: you know if I could sing that But
Christina: you guys do not want to hear me
Leslie: sing Um, I don't have enough coffee for that. This is really taking a turn quickly. I know. All it is is
Christina: Christina's singing career that's never going to happen.
Oh my goodness. I mean, I did take singing lessons when I was younger and we learned fast that
Kate: Christina was not
Leslie: going to be a singer. You have a microphone now. Just hold on to that. What are you doing for the holidays, Christina? Um, you know, just seeing family. Will you get to see your niece?
Christina: Um, so I saw her at the beginning of this month.
I went to go see them in New York. Um, and so, they won't be coming back for the holidays because travel and all that and she's What, six months now? Oh my gosh. Yeah, so I [00:03:00] went and saw them earlier this month. So I'm very, uh, it was nice. It was so good to see them and, you know, get that one on one time without everybody there just, you know, steal her and snuggle her.
Yeah. Yeah, not stealing her, but I'm
Leslie: looking forward to the holidays. I mean, it's so much fun with kids and, you know, the spirit and just seeing their excitement and the gifts and the joy and the giving, and I'm really looking forward to it. I hosted my first Thanksgiving and that was successful. So we are hosting.
And we're hosting another, um, Christmas party as well. Wow.
Christina: Two in
Leslie: one. I mean, these are big, big events and so quite a deal to take over the, the
Christina: hosting. Yeah. I'm not ready for
Leslie: that yet. Well, it was, it was an experience, uh, but we made it through and it was fun. So looking forward to that again and then the new year's right around the corner.
So. Um, but today we are super excited because we have two LeaderDog team [00:04:00] members who are here to talk about their experience with puppy raising.
Christina: Yes. At LeaderDog, we recently rolled out new puppy raising models for our volunteers, and those include corporate puppy raising. We have a pass along model. You can raise puppies on a college campus, but our guests, Kate and Aaron, are here to share with us about their experience with co raising puppies for Leader Dog.
Kate
Timothy: and Aaron, welcome to the podcast. Hope you guys are having a fantastic day so far. What made you guys want to decide to co raise a puppy?
Erin: Well, Aaron was part of the reason that I wanted to co raise, but I originally got into this because I really wanted to see the whole process of what the guide dogs or a leader dogs life is like.
So we're both guide dog mobility instructors here at leader dogs. And so we really get to see that formal training process. But I wanted to see kind of all the way from start to finish what the dog's life is like, what the puppy raisers go through and their experience raising the [00:05:00] dogs. Um, and then Erin influenced me a little bit as well.
Kate: Yeah, I actually, um, got involved with Leader Dog first as a puppy raiser when I was in college. Um, I raised, raised my first puppy, um, right after I graduated and, um, And then ended up coming and working here as an apprentice, uh, about two years after that. And, um, when I started working with Kate, I kind of, uh, pushed her into, into joining me on the puppy train because I didn't want to do it just fully the responsibility being mine.
Um, it was easier for me to have somebody to split that responsibility with. That's how we got here today.
Christina: And how many puppies have you guys co raised? We have co raised four puppies together. Oh my gosh.
Kate: Wow. We just turned in our fourth puppy the end of last week. So she just came back for formal training.
So have you
Christina: guys ever formally trained any of the puppies you have raised?
Kate: No, so leader dog sets it up that [00:06:00] because we are the puppy raisers, they try to bring the dogs back into a string. That's not going to be our responsibility. Okay. It's easier for the dog going through training if they don't have to see their puppy razor every day in training.
It's kind of a hard transition for them and for us. And so having them come back to a different team and have that kind of yeah. end of their training be somebody else's responsibility is easier for everybody involved. Yeah. So you guys
Christina: can kind of watch from a distance.
Kate: Exactly. Yep. My
Timothy: big question is, if since you both are GDMI instructors, do you think your puppies have a little bit more of advantage because you guys know what they're facing?
I mean, we love our puppy raisers. They're not professional guide dog mobility instructors. So you think your puppies have a little more advantage than a puppy who's raised by, say, me.
