Darinka Farkas began organizing a community for visually impaired and sighted people in February 2024. She is at home in this circle, as she has been training guide dogs for 21 years and has been a member of our foundation for nine years. In addition to training, she has long strived to bring guide dog owners together with volunteer puppy raisers, who raise the dogs from the age of eight weeks for one to one and a half years.
There is an obvious reason for this. Puppy raisers are very interested in the welfare of their foster dogs and their owners, and visually impaired clients tell us how happy they are with their dogs‘ carefree play and friendly company.
The starting point was to connect, so that the puppy trainers could get to know the clients, see how their work was paying off, the guide dog that they trained and then became the world of a visually impaired person. I was looking for this opportunity, and this is what became the “Guide Dog Gang”
– said Darinka Farkas
In the Guide Dog Gang, Darinka enjoys spending time with her friends, but she is also present as a professional, as she receives many questions from visually impaired owners and regularly practices with them on these occasions. The program is held monthly in Budapest, at the Városliget dog run.
Darinka is training together with Barbi and her dog, Ruta
There are many reasons why this community is good for visually impaired owners. One of them: Margit Kovács said that she wouldn’t miss these opportunities for anything: “Alfa is always playing with his dog buddies. Darinka and the volunteer puppy raisers keep an eye on the dogs, and we can relax a bit.”
Margit Kovács
We also asked another guide dog owner for her opinion: “I like going here because Noé can have a good time with his “colleagues“. A very good team has formed, with whom you can talk about any topic concerning the blind in addition to dog things. We have almost become a big family, we can always get good advice from each other, e.g. in the field of dog food, sometimes we show each other things, exchange bells, brushes. Every month I really look forward to the next opportunity,” said Dóra Pozsgay.
Dóra Pozsgay and Noé
Every volunteer puppy raiser is very important to us
In our foundation’s breeding program, puppies are born from guide dog lines and have a higher success rate of becoming guide dogs than those coming from external sources. This is the basis for the professional upbringing of the litters. Our mother dogs live with volunteers, where they give birth to their puppies, who are then taken to the puppy raisers, who are also volunteers of our foundation. We provide professional assistance in raising the dogs at monthly puppy meetings and individual sessions held by our puppy raising coordinator. Puppy raising itself is a responsible occupation, with many positive experiences, learning opportunities and building relationships with people with similar interests.
If you like, the Guide Dog Gang is a fresh shoot on the tree whose trunk started with puppy raising and continued with training. We asked Gizella Ménesi, who is now living with her second mother dog, about this :
Working dogs live scattered around the country with their owners. The group playtime is an event where pairs sometimes come from far away to join. It’s good to see the puppies again as serious guide dogs, to see their relationship with their owners as they are led in a disciplined manner to the biggest party venue. To see the goal for which we work hand in hand. And it’s a great experience for the dogs to be able to play freely with their “colleagues” and hear the cheerful chirping of their owners. Meanwhile, the two-legged friends can exchange ideas and experiences about dog ownership and other important things in life. PS. Margit’s surprise scones are very delicious.
Darinka is confident that the community she has created is already so strong that new team members will almost attract each other. “I encourage everyone to take our invitation seriously, join the Baráthegyi Guide Dog School as a volunteer puppy raiser, and then you can join our Guide Dog Gang. Now is the time, as our mother dog named Darázs will soon give birth, and we will be able to take the two–month-old puppies home in the fall.”
Darázs is expecting puppies
We conclude our article with the thoughts of one of our trainer’s best friends, Ágota Lukács, whose guide dog named Olivér was trained by Darinka.
“It’s a pleasant surprise how accepting and welcoming a small group has become. It was a joy to observe recently how much love we have for each other’s dogs, when they come over or even just come up for discussion. It’s nice to chat, but it’s also nice to sit quietly and watch how well the others – both two-legged and four-legged – get along. It’s such a peaceful little gang, I love it. Maybe it’s the many clown labs that bring us so much peace.”
Ágota with a ball in her hand. On her right is one of our volunteer puppy raisers
We are looking for puppy raisers!
We are looking for volunteer puppy raisersfor Darázs’ eight–week-old Labrador puppies.
The little ones will move to their new homes in the first week of September. The first personal meeting after the written application will be on July 19, 2025 in Törökbálint.
Application: https://barathegyisegitokutya.hu/kolyokneveles Our foundation is waiting for applications from all over the country, regardless of age. Your puppy will be sent to a visually impaired owner when they are one year old, but they will not be separated from you “forever”.
You can meet them, they can spend the holidays with you and we will report on what is going on with them in life. Many little Labradors are waiting for their puppy raisers!
