Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hepner with my co-host Leslie Hoskins in Timothy Kyo. So I think it's time to give a little bit of an update so the people have been asked, I know, thank Christina know wedding planning. 'cause we announced that I was engaged and we went full steam ahead.
Yeah, like we're getting married October of this year, and so we have all of our vendors. I found my dress. Uh, and we've started doing the registry and all that fun stuff. It's, it's a part-time job planning a wedding. . I did not expect that, but Johnny and I are both like, what are we gonna do after the wedding?
Yeah. So the wedding
Leslie: blues are real. Yeah. I feel like after it's all about you for like a whole year or more and you've got all these parties and events and everything, and then afterwards you're like, what now? Yeah, it's crazy.
Timothy: Enjoy your year. Army.
Christina: Yeah, we definitely are. It's been a lot of fun. We're [00:01:00] having a lot of fun with everything and we went to like a registry event, which was fun.
Um, 'cause we actually got to go and like scan things and be like, Ooh, we like that . And then of course there were things that like, I can't wait to look at that . We. There were things on there. We ended up taking some stuff off 'cause Johnny got really excited about some things and then I did too. And I was like, Ooh, we want one of those.
And then we got home and we're like, where are we gonna put that? Yeah. Like if someone bought that
Leslie: for us, where are we gonna put it? So it's crazy to me how much weddings have changed since I got married. Like all the stuff that you're doing is so exciting and fun and all these different tastings and the, the cups and the specialty drinks and like.
So many things. It's, it's really fun to be a part of and get to listen.
Timothy: If you need to volunteer for the tasting, I'll come.
Leslie: Yeah. . Yeah.
Christina: I know we have our tasting coming up, so, um, that's gonna be fun to like pick that menu. Yeah. I, but I didn't realize like all the menus that you pick, like all the things you pick and taste and.
Yeah, it's
Leslie: like building a house. I feel like. Yeah, you have to pick [00:02:00] the light switches and all like there's so many details. Yeah, it's too, it's overwhelming.
Christina: Yeah. I think the hardest part was like nailing down all of our vendors. Once we got them all booked, we were good, but that was the hardest part of like.
There's so many vendors for so many different things. How do you choose? We need to start a wedding podcast. Yeah. Um, honestly, about that next thing, yeah. I think I could be a pro after this of like, these are things to avoid. These are things to like, there you
Leslie: go. See?
Christina: Yeah. But you don't know what you don't know.
You know?
Leslie: Yeah. Well, that's the update people have been asking. Yeah. So we wanted to make sure we gave a little bit of an update on all the things Christina's got going on, which has been very fun and exciting. It's going quickly on my end. I don't know.
Christina: You're really . Yeah. No, it's flying. I mean, it's flying by and, uh, it's exciting.
We're just trying to take it all in. Yeah. Timothy,
Leslie: what about you? Where have you been? What have you done? Um,
Timothy: I just got back, uh, recently from, uh, uh, uh, Lubbock, Texas for the, uh, two . Two T two Club district, and I wanna [00:03:00] give a shout out to Cynthia and her husband Raul and her guide dog. Quarterback was a pleasure.
Oh, I
Leslie: like that.
Timothy: She listens to the podcast a lot. So, uh, hello Cynthia.
Christina: That's so cool. Um, I love that guy. Dog name. Yeah. Quarterback.
Timothy: Great. It was a, it was a rough trip to Dallas. Oh. Dallas is a mess at that airport. Really? Ooh. With the guy dog. Yeah. 'cause we had to go to a, a wave terminal on the other side of the airport and it would took, it took almost an hour to go through that airport.
Christina: Oh wow.
Timothy: So it, uh. Glacier did a real good job and, uh, did her job properly and. , but she was glad to get home. It was a 12 hour, 12 hour trip day.
Leslie: The situations you guys get into, man. Yeah. Well, good thing you guys are a seasoned team.
Timothy: It's a challenge.
Christina: It's a challenge. Yeah. See, I would think you would know every airport now because you travel so much.
You could do an airport podcast. Yeah. .