Leslie: Well, of course, over you, Tamir Leigh, I'm just kidding.
Erin: I would say I would hope that we would have a little bit more experience, you know, than a person coming into puppy raising just because we have.
been [00:07:00] working here for so long and we kind of know what the formal training looks like. But on the other hand, I would say the puppies still humble us and make us, you know, learn lessons and learn things through each individual puppy. You know, they all do puppy like things they do on things they, you know, they learn to control their impulses.
And so They're all developing that skill. So we all get humbled in that process too.
Kate: I also, I also think it has definitely reinforced the fact that, um, being a leader dog is ultimately the dog's choice because even though we are GDM eyes and we do have more experience than I would say, our typical puppy raiser, we've also had dogs that haven't made it through the program, um, that have chosen to be pet dogs rather than leader dogs.
So, um, to all the puppy raisers out there, we understand it too. It's not. It's not a skill thing, it's sometimes really just, does just come down to the dog making the choice.
Leslie: That's a very good point to make, you can't take it personally. Yeah. I'm curious, do you think there's [00:08:00] any added pressure to the GDMIs who then have to formally train one of your puppies?
Or have you also ever trained formally somebody else's puppy that you've
Kate: raised? Yep, I've trained another DDMIs puppy. We try not to put any pressure on our team members. Like we said, it's very much the dog's choice and we know kind of their, we know their puppy behaviors. That's part of the reason why, um, leader dog has them come into somebody else because it can sometimes be hard to leave some of those puppy behaviors in the past and the dogs do a lot of growing in formal training.
And so the dog that you turn in can be a completely different dog than what's placed with the client. Um, and so having somebody else have eyes on that and kind of be responsible again. That is, is nice for us, but we try not to put any extra pressure on him, but there's definitely an inherent, uh, they know where the puppy comes from.
They've seen the puppy around the office during [00:09:00] the day, so I'm sure that our, our puppies put a little bit more pressure on their instructors, but
Christina: that's fair. Yes. So this is a brand new model for us that we're just rolling out to. Every other volunteer. We're trying to make puppy raising more accessible for everybody's lifestyle lifestyle, you know, with COVID people's lifestyle changed drastically.
And so we're trying to open up more volunteer opportunities. And so this co raising one, how is it like for you guys? Cause you guys are able to, you know, not one of you has the dog 24 seven. So how do you decide, you know, what weeks or who's going to have the dog when, how does that decision making happen?
Kate: Yeah. Yeah, it's
Erin: kind of just a collaborative effort. So I know this will look different for everybody who goes into the co raising process. But for us, we've kind of worked it out where we switch off with the puppy on a weekly basis. Um, so we'll, I'll have the puppy one week and then we'll hand it over to Aaron and she'll have it for a week.
And then sometimes that varies based on vacations or various schedules. Um, then we [00:10:00] have kind of that built in built in babysitter or puppy sitter, right? So we can count on somebody to, to uh, take the puppy when we've got other things going
Kate: on. We also have the added benefit of working at the same place.
And so our puppy comes to work with us every day. And so if I have something that comes up and the puppy is supposed to be mine that week, I can say, Hey Kate. Can you bring her home? I have something that I have to do. And so we can kind of swap that way too. So it makes it pretty easy for what we've got set up.
Timothy: Well, when you're with your, when you're with your new puppy that you guys are raising together, do you sit down and say, who do you love the most?
Erin: How
Leslie: did you, uh, Name the puppy then, because that is the puppy raiser's responsibility or privilege to name the puppy. So how did you determine your puppy's names together?
Kate: We have kind of shared that responsibility. I don't, for us, I don't know that there's a specific process that we go through. It just kind of, as we start [00:11:00] thinking about the next puppy that we're going to pick up, and kind of when we're like, alright, I'm ready to do this again, are you ready to do this again?
And then sometimes the names just... kind of pop up. Um, we did raise legacy, um, puppy 20, 000. And so that name was chosen for us. Um, it was voted on and sponsored and all of that. But then, um, the other ones, I think we've just kind of switched on and off who's gotten to choose the name and we all agree on it.
