Sponsor a Puppy FAQs

Simply visit our Sponsor a Puppy page, select one or both puppies available to sponsor, and complete your details online. You’ll then join the joyful journey as a puppy grows up to be a guide dog, service dog, or skilled companion dog that transforms a life.

You can also call 1-800-833-9138, to complete your sponsorship over the phone, or download a printable form and mail it to:

Southeastern Guide Dogs, 4210 77^th Street East, Palmetto, FL 34221

Your sponsorship contribution creates extraordinary dogs that transform lives. Your support helps provide guide dogs for people with vision loss, service dogs for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and other disabilities, and skilled companion dogs for children with significant challenges such as vision loss or the loss of a parent in the military. Southeastern Guide Dogs receives no government funding, and instead relies 100% on donations from generous people like you.

Around two years. You will follow your puppy’s journey from puppy preschool and kindergarten, to their puppy raiser’s home, to Canine University for training, and on to their final placement as a guide dog, service dog, or other potential placement. Your final Pupdate introduces you to your dog’s new handler.

But your story doesn’t end there—the good news is that in your final Pupdate, we’ll introduce you to another adorable puppy and give you the option to continue your joyful journey of puppy-love. Every puppy counts, and every sponsorship transforms lives for people who could really use a helping paw.

When your sponsorship finishes and your puppy’s young journey comes to completion with its new owner, we’ll include in your final Pupdate an introduction to another sweet puppy. Sponsorships that are paid monthly will automatically roll over to a new puppy, and you won’t need to contact us to continue making a difference. For those who purchased the sponsorship as a gift for another recipient and made a single, one-time payment, you will receive a final Pupdate and will have the opportunity to renew at that time.

The cost to breed, raise, and train a guide dog or service dog is tens of thousands of dollars. By sharing a puppy sponsorship with other people, you’ll share the journey with likeminded, caring people who together can fund this puppy’s training. It’s like your puppy shares a big family!

No, as each puppy must focus on its training so it can fulfill its destiny to change someone’s life. We’ll keep you informed of your pup’s progress with photos and Pupdates.

Southeastern Guide Dogs breeds, raises, and trains our guide and service dogs, and then follows up with our alumni teams for the life of the team. The lifetime cost reaches tens of thousands of dollars.

Sponsorships are made by a monthly donation, either through a credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express) or through bank draft directly from a checking account. You can enter your payment details when you set up your sponsorship on our Sponsor a Puppy page.

Circumstances can change and we hate to see you go! You can cancel your monthly sponsorship donation at any time by emailing pupsponsor@guidedogs.org or calling 941-803-7556.

To update your contact information, email pupsponsor@guidedogs.org or call 941-803-7556.

To watch a short video showing the phases of training, click here. Or, read on.

Because of our community of supporters, we operate the most advanced training facilities of any service dog organization in the world. It takes two years to raise and train each dog, and we combine art and science to create the healthiest, smartest dogs through our data-driven genetics and reproduction program. We start training our puppies when they are just days old, and at 10 weeks, the second phase of training begins as we send our puppies home with volunteer puppy raisers to learn basic obedience, house manners, and socialization.

At Canine University, our dogs begin college-level training with certified trainers to learn advanced skills for their future careers. Before they graduate, guide dogs learn over 40 commands and service dogs learn about 15 to 20 commands. Some dogs enroll into careers in our special programs for veterans and children, because here, every dog makes a difference.

Here at Southeastern Guide Dogs, every dog counts and we have several career opportunities for our dogs. Not every dog has the temperament, confidence, and decision-making skills to become a guide dog or a service dog. Our trainers and animal behavior experts like to say that each dog “chooses” its career by showing us its preferences and abilities through assessments and training.

Dogs that are not suited for any of our programs may be adopted through our public adoption program. If a sponsored puppy is adopted, you will receive a Pupdate explaining the dog’s placement. Then we will introduce you to another cute puppy at a similar stage so that you can continue to finish the journey. 

No. When a guide dog is out of harness or a service dog is out of its coat, they behave like a regular pet. Working is reserved for those times when the handler needs assistance out in public. On average, our guide dogs retire after about eight years and often stay with their owner or a family member as a pet.

We breed, raise, and train Labradors, golden retrievers, and a cross between the two called a goldador. We’ve chosen these breeds for their intelligence, trainability, temperament, and health.

Our puppies are named by donors who choose names for unique reasons. Puppies may be named after a beloved pet, in memory of a family member, after a business, or just for fun. Anyone can name a puppy for a donation of $5,000. Visit www.guidedogs.org/nameapuppy to find out more.

*Please note, this puppy naming opportunity does not apply to the Sponsor a Puppy program.