Timothy: Yeah, I could. It uh, there is differences in the, uh, the pet relieving areas. Some are. [00:04:00] Nice and clean, like the one here in Atlanta. But some of them are really stinky and oh, this is one of those really stinky places, . So yeah, it's, there's a big difference in. So, yeah, I could write and tell everybody.
Somebody can communicate to me, Hey, what's this airport like? I almost tell them
Christina: that. Yeah. Well, we have now two new branch off podcasts. Oh my God. That we might be doing . I'm
Leslie: bringing nothing to the table here. I gotta get involved in something more. You
Christina: can be.
Leslie: A part of them. Okay. You can be the one who asks all the questions.
You see the sidekick. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for that. You're welcome. That's so nice, . Um alright. Right, you too. Well, I'm glad things are going well for both of you. You guys both have so much going on, which is fantastic, and thank you for sharing. Um, but we're gonna jump into it because today's guest has been volunteering with Leader Dog since 2011, and recently stepped into a new volunteer role.
Christina: Sue McDowell has been a client driver and a puppy raiser. She's now a co-counselor for puppy raisers and has stepped into a new role doing outreach [00:05:00] to bring in more volunteer puppy raisers and breeding hosts. She's a former librarian and IT manager and currently coaches girls high school ice hockey.
Timothy: Sue, welcome to the podcast and thank you for being a volunteer for Leader Dog. Can. Can you initially tell us what got you involved with Leader Dog?
Sue: It's pretty exciting to be here. First off, thanks. Thanks to all of you, Timothy. It's great to meet you again. . Um, you know, for me, I. I was aware of guide dogs generally since I was a child.
Um, I actually have a cousin who is deaf and a nextdoor neighbor who is visually impaired. And so I was conceptually aware of how we all perceive the world differently, um, but kind of parked that and didn't necessarily think about it until I was a, getting into them, mature part of my professional career and looking at how I could give back in other ways besides ice hockey.
I've been a, a volunteer ice hockey coach for eons. Um. And I was thinking about other ways that I could give of my time and I realized that I love to drive. And I realized that there was a leader dog for the [00:06:00] blind in Rochester. I actually am in the Bury Ypsilanti area. So it's about a 50 minute, 60 minute drive to get over to campus.
But for those of you who know, the world of ice hockey, 50 or 60 minute drive is kind of nothing . Um, and the volunteer engagement, uh, person who interviewed me was like, are you sure? And I'm like, eh, they do this all the time for hockey. You know, you drive over. An hour for 50 minute game and then back again.
Yeah. Um, and that was my initial activity because I thought I am comfortable driving. I was, I'll put it in quotes, a good driver, , so ideally eligible, and I thought it would be a wonderful way to give back into help. And then I got hooked because, uh, when I first started. Our drivers were either client or dog.
They didn't make a distinction. Mm-hmm . So sometimes we were picking dogs up in various places or we were taking clients with their dogs to and from campus. And then after a few years that split and I became just a client driver. Um, and it didn't really matter to me. 'cause either way it seemed like a really wonderful way to give, give to the organization.
Leslie: That's so interesting. Um, and [00:07:00] so you spent a lot of time with clients, so is that what then motivated you to get involved more with the dog side? Like seeing the impact?
Sue: Yeah, I think, you know, the seminal moment for me was when, um, I picked up a group I was one of, I. Two drivers that picked up a group of 17 clients coming to campus.
Wow. From Spain. Oh my goodness. Um, and you know, we're all pretty world weary when we get off an international flight, but watching those individuals get off the flight and dealing with their luggage, and then we were serving as human guides to get them to the vans and. A combination of nervous and exhausted and just, you know, you're in a new country.
Right. But I also was privileged to be the person who delivered them back to the airport. Yeah. Oh, wow. Um, when they returned. And I have to tell you that the other driver and I, the other driver was a more seasoned driver, and I think he had done this before, was my first time. But to watch all of those individuals with their dogs, with their, uh, translator, interpreter.
Walk through security, deal with security, walk down the concourse, everybody's heads up everybody's shoulders, you know, [00:08:00] relaxed dogs doing exactly what they were supposed to do. Um, I tried to blame it on allergies, but tears were shed 'cause the difference in being able to navigate your world confidently.