But, um, Yeah, I don't. It just kind of happens. I don't really know the process. That
Christina: just
Leslie: depends on your process. It seems to work.
Kate: Yes.
Leslie: What about as far as like communication with the puppy team at Leader Dog? How does that work when you're co raising? Does one of you take like full responsibility or is it kind of split fully 50 50?
Kate: So there's a primary raiser in the co raising process. So for our last puppy, I was the primary raiser. And so all of the communication, uh, from puppy department and to puppy department, I tried, we tried to have it go through me. [00:12:00] Um, we have a puppy development coordinator, just like all the other puppy raisers.
We have a puppy counselor, just like all the. Other puppy raisers. And so, um, we have communication with them and, um, and then I, it was kind of on me to pass any of that communication along to Kate to make sure that she was also staying informed. But as the primary raiser, I was the one responsible for making sure our puppy was meeting all of the requirements and.
Getting to puppy classes and getting the vaccines on time and all of those things. So that kind of all fell to me as the primary razor. And then I relied on Kate to help out. I should
Erin: mention that we have a third person in this mix, Eric Rodman. He's the apprentice coordinator here and also my boyfriend.
And so. Our puppies kind of have three raisers at one time because Eric and I are in the same household, so we're kind of the other set of the puppy raising team.
Timothy: I imagine your day is very challenging when you guys are, you know, out working, training regular, you know, dogs, and then going home with raising a puppy.
Is it just a fun [00:13:00] filled day or?
Kate: Like I said earlier, our puppy comes to work with us every day. Um, so whether the dog's staying with me or with Kate and Eric, um, It comes to work every day for the most part. Um, while we are out training and working with other dogs and training, um, our puppy stays in an office just like she would if, uh, some other razor had her.
She stays in the office. She hangs out in a crate in there. Um, and so she gets practice settling without us around. Um, it's super important for the dogs to learn the puppies to learn that They're not always going to be with their handler. And so they learn to spend time by themselves. Um, she gets to be quiet while there's other office things going on around her.
And then, uh, when we're ready to go home from work, we bring her home and then she gets to be a part of whatever household she's staying in at that time. So at my house, I have two other pet dogs. Um, so she learns, they learn to live with, with other pet dogs. And then at [00:14:00] Kate and Eric's house, they have a bunny rabbit.
So she gets some bunny rabbit exposure there. But yeah, they kind of just end up blending into whatever lifestyle you're living.
Leslie: That's fantastic. And Kate, I appreciate that you threw in Eric there so he can get a little bit of credit, I guess. I didn't want to take all the credit. I actually love your guys pictures that you do at the end when you're in the hallway there of the residence with you, Eric, the three of you, and then the puppy too.
And you have like the four of them, the four puppies you raised. They are literally so cute. I have never seen this. So what advice would you give anybody who is thinking about kind of going into this as a co raising option?
Kate: I would
Erin: say reach out to puppy department and they'll give you all the information you need.
I think throughout the year we have various informational sessions on the different kind of models that we're proposing here. Um, but just think about how it could fit into your lifestyle and what you would want that ideally to
Kate: look like for us.
Erin: Switching off [00:15:00] weeks works well, but that might not for you.
So kind of how best would it fit into your schedule and routine and maybe asking if you could go watch a puppy class just to kind of see a little taste of what it's all about to work with
Kate: these guys.
Christina: You guys have been doing this for a while, but they've just recently rolled this out to everybody else.
So for you guys, how do you think this is going to impact our volunteers? Do you think that, you know, maybe people who were like, Oh, it's too much for 24 seven. We'll come back and try this new model, find a friend and co raise together.
Kate: I hope so. I think that that's the hope of puppy department is that we get some of our volunteers who maybe think that full time raising a puppy is a little bit.
