Puppy Raisers Anne & Gerry O'Riordan

Puppy Raisers Anne & Gerry O'Riordan from Tralee give us insights into their life-changing volunteering with us.

Why did you decide to puppy raise?

Gerry: We’ve been puppy raising now for 11 years and it all started one evening when I saw this woman on the news talking about her guide dog and how it was trained. I told Anne that with the kids going to college, we could do something together. And lo and behold, it took off from there, and as they say, the rest is history, we’ve now raised our ninth pup! We love being puppy raisers – I think it’s one of the best things we’ve ever done.

Anne: Our ninth puppy Winifred has just returned to the IGD Training Centre in Cork to start formal training. Her mom, her granny and her auntie all live out in Camp, so she was able visit them quite a bit when we were puppy raising her. Her sister Walnut is also in Kerry so, we got a chance to meet up and go for free runs which was lovely. Hopefully Winifred will be matched – the trainers are very excited by her progress as she’s very calm. But I have to say, Winifred has turned into a really lovely pup. We're very proud of her.

What does puppy raising entail?

Gerry: The first stage from 8 -12 weeks would be house training, getting them to do their business outside, getting them to sleep in their crate, getting them into a routine. After that then, once their fully vaccinated, we take them out and about to start to socialise them by going into a shopping centre, down to the train station and the bus station, places like that. Really initially it's just spending time with the puppies. Each puppy has a different personality. Some of them are very vocal, some of them are very active and some are quite calm.

Anne: We took Winifred everywhere; into town where there's a lot of traffic, taken her to pick up kids from school just so she gets used to all different types of situations. I suppose the main thing for us is to keep our pups safe, that they're in a safe environment. We go around the house and make sure there's nothing that they can chew or eat or anything like that. We don't feed them from the table, they have their own meals. We don't allow them on the furniture. We bring her in the car quite a bit and she sits down at the footwell. She really enjoyed the car, in the beginning she was a little bit nervous.

What kind of support do you have if you have any concerns or questions?

Anne: We get such good support from our puppy raising supervisor, she's at the end of the phone, so if we have any problems, we ring her. Locally, we have such a great network of puppy raisers; we all help each other.

When we’re going on holidays, we contact our puppy raising supervisor to organise somebody to take the pup, which is wonderful. So, we've never been stuck.

If there’s an emergency with any of the pups we just go straight to the vet.

We've learned that you're never alone. There's always support. Even on our ninth puppy we still needed support, so it's just good to know that you have help when needed.

Do you have to know a lot about dogs to be puppy raisers?

Anne: Not really. Once you're prepared to put the work into your pup, and you have your supervisor to help you and other puppy raisers to get advice from I think anybody should puppy raise.

What is provided or what comes with the pup?

Anne: We’re often asked is it expensive to puppy raise but we don't have any expenses. Irish Guide Dogs provide everything – lead, jacket, harness, crate, worm doses, whistle for recall etc. All vet bills and food are paid for. As the pup grows, we’re supplied with a large crate etc. and at any time we can ring up to request anything. We just give our time and our love to the pups.

How did you guys find integrating puppy raising into your everyday life?

Anne: The first couple of weeks are the busiest; new puppy, new everything. But there are two of us. We do it together. We kind of work it out that someone’s always at home with the pup when they’re very small, and plus we have great support as well.

Gerry: Yes, the first two weeks are busy, but we've gotten so good at it now, it's doing it so long, you get used to it.

What would be your favourite things about puppy raising?

Gerry: One main aspect is it gets me out of myself. I get some exercise with the dogs because I have to walk them and train them. It’s great for socialising, and meeting people. I remember one day walking down the street with Ambassador Dog Marcel and I overheard these two women passing and they go “Gorgeous!”. So, I stopped, and we had a chat. The dogs are a great conversation opener!

The way the world has gone now nobody's talking to anybody because everybody's on their phones and busy, but for certain people they can feel lonely. If you are puppy raising and you walk down town and I could guarantee you 10 out of every 20 people would start talking to you. They have a reason to come up and say, “Look at the lovely dog”.

But to be honest, the best thing is when the dog goes back to the Centre for formal training and then matched to a visually impaired person or a child with autism; just to see the results, you know, that's what makes puppy raising so good, really.

Anne: Changing someone’s life really and truly, you know, it's just wonderful. And I think when you get that first phone call of how your pup has changed somebody's life, you know, you’re just so proud.

Gerry: We only had our second pup a few weeks and there was a very important match on, Cork were playing Kerry, and I went into the sitting room to sit down and watch the match. And the next thing, I couldn't find the remote and the little pup we had had the remote in his mouth. I couldn't work the television to watch the match, so I was livid.

But then my phone rang, and it was the Assistance Dog owner who was matched with the first dog that we puppy raised. Her son had been taken to the hospital, and he wouldn't let doctors or nurses near him unless the dog was brought into the hospital. So once the dog came in, they could do anything they liked with him. Here I was giving out about not being able to watch the match after the remote’s been eaten so the call put things into perspective and made me realise just how important our work is as puppy raisers.

Tell us about Ambassador Dog Marcel

Gerry: We puppy raised Marcel. He was training to be a guide dog but he wouldn't accept his jacket. So, he was retrained as a therapy dog because we all felt he had great intuition for people.

Anne: If he’s visiting a school or a nursing home he’ll pick out someone he feels needs comfort. There was gentleman in a nursing home who was feeling very low and Marcel went over and put his head on the man's lap and it was just like the man had won the lotto. Marcel could sense he was in need. Marcel won the Irish Kennel Club’s Golden Paw Hero Award in 2023 for the work that he does in Kerry, and we were on The Late Late Show afterwards!

He's still going strong. He helps train the puppies because he's such a calm dog, and they mimic him.

Read Marcel's story here

What should someone do if they see a pup being puppy raised?

Anne: Ignore them! It absolutely distracts the pup as they’re working, they don't need any distractions. They have to be so focused. We do educational talks and schools with Marcel to raise awareness with young kids so when you see a working dog with a jacket or harness on you don't approach.

Gerry: Everyone in our area is so used to seeing us out and about that they know not to distract the pup because they're wearing their jacket.

Is there any advice you would give to people that are considering puppy raising?

Anne: Just do it! Talk to Irish Guide Dogs, get the information, talk to your family – it’s something the whole family can get involved with.

Gerry: A lot of people think, “Oh, I can't help anybody because I don't have the money to give to them”, but puppy raising is not about giving money. We give our time to bring each pup to a certain level of training, and that dog goes on to help people; that's the only way I can help somebody. It is so rewarding to see a Guide Dog owner walking down Grafton Street with the dog that you raised from eight weeks. You’ve played a part in giving that person independence.

What would you say to people who are reluctant to puppy raise as feel they couldn’t give back a dog?

Gerry: Focus on the prize, not on the price. The price is giving the dog back. But if you focus on that, you will never do it. But if you focus on the prize of the stories from all the people who get dogs, and you’ve help changed their lives. That's the prize. And then you have no problem raising your puppy and giving your puppy back.

Anne: And there will be tears when you give your puppy back, but what sometimes happens with us, one puppy goes that day and another puppy arrives. So, you don't have time to be whinging and crying.

Do you keep updated on each dog’s progress when they return to the Centre for formal training?

Anne: Yes, most of the time we are. It's up to the Guide or Assistance Dog owner if they want to contact us, but we can ring whoever trained the dog and the trainer all gives us an update.

Gerry: The trainers are very good, because they know we had the dog for so long - so they're very good calling to give us updates.

Anne: The trainers are wonderful keeping us well-informed of how our puppies are doing and when they're matched. It's great.