Is huge. I mean, it, it's, it's a huge gift. And that was really the point where I thought, wow, this, this is, this is something that will live with me forever. Um, and how do I get involved? Can I ever get involved on the dog side of things? Because I loved driving people back and forth. But to be honest, that was also starting to get a little.
A little tiresome. Sure,
Leslie: yeah, yeah. Ready Almost for like the next challenge kinda. Yeah, yeah,
Sue: yeah. But with puppy raising, you're always, uh, I think when you're on the outside and you're not exactly sure what's gonna be involved, it's always that concern around, uh, not, not so much can I do it. I'd raise dogs myself as personal pets, but.
What was it all gonna mean? Did I have the time? Did I have the access? Yeah. Did I have the places that I might want to take that puppy? And at that particular point in time, I was really engaged in my IT career at University of Michigan, and I was anxious that I wouldn't have been able to, to focus on a puppy.[00:09:00]
In addition to everything else I was doing in my life.
Timothy: Absolutely. So, Sue, if somebody's listened to the podcast for the first time, can you tell what puppy raisers, uh, and, uh, what the, uh, Braden hosts do?
Sue: Sure. So puppy raisers are volunteers who are willing to pick up the puppy from the Leader Dog campus when the puppies are somewhere between eight and 10 weeks old.
Um, and then they raise that puppy. And so that puppy is with them for the next 10 to 15 months. And the idea is that you are keeping that puppy safe. You're working with Leader Dog to make sure that puppy is learning the basics of obedience and good house manners and good socialization as appropriate.
You're giving them sort of experience to the outside world. Uh, and then when that period of time is over, you return to the Leader Dog Campus. We refer to taking your puppy back to Leader Dog University , um, because by then you have a puppy that's, you know, at least a year old, and they go back and they come into intake at Leader Dog.
And then they move on to hopefully become part of a guide dog, uh, instructor's string of training dogs, and eventually, hopefully [00:10:00] matched with a client. On the breeding mom side of things, those absolutely wonderful individuals are willing to take the, the female, uh, dogs that the team has identified as breeding moms.
Uh, they're willing to come to Leader Dog to have those dogs mated when they go into, go into heat. And then they manage the actual who of the puppies. So they make sure that the mom dog is comfortable and that the spaces are safe and that the puppies are born safely. Um, and then they raise those puppies for the first eight weeks and then they return them to leader dogs so that the puppy raisers can pick them up.
So we're really all part of a pretty amazing chain of how that works through Leader Dogs.
Christina: Yes. And so now you have this new role, so you really know what these roles are. So tell us a little bit about this outreach role in recruiting volunteers and what it's been like so far. I know it's a new role.
Sue: It is a new role.
Um, so, so some of this is still getting our feet on the ground in terms of these things. Counselors who work with puppy raisers or volunteers who [00:11:00] work with puppy raisers have training every year. And so last summer at counselor training, uh, Vij, Josie mentioned that they were looking, thinking about it.
They're, they were gonna put a posting up, they were talking about it. And I feel pretty passionately about just spreading the word and spreading the word and making sure that people realize that it's, it's possible this could work for them. You know, how many of us are thinking, yeah, I'll do that someday, but you don't really get that extra little push.
Um. As a counselor, I knew that it goes in cycles Sometimes in our area we have lots of dogs, sometimes we do not, and that's not helpful. It's nice to be able to just be engaged consistently throughout, throughout the period of a year. So I felt pretty, pretty excited about it and said to Vijay, you know, I don't mind public speaking.
I'm happy to go out and spread the word. Um, I like to go to events. I'm from my hockey career. I'm logistically oriented. I like setting things up. What can I do to help? And she said, that sounds like it would be perfect.
Mm-hmm .
Sue: Um, and then since that time we've brought on two other volunteers, uh, Alex Holtshauser and Celia Eaton.
And so the three of us are sort of tasked [00:12:00] with that promotion
Leslie: and it's been a lot of fun. So me as the outreach manager, I also have a group of volunteers who we call our community engagement volunteers, who we've had a Mike Togar on here before to speak about that group. So we've really been collaborating just in the last couple months of getting our groups together, sharing resources, helping each other out at events, making sure all aspects are covered.
