Volunteer Puppy Fosterer

**Job Title-Puppy Foster Volunteers**
**Grade: Volunteer-Unpaid**
**Closing Date: Wednesday 29th March 2023**

**About the role**:
West Midlands Police has established one of the largest & most successful Police Puppy Development Programmes around. Our programme holds circa 50 breeding females of a variety of breeds and aims to produce over 100 puppies each year.

In order to maintain the highest levels of animal welfare & breeding practices, we are members of the British Kennel Club’s Assured Breeder Scheme.

Each puppy goes through a full structured development plan as part of the programme, starting with an early neuro-stimulation & socialisation programme which begins from the moment they are born. The puppy also undergoes a series of assessments, at various age benchmarks, to ensure the highest levels of development are being achieved.

**Why we need your help**:
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The Puppy Development Programme relies on the support of volunteers to assist with caring for, training & developing our puppies/young dogs. Each puppy/young dog attends regular training sessions at our Dog Training Centre in Balsall Common, which relies on our volunteers making the puppies/young dogs available & transporting them to & from our Dog Training Centre.

As a Puppy Fosterer you will be required to care for a puppy from 8 weeks old until 14 months old, following a structured Puppy Development Programme where both you & the dog are assessed at regular intervals.

**Tasks and Activities**:
We have a structured Puppy Development Programme for all of our puppies, which a puppy fosterer is expected and supported to follow.

From the moment the puppies are born they all receive high levels of stimulation and desensitisation to help build solid foundations.

When placed with you, the puppies will continue on their journey to becoming operational police dogs. Throughout the time they are in your care, there is a structured development plan for them to work along.

You are expected to bring their puppies to regular training sessions, which are held during the day. During the first 6-8 weeks of having the dog, we run weekly sessions.

During these sessions, we will provide instruction and demonstrate various exercises in order to help you manage your puppy on a day to day basis. These exercises include general obedience, loose lead walking, tracking games and searching games.

In addition to the regular training sessions, the puppies will be brought into the Dog Training Centre and kept in kennels for a number of days, to undergo more formal training under our supervision. These sessions allows them to start to become acclimatised to the kennel environment.

As the puppies progress through the programme, they all undergo a number of formal assessments at different developmental stages of their life to ensure that they are progressing to become police dogs.

**What we can offer you**:
While volunteering is unpaid, there are a number of benefits our volunteers gain from their time with us:

- Be a part of our Policing family
- Opportunities to develop and share you skills and expertise
- Gaining valuable work experience and new skills
- Enjoyment in doing something you like while meeting new, like-minded people
- Contributing to the local community by helping in the work West of Midlands Police (WMP)

**Essential information**:

- Applicants are considered on their merits and regarded equally
- We will induct and train you to carry out the role
- This role description is intended as an indicator of general areas of activity and will be amended with any changing needs of West Midlands Police It is expected that the volunteer will be flexible, using this document as a framework
- Successful applicant will be required to pass a level of vetting

**Essential Criteria**:
If the role appeals to you, you must be able to answer "yes" to all of the following:

- Do you have experience or a very keen interest in training dogs?
- Are you & your family able to live with a large, strong & energetic dog?
- Do you have access to a suitable vehicle for safe transportation of the dog?
- Do you have a suitable home environment to allow a large dog crate to be housed?
- Are you able to provide a fully fenced (6 foot fences) & a secure garden area for the dog?
- Are you able to attend regular training sessions with your dog?
- Do you have plenty of spare time to keep your dog mentally & physically exercised?
- Are you at home to ensure that the dog is not left for more than 3-4 hours at any time, other than overnight? It is vital that puppies are supervised at all times during the day.

**Skills and Experience**:

- Willingness & ability to train dogs
- Friendly and approachable
- Good communications skills & a good level of spoken English
- Reliable with good time-keeping skills
- Happy to work independently or as part of a team
- Attention to detail and good observational skills
- Full driving licence

**Commitment**:

- This is a full time role requiri