Southeastern Guide Dogs

I have been volunteering at Southeastern Guide Dogs for over four years. I look forward to spending time at their campus because I know what miracles they create for those in need of a professionally trained service dog… at absolutely no cost to the recipient. The employees treat all of the hundreds of volunteers like we are family. No matter what the task the volunteers perform, staff understands that our work is helping to achieve goals of helping more deserving people find their freedom and independence through their dogs. Proud to be a little part of the wonderful work they do!

I was so happy that I thought that my heart was going to explode at one point during my visit to Southeastern Guide Dogs. I never knew that «puppy hugging» was a thing. I don’t know how anyone could not be thrilled to have a herd of goofy puppies galloping towards you. Unless you’re allergic to dogs. Then you get a pass.
I had signed us up for a puppy hugging session. You have to make reservations to do this and some days fill up quickly! I was initially quite grumpy that I could only get us in the 9am session, but that turned out to be a blessing because we were able to sign up for the 10:15am tour of the facility (more on that later). They sit you in a circle on the floor and put a pile of toys in the middle. Then they open the gates and puppies come flooding in. In 5 seconds I had a golden retriever puppy in my lap. The session lasted 30 minutes but it felt like 30 seconds.
Puppy hugging sessions are important for many reasons. They seem like silly fun at first but they’re acclimating the puppies to a wide variety of stimuli. They interact with kids, adults, seniors and see beards, glasses, hats, etc. People get to have fun and get excited about supporting the facility. Plus the nominal admission charge goes towards puppy food. I was shocked to discover that Southeastern Guide Dogs is the only guide dog facility in the country that has a program like this. It’s such a great program and should be emulated.
On the tour we learned a lot of interesting details about the facility. Students who are going to be receiving one of these amazing guide dogs live on campus for 26 days while they bond and learn to interact with their guide dog. What are the students charged for room and board? Nothing. What are they charged for the dog? Nothing. How much money does this place get from the government? None. Donations are the lifeblood of this facility.
I left Southeastern Guide Dogs impressed and excited to support them. If I lived closer I would volunteer here.

We recently adopted a Labrador Retriever from Southeastern Guide dogs. Many times their puppies don’t end up meeting the high expectations that they need to become a guide dog. Those dogs become available for public adoption. We were on a wait list for over a year because we had some special requests for a dog, but last week we got a call that they had some dogs for us to come and look at!
The kids and I headed down there, and drove home with our new family member! No, it wasn’t as easy as that. They had to make sure that the dog was a good fit for our family, and that our family was a good fit for the dog. And we were a perfect match!
He’s a beautiful 13mo 80 pound and growing yellow lab. He came nearly fully-​trained. He has a few small issues that prevented him from becoming a guide dog 1) he is easily distracted by squirrels and 2) he doesn’t like other dogs getting in his personal space. These two things make him lurch on a leash, so ya not a good fit for a guide dog. But a good fit for us!
If you are looking to adopt an older puppy, check out Southeastern Guide Dogs! You won’t be disappointed.

This is a review of being a volunteer «puppy hugger.» We went this morning with the grandparents and the kids (youngest was 4). We sat on the floor and petted puppies that will grow up to be guide dogs. The puppies today were 6 week old lab-​golden mix puppies. SO CUTE!
Call for hours. You can just stop by and pet puppies.
There are lots of volunteer programs here to help out a good cause.