So you guys are really focusing though on the puppy raising and the recruiting side of that and bringing people in specifically for those opportunities,
Sue: right? So what we found each, as you both, as you all know, um, there's lots of ways you can volunteer with Leo dog. Mm-hmm . Uh, and what we've found is like really trying to focus on how do, how do we identify where future puppy raisers may be?
Um. How do we communicate with them? How do we share the stories with them? And then kind of in a, a full circle, sort of how do we go back into the organization to make sure that everybody is aware of those processes, right? Yeah. Because ideally, ideally, everybody would be maybe not the perfect subject matter expert in that area, but confident enough to talk about it, uh, in any [00:13:00] situation.
So that's really, you know, we're still getting our feet on the ground. The hope is that we'll be, the volunteers will be offering the information sessions that are coming out quarterly. Those are now going to a hybrid model. So those will be available both for people online and physically at campus, and we'll be coordinating those and presenting that material.
Then we're also looking at events that probably they may have been on Leader Dog's Radar at one point in time, uh, or they may not have been just because of staffing and all the other obligations you have. Yeah. And exploring those, you know, does it make sense to be a presence at certain farmer's markets?
Does it make sense to do tailgates? Does it make sense to do some of these pet expos that come up for us? It feels like as volunteers, we can, with the guidance of the staff at Leader Dog present what we want to present. And just test it. Yeah. And if it makes more sense, then maybe in a future year there's a different effort.
Christina: Yeah. Sue, it is so important for us to have your volunteer role now and your group of people, because really sometimes we don't, as [00:14:00] team members, we are pulled in so many different directions. Mm-hmm . That. We can't focus on that one thing. So volunteers really, really help us out in so many different aspects of the organization to be able to help focus on one thing that maybe we just can't put all of our eggs in that basket at that time.
Um, so you know what, as you've been doing this, is there any like common concerns or questions that you hear from potential people who may want to be puppy raisers or breeding hosts?
Sue: I think they're different. So for puppy raising, of course the number one, the number one piece of feedback we always get is I couldn't possibly give my dog up in 12 months.
Right. If I raise my puppy, I just couldn't possibly do that. We hear that. Yeah. On the breeding hose side, I think the challenge is that, uh, it takes a special family or person to be willing to pay attention to . The necessary guidelines around quarantining because we need our puppies and our breeding moms to be safe.
And then also it takes a special person that's got the house and the place to, to really help and begin a litter of [00:15:00] puppies. Yeah. Not everybody, that's just not everybody's cup of tea. So they're kind of two different cohorts and we're helping to try to isolate out what would be the best way to reach those.
My gut suspicion is that they, they don't respond the same. Mm-hmm . Because they're such different and unique opportunities. Um, but truly with puppy raising, the number one, one we get is that, you know. 12 months later, I have to bring it back.
Christina: Yeah. I mean, as a co puppy raiser myself right now, um, I will say it's gone through phases.
When he is in his little teenager phase, I'm like, please take him back, . But right now he's in a great phase where he is like really learning and he's behaving. And when I bring him. Back home with my two dogs like they play, but it's not like constant where I'm like, oh my gosh, somebody take one of these dogs away for a minute,
So I will say that goes in waves, but what I've always remembered in the back of my head is I, our clients, like I've always put in my head, this dog isn't mine. And if you go into that mindset where this [00:16:00] dog isn't mine and I'm doing something to give this dog to somebody else to make a difference in their lives, I think that has helped me.
And might help other potential puppy raisers as well.
Sue: I agree. I agree. We just had a client dog team come to our local puppy raisers group. Oh, that's fantastic. And we have two individuals who have dogs that are within a month or so of going back and both of them commented that it really helped them reengage in why they were raising this puppy and the potential that this dog still has in their mind, they're thinking, oh, this puppy, it does x well and y poorly.
And we continually kind of, you know, counsel them that . That's not necessarily gonna be consistent when they go back for training. Yeah.
Mm-hmm .
