When a dog has puppies, it's a wonderful time for all.

They are cheeky, fun and troublesome. During those first few weeks of their lives, they will spend their time with their mum and their siblings. When the first six weeks have passed, it's time to start thinking about what happens next.

A few people keep puppies as another loved family member. For those who already have a dog or two, they might decide to sell their new pooch. Or they may decide to give it to a friend or a family member.They want the dog to go to a new loving home where it will have a great new life.

There are other options too, and one you may not have thought about is to teach them to become a guide dog.

It's such a rewarding life for the pooch and lets them give something back to the local community. They will build a solid bond with their owner who has a visual impairment and will play an important role in their life.

Of course, before this happens they need to go through training to ensure they are the right candidate to become a guide dog. After all, they will need to pass a test to get accepted into one of the four national training schools. Therefore, you need to give them the best guidance possible to make sure they will go on to have a guide dog career.

If you think you may think about training your puppy to become a guide dog here’s a short guide on how you can make that happen.

Ensure they have excellent health

It's so vital that you make sure that your pooch is of good health if you want it to become a guide dog. After all, they will need to go through vigorous training to become a guide dog. And if they struggle with health problems, they are not going to make the cut.

Therefore, it's so important that you:

• Make sure the dog has plenty of regular exercise
• Give your puppy only the best quality of food
• Take them for regular walks
• Let them enjoy the outdoors as much as you can
• Closely monitor their health so you can get on top of any problems that might arise.

You can get wearables for pets such as a pet activity tracker which will allow you to keep on top of your pet's health. They will monitor their pacing and temperature and alert you of any problems. These are also essential when your dog becomes a guide dog as it lets the owner with a visual impairment to keep track of their pooch's daily activity.

Work on their alertness

If you want your puppy to become a guide dog in the near future, it's so important that you teach them how to be alert.

They need to pay attention to touch and sound as they will need to guide their owner in the future through situations such as busy traffic while staying alert at all times. This is a very important step and here are some ways you can increase you’d dog’s alertness:

• Take them around cars and making them aware of different sounds and noises is important to help boost their learning
• You can also walk them around obstacles so they begin to realise they need to take a wide-angle for the sake of their owner and to stop at the kerb.
• Ensure your pooch sees a wealth of surroundings so they become more alert of the people and objects around them