A furry, golden, pudgy pile of puppies, Guide Dogs Australia's first litter for the year, had their first taste of limelight on Tuesday and were almost too cute to bear. 
From the 'T' litter, Guide Dogs Queensland veterinary adviser Belinda Dorman said the seven 3&frac12;-week-old Golden retriever/labrador puppies have already started their training from mum Gracie.
"At this age we are really looking at their health and making sure they are getting normal socialisation skills, they are getting taught from their mum already," Dr Dorman said.
From there they will start to develop obedience training and will then be released to foster families until they are 18 months old, guide dog training and dog supply manager Brendan Ainsworth said.
"Once these pups are a little more active we will start doing some very simple little tasks with them, teaching them to sit and doing very short walks with them just around the centre," he said.
"When they are fully vaccinated they will go to a puppy raisers home, they usually go out around 10 weeks of age.
"The puppy raiser's role is to socialise the pups to all the environments a working guide will go in."
Mr Ainsworth said it was always an emotional time when the puppies had to return to the Guide Dogs Queensland site to complete their training.
"Everybody cries, the women seem to show it more upfront and the guys can't talk very much, it is an emotional time, they have had the dog for a long time, they get attached, they become part of the family," he said.
"We try to get them to come back again so they can take on a new personality."
Dr Dorman said they were planning for around eight litters this year, however not all puppies would graduate from Guide Dogs Australia.
"We would hope that all our puppies would end up as guides but unfortunately we have high standards, they have a very big responsibility in the public and they don't always make it," she said.
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