A PAIR of Puppy Raisers are urging for more volunteers to get involved and help shape future guide dogs.

Guide Dogs is a UK charity dedicated to helping people with sight loss by assisting them with assistance dogs.

Linda Hudswell and her husband Don live in a cosy bungalow in Broadstone with their 20-week-old lovable and excitable Labrador guide dog puppy, Vesper.

(Image: Bournemouth Echo)

Vesper will spend a year to eighteen months with the retired couple until he passes onto becoming an official guide dog.

A puppy raiser is a volunteer that will help prepare young puppies for their future role as a guide dog, there are currently 17 puppy raisers across Dorset. 

Now, Guide Dogs is in desperate need of more volunteer puppy raisers to help make a difference to someone’s life.

(Image: Bournemouth Echo)

Speaking on her experience with Vesper, Linda said: “We felt it was an extremely worthwhile thing to do. Now we're not working, we have the time to do that and give him a good start to life.

“Doing this work is lifechanging for someone with sight loss.”

Don added: “the experience has been rewarding and challenging, the first two weeks were hard but we’ve loved having him around, he gets us out and about and we enjoy his company a lot.

“The thought of Vesper going to give somebody else a quality of life that they wouldn't otherwise have and that dog still being there, existing and being around, that's what does it for me.

“I would urge people to think about it, it is something people can do to help others and enrich their own lives.”

(Image: Bournemouth Echo)

Elli Cavazza, puppy development advisor at Guide Dogs said: “We are desperate for puppy raisers. We're desperate for kind of any help that people can give.

“Helping bring up a future guide dog is extremely rewarding.

"One thing we know is difficult is saying goodbye to your puppy and ultimately, it is hard to let them go, which is what kind of puts people off but you are doing a brilliant service and there is support in place for when they do go.

“We send monthly updates on a puppy’s progress into becoming a guide dog so that you’re always kept up to date with their journey."

For more information on becoming a puppy raiser, visit the Guide Dogs website.