February 17, 2023 6.00 am This story is over 23 months old

Call for guide dog puppy raising volunteers in Lincoln

There is an urgency for more people to help

New guide dog training has arrived in Lincoln, but there is a shortage of volunteers to raise the puppies.

The charity Guide Dogs UK says it is taking long-term steps to address the problem of the volunteer shortage, but there’s still an urgency now for more people to help.

Hannah Thompson, Puppy Development Advisor for Guide Dogs UK, recently carried out the first training in the Lincoln area.

There is a shortage of volunteers to raise the puppies which will become guide dogs. | Screenshot: BBC Look North

Hannah told BBC Look North: “The puppies go out to the volunteers at about eight weeks old and then they stay with the volunteers for about a year until they go into their early training.”

She added: “At the moment the wait for a guide dog is much longer than we would like it to be as a result of COVID and various things which have meant that our production and supply of dogs isn’t what it was, so we need the team of volunteers on the ground raising the puppies in order to overcome that supply issue with the pups.”


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