{"id":16980,"date":"2024-11-04T13:47:05","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T18:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/?p=16980"},"modified":"2024-11-04T13:47:05","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T18:47:05","slug":"uris-puppy-raisers-club-teaches-students-the-process-of-training-service-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/news\/uris-puppy-raisers-club-teaches-students-the-process-of-training-service-dogs\/","title":{"rendered":"URI\u2019s Puppy Raisers Club teaches students the  process of training service dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">KINGSTON, RI \u2013 November 4, 2024 \u2013 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Service dogs offer assistance to individuals limited by mobility or medical issues, providing them with medical alerts, mental health support, companionship, and emotional comfort. URI\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/events.uri.edu\/group\/uri_puppy_raisers_club\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Puppy Raiser Club<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> gives students the opportunity to work with future guide dogs and learn the process behind training to be of service.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Based in New York, <\/span><a style=\"font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guidingeyes.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guiding Eyes for the Blind<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is a nonprofit organization that works closely with the Puppy raisers Club. The organization provides guide dogs to the visually impaired free of charge and rely on volunteers and donations to fulfill their mission.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Led by president Kevin Buretta, students work with current dogs Chip, Fabien and Unity on the correct ways to handle the future guide dogs. Buretta is a senior biology major at URI, currently raising Chip. Buretta has been raising Chip for over a year and is in the final stages of preparing him for his In-For-Training (IFT).<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16982\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16982\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-16982 \" src=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1132\/pup-v1-web.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1132\/pup-v1-web.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1132\/pup-v1-web-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1132\/pup-v1-web-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1132\/pup-v1-web-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1132\/pup-v1-web-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1132\/pup-v1-web-364x364.jpg 364w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1132\/pup-v1-web-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1132\/pup-v1-web-1000x1000.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16982\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chip, 1.5 years old, who be going into his formal training soon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once the dog is 14 to 18 months old, they will go in for IFT. It is during this formal training where it is determined whether the dog is to become a guide dog or be dismissed from their service. Once a dog passes their IFT, they begin the process of being matched. This is determined based on both the dog and the person\u2019s personality, pace and preference.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To be able to sit for and raise a future guide dog, students must become certified. The first step in becoming certified is to attend a one hour information session, hosted by Regional Puppy Instructor <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/maureen-hollis-96552276\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maureen Hollis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Students are then required to fill out a release form, allowing Guiding Eyes to contact references and conduct a criminal background check.Training to become a sitter and a raiser are the same, but URI students cannot raise a future guide dog until they live off campus.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px;font-weight: 400\">Learn more about how you can get involved <a href=\"https:\/\/events.uri.edu\/group\/uri_puppy_raisers_club\">here<\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/span><i style=\"font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif;font-size: 20px\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This article was written by Erin Malinn, class of 2028.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guiding Eyes for the Blind lends service dogs in-training to the club to raise and train until they are prepared for formal training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5153,"featured_media":16981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16980"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16986,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16980\/revisions\/16986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}