The Puppy Development Advisor helps people with sight loss to live the life they choose by providing training and ongoing support to volunteers responsible for the caring and raising of Guide Dogs puppies in line with positive reinforcement techniques and delivering the Guide Dogs Puppy Raising for Excellent Partnerships (PREP) programme.

This is an office based home start role which supports volunteers in Bristol and surrounding areas. Our core hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, 35 hours per week, with 26 days paid holiday (excluding bank holidays) a year.

We offer a generous pension scheme, life assurance and enhanced pay for parenting and sickness leave. In addition, we provide an Employee Assistance Programme, flexible benefits package and discounts and cashback scheme to care for our people.

To find out more, watch our Puppy Development Advisor film: https://youtu.be/5fnW5oyXraE

More details about this role, the Organisation and the recruitment process can also be found in the attached candidate pack and job description.

We reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date.

Diversity

Guide Dogs welcomes applications from all sections of the community and actively encourages diversity to maximise achievements, creativity and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or nationality. We encourage applications from people with disabilities as they are currently under-represented in the organisation and guarantee an invitation to interview for all applicants with disabilities who demonstrate, within their application form, sufficient evidence to meet the essential criteria for the job.

Safeguarding

Guide Dogs is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk of harm with whom we work. We expect all our employees and volunteers to fully share this commitment.

Candidate requirements

To be able to fulfil this role, the skills and experience we are looking for in a potential candidate include;

Essential

• GCSE’s in Maths and English at grade C or above; or equivalent (QCF level 2 / SQCF level 5)
• Practical, hands-on experience within the field of canine behaviour modification, positive reinforcement or dog training as a practitioner.
• Experience of using a database to manage & maintain accurate records.
• Able to demonstrate knowledge of the application of animal behaviour and positive reinforcement training.
• Able to practically apply theoretical knowledge of positive and ethical dog and/or puppy handling skills.

Desirable

• Degree in an animal related subject, ideally animal behaviour, training and/or welfare/wellbeing (QCF level 6 / SQCF levels 9-10)
• Accredited/documented learning in animal welfare, wellbeing or behaviour.
• Experience of managing a team of staff or volunteers.
• Experience of delivering puppy classes/r working with puppies under a year old.
• Specific knowledge of puppy development and training.

For the complete list of essential and desirable criteria necessary to be successful in this role please see the Person Specification within the Job Description below. The candidate pack contains more information about this role & the recruitment process at Guide Dogs.

If you are successful you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. We cannot provide sponsorship for this role.

How to apply

If you have any accessibility issues, please contact our Recruitment Team on 0118 3540345 or peopleservicecentre@guidedogs.org.uk.

Applications need to be made using the online application form, accessed using the ‘apply’ button above.

As part of your application ensure you provide evidence and examples of how your skills & experience meet the criteria as set out in the attached job description.

The system has a one-hour time limit. We would advise you to prepare your answers separately and then copy and paste into the online form once finalised. If any mandatory fields are missed, a pop-up box will appear at the top of the page advising which sections require completion.

Please note that you’ll have to upload a CV as this is a mandatory requirement as part of our Safer Recruitment Policy.

Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If there is not enough space in your application form to provide this information, please ensure you upload additional documentation containing the additional detail.

Please contact our Recruitment Team on 0118 3540345 or peopleservicecentre@guidedogs.org.uk if you require any support with your application.