Sue: Um, but they were pretty excited by the end of the end of the meeting. Yeah. Because they really, they remembered again. Right. We all do. We have to keep that mission.
Yeah. Kinda front and central. Yeah. It's
Leslie: important to share that impact. Timothy, what would you have to say to anybody who's maybe like I. Struggling puppy raising and thinking about, oh my gosh, I have to give this puppy back.
Timothy: I can understand why somebody wouldn't want to, but I really appreciate everybody who puts their time and [00:17:00] effort in, in raising these dogs.
Uh, they have another purpose and they understand that. And, and, uh. It's like my puppy raisers. They, they're proud of glacier and what she's doing and all the other dogs that they raised. So I appreciate all my puppy raisers out there who's raising all these dogs. Hey, Sue, can you tell us the requirements for breeding, how far you have to, how close you have to live to the uh, organization?
Of Leader Dog and anybody can raise if I'm correct in the United States.
Sue: That's true. Puppy raisers can be anyone. And the other thing that's kind of cool that I just wanna make sure we include for everybody is that Leader Dog Res fairly recently has changed the model for puppy raising. Mm-hmm . So instead of just one household taking responsibility for the puppy for the entire time, we now have, uh, several new models, one of which is co raising.
So you can, you can now raise with more than one household identified as raisers. I can do co in a, in a second. Um, you can do pass along, which is very popular where sometimes there are puppy raisers who are very interested in the early stages of a puppy, [00:18:00] but get a little overwhelmed when that dog gets a little bigger or a little older.
And we find that there are people that like vice versa. There are people who are not as excited about the itsy bitsy puppies and are looking forward to having a dog that's really got the, the basic groundwork and then they can work with them. And then we have corporate opportunities and campus puppies for some of our college campuses that
Are, uh, have arrangements with leader dogs. So those are pretty cool that there's different, there's different options now for people who might be interested in puppy raising. Um, for breeding mom hosts, if someone's interested in doing that, they have to have fewer than two personal dogs in their house.
Their dogs need to, we need to demonstrate that those dogs are up to date in their vaccinations. Mm-hmm . They need to live within six hours of campus in Rochester Hills, and that's primarily because they're gonna be doing some traveling with their mom, dog. Either when she's in heat and ready to breed, or for the health checkups that the veterinarians do on campus.
And then you're looking at a minimum commitment of about two and a half to three years, because that's about the timeframe in which we get four litters from the mom and [00:19:00] then the the leader dog moms are usually retired. A after that, at that four years of age, they don't go into into breeding anymore at that point.
So people are looking at probably five trips to campus every time the puppy comes or the dog. The breeding mom goes into heat when they're having the puppies. That has to be at home and somebody has to be present. And that isn't, you know, as anybody who's been around to any mammal giving birth, that's not, you don't always know exactly what day and you don't necessarily know exactly what time and you don't know exactly what you're going to be interacting with.
So that's a, you have to be comfortable with ambiguity there. Then, like we said before, they just have to be able to be present and, uh, attending to the puppies when they're in their baby baby puppy stage as they're, as they're maturing into seven, seven week old pups.
Leslie: And these are big ass right, that we're asking of volunteers, and it's incredible that we have so many amazing people willing to do this.
What kind of support can anybody anticipate on the lead or dog side?
Sue: You know, on the breeding mom side, it's fascinating to me because as you can imagine, coming up through driving and [00:20:00] puppy raising and counseling, the breeding host side is a bit newer
for me. Mm-hmm .
Sue: And I've been pretty impressed that we've got, you know, obviously we've got the veterinary care.
Staff. We've got the breeding host staff, we've got people who are focused on supporting anyone who is a breeding mom. And then we've got a very active community of breeding mom mentors. Yeah. So these are families who have done this in the past or, or currently still hosting a breeding mom, and they are phenomenal at reaching out to new parents.
definitely. Um, and making sure that people are, you know, and they'll, and they'll do it at any point, right? They'll do it At any point. If somebody just says, I think I might want to do this, they'll talk to you then. Um, if somebody is saying, I think my dog is going to give birth tomorrow, they'll be there to help them, right?
