Merelbeke-Melle – Hachiko vzw, a non-profit organisation based in Merelbeke-Melle, is urgently seeking 10 additional host families to care for its newly born puppies. These puppies are being trained to become service dogs, supporting individuals with motor disabilities, autism, and epilepsy, as well as providing therapy assistance in care institutions.
The organisation works to match highly trained service dogs with people who benefit from their support in everyday life. Due to a surge in pregnancies among their breeding dogs, Hachiko now faces an immediate need for more foster families to ensure the proper upbringing of the puppies.
“The bitches became pregnant at the same time, so we have to quickly look for more host families,” explained Sandra Demeester, general manager of Hachiko.
Under the guidance of professional trainers, foster families play a key role during the first months of a puppy’s life.
“They work together on the key developmental aspects of the young puppy,” said Demeester. “Together, they then develop a training path that involves attending lessons and teaching commands. These dogs are more than just regular pets.”
According to Demeester, early socialisation is crucial for the puppies: “It is very important for the puppies to grow up in a social and homely environment because later they usually end up in a home setting.”
“The dog must learn to socialize and grow into a stable, happy, and calm dog; such a host family is therefore very important,” she added.
Although fostering a puppy does come with expenses, Hachiko supports its volunteers.
“We help cover the costs,” Demeester said. “We pay for food and medical expenses. Apart from travel to our training centre and the time spent with the puppy, there are essentially no costs involved.”
Once the initial fostering period is over, the dogs return to Hachiko to receive specific, advanced training tailored to their individual aptitudes.
“The talents of the dog determine what kind of training he receives,” stated Demeester. “For example, a dog may go on to assist people with epilepsy or motor disabilities, or provide care support in an institution.”
Currently, Belgium is home to roughly 1.5 million individuals with disabilities. Among them, 150,000 experience motor impairments, and 50,000 are diagnosed with epilepsy. Assistance dogs provide critical help in daily tasks and significantly improve the quality of life for their owners.
Despite their importance, Belgium only has around 500 active assistance dogs, far short of fulfilling the growing demand. In Flanders alone, requests for such dogs have increased by 20% annually over the past five years. Training a single assistance dog takes two to three years, and foster families are an essential part of that process.
However, the number of volunteers has declined in recent years, with many people unaware of the impact of these dogs or unable to commit as foster families.
A 2023 study by Ghent University highlighted the value of assistance dogs, showing they can reduce the need for elderly care support by 40% and lessen the impact of epilepsy attacks by 60%.
Despite this, only about 300 assistance dogs are trained in Belgium each year—far below what is needed. Hachiko continues its search for more foster families to meet this demand and ensure more people receive the life-changing support of a trained service dog.
Eurotoday is a daily online newspaper based in Belgium. The publication offers unique and independent reporting on European and international affairs. With a pan-European lens, Eurotoday covers EU policies, politics in individual Member States, and global issues viewed through a European perspective.
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