Rehome one of our dogs
Our dogs are bred and trained to work as guide dogs and we’re delighted that 75% of them are successful.
We are always looking for people to provide a loving home for dogs that are not suited to become a guide dog. Dogs can be withdrawn from the training programme or from their role as a guide dog at any stage, and we occasionally look for homes for older dogs who have retired from their role as a guide dog.
Dogs that are not suitable for work make great pet dogs! Some just don’t have the temperament to become a guide dog, some have a health condition that means they are not suited to our type of work and some simply retire. Many of our retired dogs will stay with their owner or a member of their family or friend but this is not always possible.
All our dogs are different; some of them will have a health condition that might involve ongoing treatment, some need to live with a competent dog handler and many are suitable for a wide variety of owners.
Owning a dog is a big emotional and financial commitment. We strongly recommend that people who provide a home for one of our dogs arrange public liability insurance and insurance cover for veterinary treatment.
It’s important to us that our dogs have the best possible home and we need people to meet our essential criteria before we can consider rehoming one of our dogs.
Still interested in providing one of our dogs with a loving home? Carry on reading!
Steps to rehoming a guide dog
- Read the information on this page and check the essential criteria below to ensure that you are eligible to apply to provide a home for one of our dogs.
- Complete the Rehoming Application Form and email or post it to the Guide Dogs Training School that covers your home address. Please contact your local training school if you need this form in a different format.
- One of the team will be in touch if we need further information to support your application. If you haven't heard from us within six months, unfortunately this means we don’t yet have a suitable dog for you and we ask you to either reapply or visit our website for other ways to help.
- One of the team will arrange a telephone interview/home visit with you as soon as we identify a potential dog and we can answer any questions you have about rehoming.
- We will arrange an introduction to the dog after the home visit. The introduction could be at your home or you might be asked to visit your Guide Dog Training School or one of our other offices local to you.
- If the introduction is successful, we will complete the necessary documents, take payment and you will be able to take the dog with you that day.
- One of the team will contact you two weeks later to check that you and your new dog are happy, and to provide any further advice and support.
Sending in your application
You need to email or post your rehoming application form to your local Guide Dogs training school. Take a look to see which school is nearest to you.
Atherton
atherton.rehoming@guidedogs.org.uk
Forfar
forfar.rehoming@guidedogs.org.uk
Redbrige
redbridge.rehoming@guidedogs.org.uk
Leamington
leamington.rehoming@guidedogs.org.uk
Essential criteria
It is very important that you meet our essential criteria listed below to ensure you can provide the best possible home for one of our dogs like Forbes.
- I am over 18 years-old
- I don’t work full time and will not leave my dog alone for periods of more than four hours in any 24-hour period without human company (we prefer that our dogs stay with one owner/family and are not shared between different handlers, e.g. dog walkers)
- If I live in rented, housing association or council owned property I have, or can, obtain permission to have a dog from my landlord or agent prior to a home visit (please note that we are unable to rehome a dog without this)
- I will be responsible for all costs in relation to my dog (including food, annual vaccinations, worming and flea prevention)
- I have access to a safe enclosed area in which my dog can toilet
- I have no more than two other pet dogs
At Guide Dogs we believe pet insurance is an important part of responsible pet ownership, whether it is for your retired guide dog or any other pet you own. We have partnered with Petplan so that all our retired guide dogs receive 4 weeks’ free insurance when they go to their new homes.
What’s more, receive a 10% discount on Petplan insurance for your own pets.
