Guide Dog Foundation For The Blind Inc

Breeding and puppy program -during fy 2024, the foundation supported 101 dogs in the breeding colony. The breeding colony is carefully selected after extensive screening and testing. During fy 2024, 292 puppies were added to the programs of the guide dog foundation and america's vetdogs. Puppies spend seven to eight weeks in our puppy nursery. From the nursery they spend approximately one year in the home of a volunteer puppy raiser or prison puppy program before coming back to the organization for formal training. During fy 2024 a total of 325 puppies were placed. 219 puppies were placed in puppy raiser homes and 106 puppies participated in our prison puppy program. The organization currently supports puppy raisers in nearly 20 states and has agrements with 14 prisons throughout massachusetts, maryland, florida, connecticut, maine and pennsylvania. During the time the puppies are in puppy raiser homes, we support the volunteer family through constant outreach, communication and training. We bring our volunteer regional puppy raiser coordinators on campus for training and support that they can share with their local regionally based puppy raising families. The professional puppy staff supports our puppy raising volunteers and our staff typically visits each prison weekly to follow up and train the inmate handlers who are carefully screened to insure they are suitable candidates to participate in this program.

Student and graduate services -during fy 2024, the guide dog foundation graduated 24 guide dog teams. In addition, america's vetdogs - graduated 3 guide dog teams, 41 ptsd/service dog teams, 35 service dog teams, and also placed 10 facility dogs. Four at brook army medical center, one at naval history and hertage command, one at nyc langone, one at polytrauma transitional rehabilitation program, two at walter reed army medical center, and one ambassador facility dog. Our students come from all over the u.s. As well as outside the u.s. Each consumer's needs are evaluated, and if possible a dog is trained to meet those needs. Some of the disabilities served include: physically disabled, prosthetic limb recipients, traumatic brain injuries, profound hearing loss and those with a primary diagnosis of ptsd. In addition to the tasks, the dogs are trained to mitigate a person's disability. Service dogs also provide comfort and provide re-socialization assistance for our veterans. Students typically stay on campus for approximately two weeks in the student residence which can accommodate up to 17 students at a time. Each student has a private room with private bath. The residence is staffed 24 hours per day. All meals are provided. Students can also receive home training, where the foundation sends a certified instructor to the student's home community.

Public education - public outreach and education are important parts of the mission of guide dog foundation for the blind. The foundation partnered with the new york islanders to raise guide dog monte and demonstrated various skills a guide dog can provide. This past year, three issues of the guideway were distributed to over 43,000 recipients. The guideway is the official newsletter to educate the public about guide dogs, guide dog etiquette, and disability issues. Organization graduates, puppy raisers and caretakers went on over 95 speaking engagements off campus and each one typically has an audience of 30 or more people. The guide dog foundation has embraced social media as a means to reach our supporters efficiently and effectively. We currently have nearly 42,200 likes on facebook and over 5,000 followers on twitter. Additionally, we have another 87,000 followers through youtube, linkedin and instagram.