The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association
Puppy Development Advisor
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Pawsome Careers - Make Every Day Meaningful
Come and join us as a proactive and purpose-led Puppy Development Advisor and be part of something life-changing - helping people with sight loss live the life they choose.
As a Puppy Development Advisor at Guide Dogs, you’ll deliver high-quality training and ongoing support to volunteers responsible for the care and development of Guide Dogs puppies, ensuring all activities align with positive reinforcement techniques and the Puppy Raising programme. The Puppy Development Advisor will bring practical, hands-on expertise in canine behaviour modification, positive reinforcement, or dog training, alongside experience of coaching and training individuals and groups in both practical skills and theoretical knowledge. Our Puppy Development Advisors play a huge part in ensuring everything we do enables us to deliver on our purpose and exceed expectations.
This position requires travel throughout South London, Surrey and North Sussex, which will generally take place across four days each week. The remaining day will typically be dedicated to administrative duties and can be worked from home or from a Guide Dogs office. You will work 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm. Some flexibility is required to occasionally work outside of core hours.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage and support volunteers within allocated schemes, supporting recruitment and providing training, coaching, and performance support to ensure high standards of puppy care and development
- Identify and develop lead and key volunteers to strengthen local and regional support networks
- Enable volunteer progression by building knowledge and skills in puppy development and care
- Maintain effective contingency plans by developing and sustaining strong volunteer programmes
- Ensure a consistent supply of well-prepared, healthy puppies for Canine Services
- Deliver engaging and face-to-face and virtual training, including 1-1 visits, classes, and group sessions
- Match puppies to volunteers to achieve the best possible outcomes
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You
You’ll have a practical, hands-on and collaborative approach to delivering coaching, training, and supporting puppy development using positive reinforcement techniques. You’ll enjoy working both independently and as part of a team in a varied, field-based environment, with a dedicated focus on developing volunteers and ensuring high standards of puppy care and training, whilst being committed to animal welfare and achieving the best outcomes for future guide dogs. You’ll be able to prioritise a busy and varied workload and act with integrity and honesty in everything you do.
Skills and Competencies
- GCSE’s in Maths and English at grade C or above; or equivalent (QCF level 2 / SQCF level 5).
- Practical, hands-on experience within the field of canine behaviour modification, positive reinforcement or dog training as a practitioner.
- Experience of coaching and training individuals and groups of people in practical skills and theoretical knowledge.
- Experience of effective planning, prioritising and organising workload.
- Able to demonstrate knowledge of the application of animal behaviour and positive reinforcement training.
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Benefits
We wouldn’t be able to change the lives of people with sight loss without our people. That’s why it’s important for us to provide a variety of benefits that reward our colleagues in a way that suits them and recognises the hard work and contribution that they make.
- 26 days annual leave. After three years of continuous employment, this increases to 28 days plus bank holidays.
- Real Living Wage Employer
- Flex pot - equal to a proportion of your annual salary to use on our wide variety of flexible benefits
- The option to buy and sell annual leave
- Discounts and cash-back scheme
- Excellent pension scheme (We will match your pension contributions plus 2% up to a maximum of 9% employer contribution)
- And lots more!
For high volumes of applications, we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than advertised.
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