Little pups have a big job ahead

They may be small, but these six-week-old pups are set to make a huge difference.

They may be small, but these six-week-old pups are set to make a huge difference in the lives of vision impaired Queenslanders.

The first litter of Queensland Guide Dogs for 2021 are preparing to meet their volunteer puppy raisers in two weeks’ time as their training begins.

Set to be exposed to all kinds of environments in their training, Guide Dogs Queensland’s Cassie Mutch said Molly, Missy, Meeka, Maple, and Milo would stay with their volunteer families for about a year.

Six-week old pups Meeka, Maple and Milo from Guide Dogs Queensland. Picture: Josh Woning

“They go out when they’re about eight weeks with their volunteer puppy raisers. That’s their first year of training with obedience and basic skills,” she said.

“They will learn a lot of home behaviours, going to shopping centres, going on public transport and basically just being exposed to all kinds of environments so they’re ready to be wherever they need to be”.

The full litter: Molly, Missy, Meeka, Maple, and Milo are due to be placed with their raisers at eight weeks old. Picture: Josh Woning

She said the puppies were all given names starting with ‘M’ as a part of the Guide Dogs Queensland naming conventions.

“Every one of our litters gets allocated a letter and we go in the order of the alphabet and these guys happen to be the ‘M’ letter.

“It’s an easy way to name them and it keeps track of when they were born”.

The tiny Labradors are five of 22 Guide Dogs Queensland puppies born in the state in January.