Cora Hohnstadt with Finnie Mae, the dog she is currently raising. Cora has been raising dogs for 19 years and has raised 17 dogs. Each puppy she raises becomes a guide dog for a blind person.

Cora is a dog raiser for an organization that teaches puppies to become guide dogs for the blind.

In order to begin dog-raising, Cora got in touch with the organization Leader Dogs for the Blind - a school in Rochester, Michigan that trains Labradors and other dogs to become seeing-eye dogs for the blind-and she received her first dog to raise.

Cora became interested in dog-raising in 1992, when a guest speaker visited the school she was teaching at in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

Later that summer, Cora decided to visit a county fair booth advertising the joy of raising guide dogs.

"They had all sorts of article on raising (guide dogs)," Cora recalled. "I thought, 'you know, this is kind of cool.'"

For Cora, the decision to raise a guide dog came easily. Her dog had died the previous spring, but she was not sure if she wanted another pet.

"Well, if I didn't want to raise another one, I wouldn't (have to) take another one," Cora said.

Cora soon realized that raising dogs was the right decision for her, and she eagerly began raising more dogs.

Cora taught at Pine River-Backus High School from 1996 to 2000, and currently teaches in Paynesville. She spends her summers in Backus and will live in the area full time after her retirement next year.

Specifically, Cora herself does not train the dogs to become guide dogs.

Cora's job is to take puppies, which are assigned to her at 7 weeks old, and raise them to be well-behaved dogs. Each puppy is raised one at a time.

Over the 12-13 months they are raised, the dogs are taught to be housebroken, how the behave in public and basic commands such as sit and stay.

Due to the long process of raising a dog, each dog raiser gets new dogs at their own pace. Many raiser will take months or even years off from raising puppies, but Cora likes to be raising a dog all of the time.

The Leader Dogs for the Blind organization is currently looking for more people to raise dogs, Cora said.

"Right now that have more dogs than people," Cora said.

Each dog-raiser takes their puppy almost everywhere, as most businesses will allow guide dogs, Cora said.

Every dog is born in Michigan, and Cora must make the long drive to the Leader Dogs for the Blind organization in order to pick them up.

One perk of raising these guide dogs is that you get to name them yourself, Cora said.

One problem with raising dogs is that some people do not know whether to pet a guide dog or not.

"A lot of people are becoming more aware," Cora said. "People are learning more to ask 'can I pet your dog?' It used to be that if they wanted to pet they would just do it."

So should you pet guide dogs?

"Working dogs, no. But puppies yes, because they're still being raised, (and they need) socialization," Cora said.

Otherwise, the guide dogs will get too distracted from doing there important job, Cora said.

After moving on to training school for four months, the dogs will then spend a month at the Leader Dogs for the Blind building in Rochester with their future owners, who are legally blind.

The guide dog as well as the materials needed to have a guide dog are all given to the blind free of charge by the Leader Dogs for the Blind organization.

After years of service, most dogs will retire, Cora said. Sometimes, the blind person will keep their guide dog as a pet. Other leader dogs work with their blind people until they die.

There are 10 certified guide dog-training schools across the country, and the Leader Dog organization in Michigan sends dogs to blind people all over the world, including Mexico and Europe.

"I had one (guide dog) go to the Cayman Islands. Unfortunately, I couldn't go with her," Cora laughed.

So how can anyone give up these cute puppies after raising them for a year?

"It's knowing that they're going to be used for a good purpose," Cora said. "And you know that they're going to go to someone that's really appreciative, someone that's going to love that dog."

It is hard to give the dog up, but sometimes it can be a relief.

"Other times it's like seeing your kids go off to college: you're just glad to have them out of the house!" Cora laughed.

No experience is necessary in order to raise dogs, and anyone interested in becoming a guide dog raiser can apply at leaderdog.org.