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Original poster

Withdrawn guide dog leaving their fosterer to go and live in their forever home

85 replies

lovenotwar149 · 28/03/2025 20:05

So I have been a trainer fosterer for a guide dog that got withdrawn quite recently on health grounds. I am now his respite fosterer and he is with me F/T as he is not in training anymore. A home has been found for him and its looking likely that he will/may leave me in 2 wks. This may of course change.
He has lived with me and I have looked after him since Oct '24, a strong bond has formed.
I wanted to ask if anyone has been in my situation? I want to know how/if I will feature in his life after me? Do I get to meet the new owners? Can I pass on my details etc Can I offer , if they live nearly, to have him if they plan a holiday away etc.
I also want to suggest that a 'transition' occurs. i.e. can the new owners have him just for an afternoon to start with , or perhaps for just 1 night while he is still living with me. Im pretty sure my dog is going to be upset at going from seeing me all day everyday to not seeing me at all and to be with complete strangers!? Seems harsh not to have some transition period for the dog. How potentially unsettling for him.
Of course I will be finding this out from the GD assoc , but the rehoming officer is away atm,so I thought I would ask on here and see if anyone has any personal experience of this. Many thanks :)

OP posts:
Original poster
lovenotwar149 · 10/04/2025 06:28

Twiglets1

I hope you do hear from them shortly. I think they will be able to tell from your message that he is well loved and you would appreciate an update just for peace of mind.

I did hear from them (I think its just a 'him' actually). I received a text and a heartfelt message last night. Dog and him were getting on great and he even mentioned chatting over the w/e. Wow! Quite a pleasant surprise indeed. He was most appreciative of my card/notes/toys that I sent as well as being so complimentary about the dog. WOW WOW WOW. Couldn't have gone better. I slept soundly and very peacefully. Brought a HUGE smile to my face indeed, hope you are smiling too! :)

OP posts:
Twiglets1 · 10/04/2025 06:34

lovenotwar149 · 10/04/2025 06:28

Twiglets1

I hope you do hear from them shortly. I think they will be able to tell from your message that he is well loved and you would appreciate an update just for peace of mind.

I did hear from them (I think its just a 'him' actually). I received a text and a heartfelt message last night. Dog and him were getting on great and he even mentioned chatting over the w/e. Wow! Quite a pleasant surprise indeed. He was most appreciative of my card/notes/toys that I sent as well as being so complimentary about the dog. WOW WOW WOW. Couldn't have gone better. I slept soundly and very peacefully. Brought a HUGE smile to my face indeed, hope you are smiling too! :)

I’m so happy for you, that bought a big smile to my face!

He is going to look after your boy brilliantly and give him a lovely new home. That’s the best update ❤️

FlatWhiteExtraHot · 10/04/2025 06:54

Azandme · 28/03/2025 20:33

He's not a "child", and you are not his "mum". He's a dog you looked after for a while.

He will be fine. Dogs live in the present. His new home will have been assessed, and they will love him, and care for him and he'll have a great life.

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Does it make you feel special to purposely come on a thread to kick someone when they are down?

Vibgyor · 10/04/2025 07:06

I’m please to hear your lovely update OP.

Also thank you as your thread had reminded me to send a video and some photos to our boy’s puppy raisers soon (I do it fairly regularly but he is looking rather magnificent in this Spring sunshine so will look even more handsome than usual).

MyOtherProfile · 10/04/2025 07:12

Well done OP. You've done a great thing. We have friends who have been in a similar situation and they still get little photos and updates so maybe you will too.

jambunny · 18/04/2025 15:50

AnyoneWhoHasAHeart · 29/03/2025 07:13

TBH OP even if the dog had gone on to be a guide dog you may never have had any contact with it again.

Guide dogs will pick up the dog and it would then be dropped off with the person whose guide dog it will become. There is a one night when it goes to the new owner’s home, but that’s part of the matching process, not part of the settling in process.

If a dog qualifies as a guide dog you would be told that it’s qualified and after that it would be down to the owner as to whether they wanted contact. And tbh most don’t, although many choose to make contact with their puppy raisers. So in that sense the boarders get a bit of a rough deal.

In the case of rehoming, the dog is signed over to the rehomers, and will be their dog from then on.

And tbh dogs are a lot more resilient than we think. As long as they’re well loved, fed and walked that bond moves pretty quickly to their new owner.

FWIW I met up with my dog’s puppy raiser and he didn’t even appear to recognise her.

That would be very unusual if he didn’t recognise her - I’ve raised guide dog puppies and every one of them has gone bananas on seeing me, even several years later!
I’ve been very fortunate to be contacted for most of them, sadly the person who had the last pup hasn’t been in touch. It really hurts when we put so much into it.

AnyoneWhoHasAHeart · 20/04/2025 09:31

jambunny · 18/04/2025 15:50

That would be very unusual if he didn’t recognise her - I’ve raised guide dog puppies and every one of them has gone bananas on seeing me, even several years later!
I’ve been very fortunate to be contacted for most of them, sadly the person who had the last pup hasn’t been in touch. It really hurts when we put so much into it.

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Tbh I would have thought that he would because he’s very demonstrative. He’s always very excited to see his trainer even four years on, but when I met up with his puppy raiser he didn’t respond to her at all, and the trainer said he didn’t when they went for a walk before he qualified.

Original poster
lovenotwar149 · 04/05/2025 08:40

FYI - I went to visit him in his new home town y'day. The owner who has messaged/sent pics since he left us on the 9th April , invited us to a 'Make every cuppa count' guide dog event. We went along and it was just lovely. The owner has been very warm and welcoming to us which is lovely and 'his' dog is clearly well adjusted now.
There was clear recognition from him to both myself and my husband which was nice to see, wagging tail , lots of licking...lol, yet what was also very clear was that he also knew who his owner was now. They were already a team now , I could see it clearly. (It hurt a very little bit...my issue I know!)
I have now realised the attachment was MINE , all mine. a hard truth to see but a truth nevertheless. I will work on this.

OP posts:
EmpressaurusKitty · 04/05/2025 09:28

But he was still clearly very happy to see you!

Twiglets1 · 04/05/2025 10:04

Thank you so much for the update @lovenotwar149

I’m relieved the dog is ok. You will be too ❤️

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