Puppy Programme: Raising Hero Dogs

Veterans With Dogs puppy in socialising phase

Careful Selection & Socialising

We carefully select puppies from initial breeding for their health, temperament, and potential as future assistance dogs. At 7–8 weeks old, each puppy is placed with a volunteer puppy socialiser, who welcomes them into their home for 12–18 months.

Our puppy socialisers are responsible for the puppy’s wellbeing, including routine health checks, keeping them at a healthy weight, and regular grooming. Socialisers attend ongoing training classes to help each puppy develop the skills they’ll need in new and challenging environments.

Puppy learning assistance foundation skills

Foundations for Assistance

For the first 6 months, socialisers focus on providing routine and consistency—essential for house training, being left alone, and core behaviours. Puppies experience time around many different people and animals, and visit a variety of environments to build confidence.

From 6 months onwards, emphasis shifts to ‘real‑life’ scenarios: learning to come back when called in the park and to settle in busier spaces like cafés.

Growing Confident, Adaptable Hero Dogs

Veterans With Dogs puppy training hero dogs

After leaving the litter, each puppy’s needs change. They begin to adapt to the wider world, building confidence through new experiences that shape their future as assistance dogs. Every puppy is unique, and the impact of our socialisers during this phase is invaluable.

Meeting and greeting people in a calm and controlled way is a vital skill. Out in public, our VWD puppies and their socialisers encounter many new faces—always under control and with positive interactions. Polite behaviour and public manners are reinforced at every opportunity.

Assistance dogs must be able to travel and adjust to unfamiliar places and people. That’s why frequent visits to various locations, meeting different animals and people, are central to the puppy socialisation process.

Our socialisers are crucial for guiding these early interactions and experiences. While puppy socialising is fun, it is a vital part of the learning these future Hero Dogs go through.

Be Part of the Journey

By supporting our Puppy Programme, you help raise the next generation of assistance dogs for veterans. Whether you’d like to sponsor a puppy, become a puppy socialiser, or simply donate to give a puppy the best start, your help means everything.

Sponsor a Puppy Volunteer as a Puppy Socialiser Donate Now