Growing Up Guide Pup Now a Charity Organization

My wife and I are the creators of Growing Up Guide Pup. We have been hard at work trying to figure out how to come up with the means to bring the series back. After our first season we were able to find a fiscal sponsor so people who donated to us could get a tax deduction and we were hopeful that we would qualify for some of the various grants out there. We hired two different grant writers to help us find grants that we might qualify for and who had the knowledge to help us submit for them. Unfortunately we have been turned down for every grant that we have applied for.

We have come to find that were were not eligible for many of the grants because we were fiscally sponsored. After going back and forth over the last year or so we have decided to apply to become a non-profit. We have great news. Today we got our determination letter from the IRS. We are super excited to announce that we received an acceptance letter and our application has been approved! Growing Up Guide Pup is now officially a public charity 501(c)3 organization. We still have so much to do to get fully set up, but we are ready to make a fresh start and get back to work. We will be continuing to apply for grants, and we are in the process of planning a few fund raisers where anybody can donate to help our mission. The funds we raise will be going towards:

* new editing equipment, computer and software
* filming equipment, new lenses for our camera and recording media
* redoing our website and being able to hire someone to admin it,
* purchasing more royalty free music (unfortunately a lot of our previously bought royalty free music is no longer royalty free),
* designing and purchasing new graphics for the introduction and body of the show
* copy writing fees (unfortunately in this day and age this is a necessity)
* we are looking to hire someone to help with keeping our blog updated along with other social media duties,
* hiring another camera person for our next season to be able to get more footage of what goes into raising a puppy, including more home life with both Matt and I
* travel costs, we really want to show other raisers and service dog teams and sometimes that might require us to travel out of the area
* puppy care including veterinary costs, food, new toys and equipment.
* a puppy raising scholarship - we know first hand that raising a puppy costs money, Some people might have the time needed to raise a puppy but not the extra funds in their budget to make it happen. Depending on how much we raise we hope to be able to pay for the costs of raising a puppy for people who can't afford it.

As you can see we have lots of ideas how we can improve our show even more and hopefully draw more people in to watch and educate them not only what puppy raisers do but also how these puppies go on to change the lives of those who receive them. The more people know about service dogs the more they will be accepted in society. We have a few other changes in the works and hope to be able to announce those after the new year. If things go well a new puppy will arrive in the spring. From there we could have our next doggy for Growing Up Guide Pup. Thanks to all for the continued support and Happy Holidays!

Welcome Home Ricki!

We filmed the process of raising our guide dog puppy Ricki. After 16 months of making our series Growing Up Guide Pup, Ricki decided she wanted to be with us and was not guide dog material. Well the Nylabone company generously sent Ricki a "welcome home" package of dog toys. Our dogs have always loved Nylabones and they are our dog toy of choice. Thanks Nylabone!

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 57 - Dog Distractions

Amie said a great thing to Seth and I months back that I really love. She said that guide dogs are the "navy seals" of the working dog industry. The more we shoot the show, the more it makes sense to me. I mean everywhere you take these dogs poses a myriad of distractions. Whether it be other dogs, food, cats, small animals, birds, kids, balls, sounds, water, etc. It is amazing that any of them graduate. To turn off a dogs natural instinct which is to be curious about things around him/her is a huge challenge. We strive to do this with Ricki constantly, and it is amazing how the same training can be utilized in so many different locations. Ricki continues to make baby steps as we crawl closer to her recall date. We have high hopes that she will do well, but ultimately this will be up to her. We know she has the work drive as well as the drive to please. Only time will tell if that will be enough.