{"id":24794,"date":"2025-03-27T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T09:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24794"},"modified":"2025-03-27T09:28:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T09:28:43","slug":"volunteer-puppy-raisers-train-service-dogs-to-tackle-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24794","title":{"rendered":"Volunteer \u2018Puppy Raisers\u2019 Train Service Dogs to Tackle Shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the year since Pat and Jane Hipsley brought home Pogo, they\u2019ve spent hours teaching the Labrador puppy how to walk by their side and ignore cooing strangers; how to roll, retrieve her leash and ride an escalator. They\u2019ve learned that Pogo is not a fan of tight spaces, and that her favorite snack is a carrot. Every night, Pogo has fallen asleep at the foot of their bed. Each morning, she has greeted them with a wagging tail.<\/p>\n

And in a few weeks, as with 17 other puppies that came before her, the Hipsleys will say a tearful goodbye to Pogo, maybe forever.<\/p>\n

In the world of service dogs, the Hipsleys are known as \u201cpuppy raisers,\u201d volunteers who house, socialize and transport puppies to and from weekly classes from their first weeks until they\u2019re ready for formal training, at around 18 to 24 months. The work is done to benefit a stranger, someone who will rely on the dog to treat a disability or live more independently.<\/p>\n

While service dogs were once mainly used as a navigational tool for the blind, the animals have proven to be an effective therapeutic tool for conditions as varied as autism<\/a>, epilepsy<\/a> and post-traumatic stress disorder<\/a>. Today, people count on dogs to alert them to dangerous changes in their blood sugar, to disrupt panic attacks and to detect the smell of allergens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But as demand for the dogs increases, the organizations that provide them are facing a shortage of volunteers to raise them as puppies. It\u2019s a challenging, time-consuming gig that typically pays nothing and requires forging an intimate bond with a dog only to give it away.<\/p>\n

This \u201ccritical\u201d volunteer shortage is leading to yearslong wait times for service dogs, according to Assistance Dogs International<\/a>, the accrediting body for nonprofit service dog providers.<\/p>\n

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In the year since Pat and Jane Hipsley brought home Pogo, they\u2019ve spent hours teaching the Labrador puppy how to walk by their side and ignore cooing strangers; how to roll, retrieve her leash and ride an escalator. They\u2019ve learned that Pogo is not a fan of tight spaces, and that her favorite snack is a carrot. Every night, Pogo has fallen asleep at the foot of their bed. Each morning, she has greeted them with a wagging tail.And in a few weeks, as with 17 other puppies that came before her, the Hipsleys will say a tearful goodbye to Pogo, maybe forever.In the world of service dogs, the Hipsleys are known as \u201cpuppy raisers,\u201d volunteers who house, socialize and transport puppies to and from weekly classes from their first weeks until they\u2019re ready for formal training, at around 18 to 24 months. The work is done to benefit a stranger, someone who will rely on the dog to treat a disability or live more independently.While service dogs were once mainly used as a navigational tool for the blind, the animals have proven to be an effective therapeutic tool for conditions as varied as autism, epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder. Today, people count on dogs to alert them to dangerous changes in their blood sugar, to disrupt panic attacks and to detect the smell of allergens.But as demand for the dogs increases, the organizations that provide them are facing a shortage of volunteers to raise them as puppies. It\u2019s a challenging, time-consuming gig that typically pays nothing and requires forging an intimate bond with a dog only to give it away.This \u201ccritical\u201d volunteer shortage is leading to yearslong wait times for service dogs, according to Assistance Dogs International, the accrediting body for nonprofit service dog providers.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24796,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24794"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24797,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24794\/revisions\/24797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}