Creating a Safe and Nurturing Home Environment
Here are links to all of the policies, procedures, and guidelines that are key to creating a safe and nurturing home environment for a guide dog puppy.
- Nutrition and Water Guidelines for promoting safe eating habits and preventing conflict or resource guarding.
- Setting Up a Puppy YES Space and Don’t Mind Me! Using the Puppy YES Space for creating a safe, fun environment for a young puppy.
- Confinement Policy for fenced yards, kennel runs, crates, x-pens, barriers, and tie-downs.
- Boarding Kennel Guidelines if your puppy is boarded at a commercial boarding kennel.
- Traveling with a GDB Puppy Policy for vehicle safety and guidelines for transportation and travel safety.
- R+ Philosophy for maximizing the use of positive reinforcement in nurturing GDB puppies.
- Exercise, Play, and Toy Guidelines for preventing injury or fatigue and selecting appropriate toys.
- Equipment and Supply list for product recommendations.
- Females in Season Guidelines for safe socializing and handling of females in season.
- Safe & Sound: A Guide to Puppy Proofing Your Home to reduce the risk of ingestion of foreign objects or toxic items. Act immediately if indiscretions are observed or suspected.
- Preparing a Puppy Emergency “Go Bag” for potential emergencies
- In and On the Water Policy for maximizing safety around bodies of water and in/on watercraft.
- Puppy Socialization Procedures for ensuring gradual, positive experiences.
- Puppy Check-in Policy for how to actively participate in the puppy’s development by completing all requested puppy reporting and following the advice of your puppy raising field manager.
- A Puppy’s Journey for procedures on placing puppies into raiser homes, considerations for puppy transfer and assessment homes, and other movement through the GDB Puppy Raising program.
In addition:
- Always keep puppies on leash or otherwise securely confined (crate, tie-down, x-pen):
- Around moving vehicles
- In all unfenced/unsecured areas
- Double check all gates and doors before allowing the puppy off-leash.
Guide Dogs for the Blind Puppy Raising Guidebook, all rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use Guidelines to utilize the contents within.