Together with their volunteer Puppy Raisers, the dogs - Macey, Jazzie, Cleve, Lando, Harvey and Ozzy - enjoyed their very own 'school outing' to the attraction where they were taught how to navigate a host of different environments and social settings.
All of the pups are at a crucial stage in their training where gaining experience of new sights, sounds and smells helps them to build resilience and develop into confident guide dogs of the future.
The opportunity to explore SEA LIFE Manchester enabled the pups to encounter a range of different settings all on one site, from darker and lighter lit areas to various types of walkways and surfaces, as well as busy and more enclosed spaces.
The day out for the four-legged friends was part of a unique collaboration between SEA LIFE and Guide Dogs. The programme has already seen similar puppy training visits at other SEA LIFE centres across the UK in Great Yarmouth, Hunstanton and Loch Lomond.
Puppy Development Advisor for Guide Dogs, Andrea Deller said: “We’re very grateful to SEA LIFE in Manchester for allowing our guide dog puppies to visit and we want to say a huge thank you for this unique experience.
“It’s vitally important that our pups are exposed to a wide variety of situations and environments so that they grow into calm and confident guide dogs of the future and once they are partnered with someone with sight loss, they can navigate the world around them.
“SEA LIFE is the ideal location to help them to do this. They learn how to behave and adapt in a variety of settings as there are so many different areas they can explore, all offering something totally unique, not to mention encountering a diversity of marine life.
“Our puppies and volunteers had a brilliant day.”
Matthew O'Connell, Operations Manager at SEA LIFE Manchester, added: “It’s been an enormous pleasure to welcome these gorgeous puppies and their dedicated Puppy Raisers to SEA LIFE Manchester.
“It's been fascinating to see how much the dogs learned in such a short space of time and how they interacted with the brilliant marine creatures we have here.
“We’re so proud to be able to support Guide Dogs. We can’t wait to see these pups grow into fully-fledged guide dogs who, thanks to their brilliant training, can truly change a person’s life forever.”
Bev Stoddard, a guide dog owner from Wythenshawe in Manchester, said: “I feel very happy since qualifying with my new guide dog Potter. It’s great that I can keep my independence and Potter is a brilliant worker, I feel totally safe with him.
“Puppy raisers are just as important as the Guide Dog Trainers. They do a great job and start it all off, getting them used to shops, people, public transport, different environments plus more – they’re the crucial part of the beginning of training for a guide dog”.
Guide Dogs is currently appealing for more volunteer puppy raisers. Further details are available from: www.guidedogs.org.uk/puppyraising