Not all dogs born and entering our training programmes qualify as guide or assistance dogs.  We are fortunate enough to enjoy an 88% success rate, however, from time to time, we need to rehome dogs that have been withdrawn from puppy walking or training or alternatively, that are retiring from working life.

We are passionate about our dogs and committed to ensuring their proper care.  For this reason, we have an application process that ensures our rehomed dogs go to the best possible homes. The process also helps us to provide the family applying for a dog with one that best suits their personal circumstances. Suitability is a very important aspect of the rehoming process - both from the dog and the applying family's perspective. Pictured here is Roger, a dog that was withdrawn from training but who was successfully rehomed. He is his owner's delight!  

Guide dogs usually retire from work around the age of 10 or 11.  Some retired guide dogs stay with their respective owner, their owner's extended family or friends.  On other occasions, we rehome our retiring dogs to an entirely new family.  The idea is to choose an environment where the dog can enjoy their hard-earned retirement to the full.  

Once a dog has been withdrawn from training or is about to retire, our Rehoming Officer will look through all the rehoming application forms and try and match the correct dog to their best possible future home.  At the moment, our waiting list for rehomed dogs is quite long and we have therefore needed to close our applications for the time being.   

It gives us great pleasure to see how our dogs make their new owners happy and of course, vice versa. We welcome the many letters, cards and photographs we get from people who have received one of our rehomed dogs.  Their words confirm once again just what a difference a dog can make to someone's life!