I mean, they, they share their cell phone numbers. They talk to one another constantly. So I think that is really, really cool in terms with that support for that group. Puppy raising, we go through, I mean, we obviously still have all the on staff support. Mm-hmm . The same thing happens for puppies. Puppy raisers are identified with [00:21:00] counselors, so there are counselors across the, across the country.
That are organizers and coordinators that work with the puppy raisers in their region or in their type, in their setting, um, to make sure that the puppy raisers are successful, that their questions are answered. Many of us have on per in purpose meet in person meetings. Mm-hmm . So that we can just make sure that the razors and the puppies are progressing the way we think they are.
Usually. It's also to make sure that the puppies aren't getting too many treats or too few . There's
Timothy: never enough that ,
Sue: yeah, they're pretty food motivated, but, you know, sometimes that's, you know, I, I always used to laugh with the counselor that I use. When I was a puppy raiser and I used to tease her about the fact that half of the raising was, you were supposed to feed the puppy like a Pez dispenser.
Yeah. So that it would understand positive reinforcement and at the same time you were supposed to keep it from becoming a footstool. Yeah. . Um, and these guys have got very good appetites. Yeah. So, you know, so you've got the counselors that are always available to you. You've got our coordinators, the counselors.
I mean, if we were a, a corporate organization, I always tease and say [00:22:00] the counselors would report to a coordinator. That's not quite the way it works. . Yeah. Um, but that's certainly the way, that's kind of the model that you think of. Um, and then the coordinators are onsite staff and so they're incredibly knowledgeable.
Many of them have raised multiple puppies and have worked in the organization for many, many years. And so they're the go-tos for either the counselors or the raisers.
Christina: Yeah, I think it's so important to talk about those support systems. 'cause not everybody knows it. They think, oh, I'm gonna pick up a dog and then I'm on my own.
Right. So there is so many layers of support systems. And with your new role, do you have any goals for kind of expanding the volunteer network for yourself?
Sue: I mean, for us as recruiters,
Christina: yes.
Sue: Oh, it would be wonderful. I mean, I think one of the untapped markets that we haven't, both counselors and puppy raisers are themselves fantastic recruiters.
Yeah. Right. I mean, one of the things I tease VJ about is nobody wants to come to Sue and talk about puppy raising if Sue doesn't have a puppy. Yeah.
Right. I mean, that's just right.
Sue: You see it, Timothy, right? You have a dog. Everybody suddenly wants. To come and talk to you. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a little hard to generate interest if [00:23:00] you're just a person standing at a table.
It's a little better if you've got a dog there. Yeah. It's even better if you've got one of the little baby puppies there. Mm-hmm . Yes. So I think one of the things that I wanna be mindful that those people who are raising in counseling now are already giving significant volunteer hours, but they are our best spokespeople.
Mm-hmm . Yeah. Because they have . Puppies with them. Um, they're right in the midst of it. Mm-hmm . And nobody can speak better than somebody who's right in the midst of it. Right. So I think trying to find ways that we could open opportunities up for those individuals without overwhelming or encumbering them.
Um, we've talked with you folks as you know about, do we have some of our most current marketing materials available for counselors at the counselor training sessions? And then the counselors in turn can pass that on to raisers who may be interested. Mm-hmm .
Yeah.
Sue: Um, do we have sort of. The popup box of things you might need.
If you want to go to a Girl Scout troop or a a camp group, or you're going to a high school, you know, what, what do you need, um, that are the more tangible items that help you relax and just talk about your experience.
Leslie: Yeah. 'cause anytime you're [00:24:00] talking to a puppy raiser, a breeding host, a volunteer, you hear the sense of community, right?
You hear how connected they are with our organization and our team members, also other volunteers, and you can talk to any puppy raiser and they know. Their puppies, siblings, the mom, the dad, like they can go back generations. They do, I swear of all the litters and stuff and, but everybody's always intertwined or connected.
I spoke to another volunteer the other day and she was telling me just in the lobby that she ran into her dog's, dad's, cousin's, dog. You know what I mean? And I'm like, I, this is wild to me, but everybody is . Somehow connected. Yeah. And it's, it's such a cool bonding thing to know that you're all in this together.
