Guide dog puppies taken for spooky days out in London to help training
Guide Dogs are preparing their puppies for Halloween by taking them to different spooky places
Last updated 24th Oct 2024
Sight loss charity Guide Dogs is preparing puppies for Halloween by taking them on spooky days out around London and beyond!
The London Dungeon, Blackpool Tower Dungeon, Edinburgh Dungeon, and Warwick Castle are opening their doors this month to guide dog puppies for a special socialisation event.
Whilst it's good for the pups to get used to the spooky atmosphere at this time of year; these venues, all known for immersing visitors in spooky and scary histories did have to tone down the scare-factor!
To accommodate their canine visitors, the scary atmosphere was toned down, and the exhibitions carefully pared back to create a more dog-friendly environment.
The idea behind the sessions was to provide a safe and fun training experience for the guide dogs to build confidence ahead of their first Halloween.
Accompanied by their volunteer puppy raisers, who care for them during the first year of their lives, the puppies explored the specially customised exhibits; meeting actors in costumes, experiencing strange sounds and smells and encountering spooky scenes, objects and decorations.
The experiences at the Dungeons were carefully designed to familiarise the puppies with the sometimes unpredictable and strange environments that Halloween brings, in an effort to make their first Halloween a positive, fright-free experience.
Guide dog puppies undergo early socialisation before entering a six-month advanced training programme. If successful, they go on to become assistance dogs, helping people with sight loss lead independent, active lives.