Raising a Guide Dog Puppy? (And other puppy help)?

Question by Sally: Raising a Guide Dog Puppy? (And other puppy help)?
I’m sixteen and I have to do a long term community service project next year for school that “shows growth and development from beginning to end”. I’m thinking about raising a guide dog, and also starting a guide dog puppy raising group in my city. The association I was thinking about doing it through is the South Eastern Guide Dog Association, where puppies stay with their raisers for 14-20 months. I have a few questions, (and some are slightly stupid i know), but please try to answer all of them if you can.

1) Can I take the guide dog to school with me a couple times a week once it’s a little older and trained well enough to behave?
2) Can I take the guide dog to a restaurant? What about a supermarket?
3) Can I take the dog to the movie theater?

4) I live in Florida, where it’s hot hot hot most of the year. Of these breeds, which would shed the least in my climate? Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever (yellow and black), Australian Shepherd, Smooth Coat Collie, or Goldador (mix between golden and lab).
5) Which of the dogs listed above is the smartest/ most trainable?
6) Which of the dogs listed above would you personally recommend?
7) For past guide dog puppy raisers, do you have any tips for me? Also, what exactly are the expectations of a puppy raiser? What types of things would i have to teach it? Are raisers usually allowed to pick out which breed they want to raise and/or gender?

I have a shitzu currently, so i know how to raise a stubborn puppy. 🙂
Thanks so much! I really, really feel inspired to do this. Not so much because I get to take care of a shedding, mess making bundle of joy, but because I really sympathize with blind people, and would do anything to help make their lives easier. (And i love animals too, so it’s really like two pluses.)

Best answer:

Answer by ms manners
I think its great that you want to do something like that :o)

I have seen service puppies in training out in public. They wear little vests that tell people what they are, and as far as I know, they are allowed to go wherever a guide dog would be able to go.

I think they are dogs that are bred specifically to be service dogs. Have you contacted the Guide Dog Association to see how it works?

What do you think? Answer below!