Alberta Guide Dogs partnered up with Kayben Farms again Wednesday morning.

The organization was on site performing obedience training and is looking to add to their roster of puppy raisers.

Sandra Cramer, puppy training supervisor with Alberta Guide Dogs, says the biggest characteristic they look for in individuals is commitment.

"They don't have to have any dog training experience, we guide them through that, so the biggest things are their willingness to really commit to the program and having the time to do it. For our particular program it's best suited for people who don't work or who have a very flexible, part time, or work from home type job."

Puppy raisers have their guide dog from when they're five months old until they're a year and a half old.

Cramer says the most common question she gets asked is how the volunteers give up the dogs at the end of their training.

"It's hard, there's no way around it. You spend a lot of time with the dogs, all of your time, energy, love, commitment, but you are changing someone's life and for our volunteers that is so rewarding that is worth everything they do for their dogs."

Alberta Guide Dogs is also looking for what they call Very Special Placement families who are looking for a pet and are interested in owning a dog. VSP families are those who have a family member with special needs.

These families have an opportunity to own a dog that didn't graduate as a service dog for one reason or another but have been through all the training.

Cramer says these dogs make great family pets and provide all the therapeutic benefits of a service dog except they don't have public access.

For VSP family information and more on becoming a puppy raiser click here.

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