A new cohort of four-legged heroes got to enjoy their Guide Dogs’ Graduation recently. Now, they’re well on their way to helping humans who need them most.
Johannesburg, South Africa (10 April 2025) — As many human graduates across the country gear up to walk across the stage and earn their degrees, another group of South Africans are also celebrating their robe and cap moments—the new cohort of South African Guide Dogs. The Guide Dogs’ graduation is not only a big deal for the dogs that made the hero’s cut, but also to those who raised them and those who will benefit a great deal from their helping paws.
For those who don’t know, becoming a Guide Dog isn’t as simple as raising your paw and volunteering. It’s an entire process that begins when the dogs are just little pups.
Through the South African Guide-Dogs Association for the Blind’s Puppy Raising Programme, the pups are raised by their first human parents for 16-18 months.
As the dogs grow, they get to take part in different training sessions, which the puppy raisers take them to.
When the time for formal training comes, the dynamic shifts again as weekdays are spent training while weekends and holidays see the raisers welcome their dogs back home.
Only once the formal training is complete do the raisers prepare themselves for the big goodbyes. And when graduation day comes, you can bet your bottom dollar that there are many emotions to go around!
While the dogs look dashing in their version of robe and cap (harnesses) as grown-up pups, puppy raisers often fight tears remembering their four-legged friend as the helpless ball of fluff they once were.
But the role they play in helping humans who need it is essential (the dogs are matched with new humans and become guide, service or Autism support dogs), and so the raisers also get to pat themselves on the back in knowing they brought up a hero.
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