As part of the Volunteer Week we are sharing people’s stories and experiences with volunteering! Sharing the insight on why people have volunteered, the kind of roles they have taken on and how it has benefited them, which can vary from gaining new skills, to making connections across the community, to keeping them active and more!

What volunteering do you do and what does it involve?

My partner and I volunteer with Guide Dogs for the Blind as Puppy Fosterers. The role involves having a Guide Dog puppy stay in our home while their usual raisers are away and they need looking after. This can be for as little as a few hours to a couple of weeks, our longest foster was for 7 weeks. While they are with us we continue to maintain and reinforce the training they have already received by taking them for regular training walks in the local community.

Why do you volunteer?

I love dogs, when growing up we had dogs at home, but work and lifestyle commitments make it difficult to have our own dog on a full-time basis. This volunteering allows us to enjoy having a dog at home regularly but with the flexibility of working around other commitments. Although all the dogs receive the same basic training they all have their personalities and it is fun, and occasionally challenging, to get to know what makes each dog tick. We have fostered 8 different dogs in the past 18 months.

If we have other commitments, there is never any pressure to say yes, but there is also a really good network of people locally who can look after a dog if there are odd days during a longer period of fostering when we have other plans, usually heading off to watch cricket or football!

What do you get from volunteering?

Apart from the enjoyment of having the dogs in our lives, volunteering with Guide Dogs has also allowed us to access a wide range of formal and informal training and development opportunities. There is a formal training programme that you undertake before becoming a Fosterer. You can also access a wide range of other resources to complement the mandatory training, offering insights on puppy development in general and Guide Dog’s approach in particular.

Alongside this, we also have the support of a Puppy Development Adviser who is always on hand to support if questions arise, visits to see how things are progressing and organises puppy training classes. Moreover, we can call on the experiences of the local network of volunteers. We are fortunate to live in an area with some really experienced Volunteer Puppy Raisers who are always happy to share their knowledge and experience.

As the Volunteering Development Manager here at RVA, volunteering also gives me an insight into what it is like to be a volunteer. Its nice to be able to experience things from both sides of the volunteering relationship and I try to bring that into my work.

What difference do you think your volunteering makes?

Ultimately we are playing a small part in making a life-changing difference to somebody with sight loss. We love being part of the dogs’ journey from puppies to fully trained Guide Dogs and feel a genuine sense of joy when we hear about a puppy in our local area graduating from training to become a working Guide Dog.

We are also providing support for the local Volunteer Puppy Raisers who do an incredible job taking 6 – 8 week-old puppies into their homes and providing the training and socialisation needed for the dogs to successfully enter full training at the national centre at 12 – 16 months. A few weeks of fostering gives these incredible volunteers a well-deserved break.

Are you interested in volunteering?

Please have a look at the Volunteering Opportunities that are currently available by clicking here! The website is updated with new and exciting roles on a regular basis from organisations all around the Reading area!