Meeting Benson, NEADS Service Dog in Training

black labrador puppy

If you’ve attended Sunday Services [at First Parish in Wayland, MA] recently in person, you may have met Benson, a handsome NEADS Service Dog in Training. He is accompanied by Luke Rubin, who, along with his wife, Megan, are Benson’s Puppy Raisers…

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A Story about Parting Ways with the Dog You Just Raised

For Puppy Raiser Ed Nobrega, the hardest part early on (Fritz, weekend dog; Judy, weekend dog then full-time for 4 months (Phoenix beta)) when letting the dog go was not knowing whether the dog would make the cut after completing training and wondering what would happen to the dog….

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More than Just Loving a Dog

Because we see ourselves as dog lovers, we fall in love with the NEADS dog instead of with the work we do. The secret to letting go of the dog is to fall in love with the work, fall in love with the reasons for raising the dog in the first place. Being a dog raiser asks you to rise above average, to turn that love of dogs into a gift that you give away instead of keeping it for yourself.

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The Places They Go

One of the most important jobs a Puppy Raiser has is to help the NEADS dogs feel comfortable in many different situations, around many people. They do this by making sure they have plenty of real-world exposure to different sights, sounds, and people.

But what does that look like day to day? Dana, who has raised two puppies for NEADS and is currently raising her third puppy, shares a few highlights of her puppy raising experience with the two pups she’s raised. What a journey!

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Puppy Love – NEADS Puppy Raisers

When you bring an eight-week-old puppy into your home, it quickly becomes part of your life. You love it, watch it grow, invest time in housebreaking and basic training. And…

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