A) All dogs under the care of the organisation must be housed and cared for appropriately.

1. Purpose-built kennels designed to meet guide dog stock requirements:  

  • Kennels must meet the standards for IGDF if your organisation wishes to pursue membership and/or the standard regulations for dog care in your country (whichever is the higher).  
  • Appropriate minimum staffing levels must be established and adhered to, e.g. staff to dog ratio in kennels of 1:20 to ensure adequate care and attention. 

2. Reputable boarding kennels that meet standards. 

3. Temporary or emergency volunteer care homes should provide care and welfare for dogs in your programme for the required amount of time. Dogs in training may be housed with volunteer families. Consider that you will need to train the dogs every workday. You must establish a way of making the dog available for training (e.g. volunteers giving access to their home to the Guide Dog Trainers to pick up the dog as required; or the volunteers bringing the dog to your offices on daily basis and similar). When establishing this form of boarding for your dogs, you should follow the same steps as for establishing a puppy raising programme. 


B) Female dogs with a litter of puppies need housing appropriate for whelping.

Separation from other dogs and potential infections must be provided. Appropriate temperatures must be maintained and socialisation and exercise for growing puppies must be available. The housing can be in a specially designed kennel or in families, willing and able to provide appropriate care and socialization.  

 

Information and examples of kennel design including breeding, veterinary clinic, hospital and isolation facilities may be acquired through the IGDF and its members 

 Refer to IGDF Standards 4 Breeding & Dog Supply, 6 Dog Health & Welfare, and 7 Kennels & Facilities. 

 

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Section 8. Guide Dog assessment and training