\n
The decision to volunteer with a guide dog was very significant for me and not an easy one to make: on one hand, I was looking for a meaningful and satisfactory volunteering experience in the community; and on the other hand, I was concerned about a yearlong commitment and the farewell that awaited me in the end of it. Eventually, the desire to contribute overcame everything and I had butterflies in my stomach as soon as I submitted my application. Four months later I received Zoe – a sweet little furry ball that was waiting for me in the organization’s car. What a joy! I had become a father.
\nSo, what is raising a guide dog for me?
\n1. Getting excited every time she learns something new.
\n2. The first nights – lack of sleep and poop in the cage.
\n3. Providing explanations to security guards when entering places.
\n4. Understanding that you need to take your eyes off the screen and focus on giving or receiving love.
\n5. Explaining to strangers that this is dog is female, and not male.
\n6. Picking up poop again.
\n7. No! Bad dog! (Yes… It will happen a lot at first)
\n8. Combing her fur every evening.
\n9. Always keeping an eye on her.
\n10. Listening to people who stop me on the street and tell me the most touching stories about their Labrador dog or the desire to one day have such a dog.
\n11. Refusing people who ask me how much I want for her. lol…
\n12. Getting compliments from strangers when they understand what it takes to raise a guide dog, and my blushing over it every time.
\n13. Seeing after a few months how the tools I acquired in the organization bear fruit and seeing Zoe learn important habits to continue her path.
\n14. Getting to know a community that is a family – other foster families who go through the same process meet for playdates with the dogs.
\n15. Celebrating my dog and her siblings’ one year birthday! Making her a fancy cake and seeing her delighted look of happiness.
\n16. Receiving unconditional love when I’m sad, sick or just want her by my side, because she has become my best friend.
\nAll in all, this is the most significant volunteering experience I have ever had in my entire life, and I am grateful for every moment I was part of the process. I learned a lot, met new friends, including Zoe, and most importantly – I saw at the end of the process how that sweet little furry ball serves the community and contributes every day. I feel pride! \u263a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1537,"template":"","class_list":["post-1539","storie","type-storie","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","story-type-foster-family-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seeingeyes.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/storie\/1539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seeingeyes.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/storie"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seeingeyes.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/storie"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seeingeyes.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seeingeyes.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}