Yeah. And the support that is there is absolutely amazing. So is there anything that you would say right on the spot? Somebody comes up to you and they're thinking like, Hey, I'm thinking about it. What would you say?
Sue: I would say Go for it. Yeah. first. . Um, I would say, I mean, so I try to engage with 'em around.
So what, you know, you're thinking about it. [00:25:00] What, what are you thinking? Yeah. What, what's the thing that keeps you from signing up? . Right. And people have very different reasons. Mm-hmm . Um, some we've already covered, some are very specific. And so then it's very helpful just to listen to people talk and, and say, you know, people will say, well, do I have to bring it to work every day with me?
Or, you know, I'm a really busy mom with a busy family and I'm not sure how this interacts. Um, or I travel three times a year and it's very important to me to travel and traveling with my puppy feels overwhelming. Sure. All of those things, that person, . That person is special and that person is individual.
But many of those conditions have come up before. Yeah. Right. So there's answers for all of those. Um, . That I think people just don't know what they don't know, right? They're insecure about going into that space and they wanna make sure that that space is gonna be covered and supported by Leader Dogs.
And it will. It will be.
Leslie: So what's the first place they should go? What should I'm thinking about it. What should I do next?
Sue: So you can actually go to the leader dog.org. There is, there are pages, [00:26:00] individual pages. One for raising a puppy, one for breeding, a breeding host. You can go there, you can either sign up for one of the information sessions, so if you have additional questions or you just are still kind of very tentative, you're welcome to attend those.
Like I said, those are both on campus. The on campus component, uh, includes a tour of the campus. Um, you can attend virtually if you're not locally in that space or it's not convenient for you to come. And then there's also the application form. Mm-hmm. That's right there on the website. Applying is a process.
Mm-hmm . So just putting your application in doesn't necessarily mean Checkmark puppy shows up on the door the next day. So people should know that and know that they've got some time. Mm-hmm . They can fill out the application. That application moves more quickly if they already have, if they have dogs already and they've got those vaccination records, they can submit those and that moves that application process more quickly.
If they are looking for any puppy, that process moves more quickly because we have fundraisers who are very specific. I want a black lab, I want a male black lab. Right? Sure. Um, and sometimes that matchup just doesn't happen in any given [00:27:00] breeding season just because of genetics and mm-hmm . Life. The application goes to our volunteer engagement team.
The volunteer engagement team will reach out and speak with the applicant, you know, so there's a little bit of a back and forth on that before the applicant is approved. And then it moves on to Ashley Hughes's desk and she's our puppy coordinator. So she's the person who actually makes the conversation between an applicant volunteering and a new puppy that might be coming in that makes sense for them to begin to raise.
So a little bit of time. Yeah. It sounds longer. Am I talking it through than it probably is. Yeah. But it is, it is one of those things where the application's not particularly difficult and people should know that they still can keep processing and they still can keep asking questions. Yeah, absolutely.
You put that application in. There are more many of us that are happy to talk to people and I think the other thing that you speak of people being proud and knowing everything, I'm always proud of the transparency. Our raisers and coordinators and staff and, and everyone have, we're not trying to sell it to someone who's really not gonna be successful.
Right. That's
Leslie: not a win for us. No. Right.
Sue: [00:28:00] We want the person and their puppy to be successful. Yes. Absolutely.
Leslie: Well, thank you so much, Sue, for joining us today and sharing about this new role and all the exciting things that are happening with puppy raising and breeding.
Sue: Thank you. I'm very excited to have been asked.
Leslie: And thank you to our listeners for listening to the Taking the Lead podcast. I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy Kyo and Christina Hepner. We hope you enjoyed learning about Sue and her new volunteer role here at Leader Dog. Please join us next time as we continue to dive into the world of blindness.
If
Christina: you'd like to learn more about applying to our free services, or to be a puppy raiser, a breeding host, you can head to leader dog.org or call us at (888) 777-5332. Don't forget, you can reach us at taking the lead@leaderdog.org with any questions or ideas. If you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever podcast Stream.