Too much responsibility or too much to ask for. Um, I know for, for me personally, I would have a really hard time taking on the responsibility of a puppy 24 seven for the full year that you have them. Um, but having kind of that co raiser and somebody to rely on for holidays, or if things just come up or just having the.
[00:16:00] Just having someone to communicate with about the puppy too of, of things that we're seeing or things that we're working on or training sessions, anything like that is, it's really great to have that support. And so my suggestion would be if you're looking at co raising is to find somebody that you are comfortable communicating with and that you are all kind of on the same page about things when it comes to puppy raising.
And if you're not sure, having those conversations ahead of time would definitely be helpful. Yeah,
Christina: so you guys have raised four puppies now, are you guys going to pick up another one? We
Erin: are definitely thinking about the next puppy
Kate: already, yeah. So why do you guys continue to do it? Puppy fever is a real thing.
Like Kate said, we, we got started because we wanted to see the whole start to finish life of a leader dog. And then you get a little puppy and you'd bring it home and it's so lovely to have it in your house and you get to see it get, go through all of these milestones and, and learn all of the things and then go through training and then when you return it.[00:17:00]
to leader dog, there's kind of a hole left a little bit. And, um, and so the easiest way to fill that hole is to pick up a new puppy and start the process all over again. Um, and so we usually, we usually return our puppy and then it's usually. Uh, a week or a month later, we kind of look at each other like, okay, are we ready for a new one?
And then we start looking, we get in contact with puppy development again, and we tell them, you know, we're open to it. Let us know if something comes along. And so, so we're in that process right now. We'll probably wait until after the holidays and wait and see how far our puppy makes it in training right now.
Make sure she gets a little bit settled before we, we fill that spot, but it's definitely in the future plans.
Erin: Yeah. And I think we also like see the. We get the benefit of seeing the whole process, like Aaron said, and seeing the clients work with the dogs, and so that's a very reinforcing, rewarding part of it as well.
And our first two puppies are out there working with clients, so it's just kind of, it's very, very self reinforcing
Christina: process. [00:18:00] Which is so awesome. And our puppy raisers actually get to, if their dog is paired with a client, they get to meet the client as well. And with this model, I know that both of the raisers get to, are invited to that night where they meet.
So that is very cool as well to be able to, you know, raise that puppy and then see, you know, when you're, if your dog makes it. Well, and the
Leslie: relationships, yeah, that happen out of that. Like Timothy, you and your puppy raiser have a fantastic relationship. You, how many times have you visited?
Timothy: Be three times just came back from a visit in September, spent a whole week with them.
I love doing it. It's just giving back to them and getting to see Glacier.
Leslie: Yeah. So rewarding all the way around. It's such a cool kind of full circle thing. And
Christina: if you could, you know, just give us a little bit for anyone who may be on the fence, like this sounds like a great idea. Give us a little glimpse.
I know not every day is the same, but, um, you know what it's like for someone a day in the life of raising, you know, one of our future leader dogs.
Kate: A lot
Erin: of the same things happen with like with a pet dog, I would say. So the [00:19:00] normal routine of waking up feeding, taking them out, taking them for walks. But you have kind of an extra layer on top of all of that.
It's pretty cool. You get to some workplaces allow you to take the dog with you. Um, and then you get to take it out onto very social, various social outings and different things. Yeah. Yeah. Like public locations. So you can kind of have a little little puppy with you wherever you go, which is which is really nice.
Um, but there are also times that they get to play and just be a dog at the end of the
Kate: day, whether it's with
Erin: With you or with other dogs in your household. So yes, but every day it looks very different depending
Kate: on what we've got
Leslie: going on and puppy raisers sign up to do various like leader dog events too.
So you guys have your puppy classes obviously, which you build such a great community with other local puppy raisers. Um, I love the relationships that kind of form out of those meetings, but also we always have opportunities through leader dog for different events like, um. I don't know. There's like yoga with puppies.
There's, we've done events at like [00:20:00] AAA where we ask puppies to come. So Leader Dog also puts out different things and it's just such a fun way to meet other people in the community and really share about what you guys do. So I love going to an event and meeting the puppy raisers, hearing why they got involved and kind of how it fits into their life.
