A young woman wearing a yellow t-shirt with a blue Leader Dog logo on it stands looking into the camera. She is outside the brick canine development center on Leader Dog's campus. She is holding a young black lab puppy and wearing a blue surgical mask.

Amid Coronavirus, One Year Later

April 28, 2021
One year ago, the Leader Dog campus had radically transformed in just one week. Our classes—canceled. Tours and events were the same. Our team members and volunteers mostly disappeared from campus, faced with the sudden reality that we didn’t know ...
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Four men in a line each with a dog (one golden retriever, one black and two yellow Labrador retrievers) on a leash held in their land hand. Each dog is standing with all four paws on a colored training step on the left side of each man.

Voice of the Leader Dog Community: Troy – Part 2

April 22, 2021
Part 4: How it Began for Me My first encounter with a puppy on the inside occurred after having already served 16 years. I was on a transfer layover in the Upper Peninsula when a guy walked by with a ...
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Four men in a line each with a dog (one golden retriever, one black and two yellow Labrador retrievers) on a leash held in their land hand. Each dog is standing with all four paws on a colored training step on the left side of each man.

Voice of the Leader Dog Community: Troy

April 15, 2021
Part 1: Introduction My name is Troy and I have just been paroled after serving 22 years within the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC). A major part of my personal growth came through participating in Leader Dog’s Prison Puppies initiative. ...
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Moira sits smiling at the camera. Her long hair is down and she is wearing a black sleeveless top. Seated next to her is a yellow lab with its mouth slightly open as though smiling.

Voice of the Leader Dog Community: Moira Shea – Part 2

March 31, 2021
Part 2 of 3 Harvard My undergraduate degrees were in economics and international relations. I joined the federal service and worked in international trade and international labor. My dream had always been to go to the Harvard University John F. ...
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Moira sits smiling at the camera. Her long hair is down and she is wearing a black sleeveless top. Seated next to her is a yellow lab with its mouth slightly open as though smiling.

Voice of the Leader Dog Community: Moira Shea

March 25, 2021
Hello there, my name is Moira Shea and I have been invited to share some of my life lessons with you. I live in Washington DC with my husband and three Leader Dogs. My current Leader Dog, Declan, is a ...
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A young yellow lab puppy sits in the snow, looking up toward the camera and wearing a blue Future Leader Dog bandanna.

A Love Letter to Puppy Raisers

February 17, 2021
By Guide Dog Mobility Instructor Ashley Nunnelly Some of you may know that my start in the service dog industry was as a puppy raiser. I started raising when I was 19 years old and a student at the University ...
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Anu stands outside in a dark colored t-shirt. She is smiling and holding a young German shepherd in her arms.

Voice of the Leader Dog Community: Anu Joshi

January 22, 2021
Hey Everyone! My name is Anu, I’m from Southeast Michigan and I’ve been a volunteer puppy raiser for Leader Dogs since 2014. I grew up in Rochester and like most people within the area had heard of Leader Dogs for ...
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Ashley is taking out a selfie with Uni, whose head is resting over her shoulder. Uni's face is white and his nose is close to the camera. Ashley is smiling.

The Discomfort of Learning

January 14, 2021
By Guide Dog Mobility Instructor Ashley Nunnelly We all want to be successful, and most of us like to be successful immediately. Often, if something is “too hard” or “not working,” we are quick to abandon it. I know I’ve ...
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Blue background with text on top in light green reading Voices of the Leader Dog Community.

Voices of the Leader Dog Community: the LDB Team

January 5, 2021
For this month’s installment of Voices of the Leader Dog Community, we asked our staff to submit a wish for the coming year. We are starting with a wish that is short and heartfelt. Kathy Gilchrist, Lions relations specialist “What ...
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Cerr is seated next to black lab Iris. She is smiling at the camera and wearing a floral yellow top. Iris is in her Leader Dog harness. Behind them is a light gray photo backdrop.

Voice of the Leader Dog Community: Cerr

January 1, 2021
Hello Everyone! My name is Cerr and I am from Colorado. I am a law student at the University of Denver, where I hope to become a disability rights lawyer. I graduated from Leader Dog with my guide Iris in ...
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