Craise a puppy of Labrador or Golden Retriever to become a reliable and responsible guide dog. This makes a family Puppy Walker. To select these foster “parents” i Lions of Limbiate, who have been training since 1959 guide dogs to provide support to blind people. The families’ task is to socialize the puppy and educate it until school age, when it can begin its training journey.
Raising a puppy to become a Guide Dog
Participate in this project it is a real mission, beautiful but also challenging: it means look after, cuddle and educate an animal and then let it go towards its mission.
The first year of a dog’s life is fundamental for the development of its character and its physical growth. Puppy Walker families need to take care of the characteristics that will make a future guide dog an excellent guide dog. However, after approximately 10 months of living together, the dog must be returned to the Lions Guide Dog Service to be evaluated and subjected to the Training Program.
How and why to become a Puppy Walker
There are few families willing to take this route, more volunteers are needed to offer many more possibilities to the people who need them (here’s how to become a Puppy Walker) . For a blind person, the company of a dog offers opportunities to socialize, meet new people, establish new friendships and relationships. But above all the opportunity to build a solid relationship of love, complicity and mutual trust with your furry life partner.
50 new “four-legged angels”
«The Limbiate training center really allows you to change a person’s life for the better thanks to the extraordinary support of their dog», explains Nicolò Galante, the Arcaplanet CEO who has been supporting the project for two years and more and more. By involving employees but above all customers, and contributing in 2023 to training of 50 “four-legged angels” (thanks to the donation of 175,000 EUR).
Pet, people, planet. If having a pet makes you more sensitive to the environment and society
It is not the only social project that the leading pet-care company supports: this year too, the commitment to support Frida’s Friend And PLAYS. who deal with pet therapy in the pediatric oncology departments of hospitals. Donations of meals to the associations registered in the project continue Foodstock.
«The company mission has changed a lot», explains Galante. «The goal we set ourselves today is to improve relationships between pets, people and the environment». From the new app, which improves people’s shopping experience. To animal services: offering the possibility of insuring them (thanks to the agreement with ConTe.it) and to take care of their health (thanks to the acquisition of three veterinary clinics). To the commitment to the environment: the company is in fact accelerating the processes of reducing its environmental impact.
«Not always but very often those who take care of a pet have a greater sensitivity towards the environment and society», continues Galante.
From guide dogs to pet therapy, to recyclable kibble packaging, a better world is therefore still possible.
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