You know, it's super fun, especially for people who have young kids and the kids get to, you know, realize the responsibilities and what it's like to have a puppy. And then kind of see this whole process of the giving back and then hopefully, you know, meeting a client if their dog goes on to work with a client and just the kind of the lifespan of the guide.
Oh, hopefully the guide dog. Um, so it's just very cool. The time and dedication of our puppy raisers, yourselves included, is amazing and we're super
Christina: grateful for it. Yeah, and these new models co raising is just one of them, but I want to quickly share a little bit about each one. So our traditional model is just one household.
So it's just one raiser with the puppy. You can still do that. Um, and that's about what, 12 months that you have that puppy [00:21:00] for. We also have a pass along. So if somebody likes that first six months of a puppy's life, they'll have that puppy for the first six months. And then the puppy gets passed along to somebody else for the last six months of raising.
Um, corporate, your corporation can raise a puppy, which is super cool. So anyone listening, if you're like, Ooh, I want a puppy at work, talk to your manager, your bosses, corporate puppy racing is a great one. And then campus puppies, which we have, um, college students raising on college campuses, which is such a cool experience because some of our puppies do, you know, go with clients who are on college campuses.
So that's a great experience as well. So those are. Our new models to, you know, fit everybody's lifestyle, which is very cool.
Leslie: I think it's interesting to, you know, with Leader Dog just in general, like we really do try to be innovative and kind of stay relevant and in front of technology and techniques and trainings and things like that.
And I think this [00:22:00] is just one other way to make it fit into people's lifestyles and try new things. So I think it's fantastic. I'm so curious to see, you know, how many people try the different types of, of puppy raising. And I know you guys have been fortunate because you work at Leader Dog to kind of, you know, Uh, almost initially trial run the co raising model and it was, it has been so successful that we're excited to try it out with new people.
So that's fantastic. But I guess anything else you want to share about puppy raising or something that you find interesting or maybe something that you didn't anticipate before getting into puppy raising?
Kate: Every
Erin: puppy is very different. Their personality is very different and they each teach me something new about my training skills and also just about dogs in general.
And so, like, I just love that each time. It's a unique experience.
Kate: I just also think that it's super important that we acknowledge that we could not do what we do without our puppy raisers and, um, that [00:23:00] Puppy raising is very hard at the end of the day. It's a hard thing. You're taking this small animal.
You're teaching it how to live in a household. You're teaching it how to be around other animals or children or being in social settings like going to the grocery store. And we're kind of asking just people out in the community to help us with that and set these dogs up to to go on to be leader dogs.
And we really Couldn't do what we do without the puppy raisers. And so being a part of that community has been, has been really, really, really great. And, uh, it's really heartwarming and, and I think Leader Dog does a really nice job of, of setting its puppy raisers up for success and then trying to show how much we appreciate what they do.
Leslie: 1, 000%. Yes. And that goes across like our entire organization. Like the role that volunteers play at Leader Dog is insane to me. We are so fortunate that they are in every aspect of our organization, but you're right, especially this puppy raising model. Um, we could not do what we do without them and you guys included.
So [00:24:00] it's, it is fantastic and we are super grateful. Well, thank you guys, Aaron and Kate. And we'll throw out a little thank you to, uh, Eric. As well, he is part of this, this group here, but thank you guys for doing what you do. Thank you for joining us today to share about this new co raising option. We certainly appreciate your guys's time.
Yeah.
Kate: Thank you. Thanks for having us.
Leslie: And thank you so much to our listeners for listening to the Taking the Lead podcast. I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy Cuneo and Christina Heppner. Please join us again next time as we continue to dive into the world of blindness. If
Christina: you'd like to learn more about applying to our free services or volunteering with us at LeaderDog, you can head to leaderdog.
org. Or call us at 888 777 5332. And don't forget, you can reach us at TakingTheLeadAtLeaderDog. org with any questions or ideas. If you liked today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever podcast stream.