DJA fully sponsor a the raising of a guide dog puppy from birth to handover to a blind or special needs recipient. See all the puppies we have sponsored below.
Information from SA Guide Dogs
We breed all our own dogs from specially selected stock and these pups are then raised by ‘Puppy Walkers’ until they are 12 to 14 months of age. They then commence their training.
The formal training takes approximately 6 months, with the dog having up to three 40 minute training sessions a day. At the end of the formal training period the dog is very carefully matched to a blind person who has been on our waiting list. Some of the puppies are allocated to our service dog program who assist people in wheelchairs, or people that are physically or developmentally challenged that meet the service dog criteria.
Classes of between 4 and 6 ‘students’ then come to our Training Centre for a 3 to 4 week period while they are trained in all aspects of guiding, handling and care of the dog. Each student is then accompanied home by a trainer for a further week to 10 day aftercare period where intensive individual training is given in the visually impaired persons home environment. We train on average 55 guide, service and social dogs every year.
We do not receive any form of Government assistance, and all our funds are raised from the public by way of donations and the wonderful support from corporates such as DJA Aviation.
2017 SPONSORED PUPPY – OMO
2016 SPONSORED PUPPY – ZEKE
2015 SPONSORED PUPPY – KENOBI
2014 SPONSORED PUPPY – TENILLE