A class of 11 new guide dogs graduated from their five-month training course at the special ceremony, which was attended by around 170 people.

For puppy raisers such as Castle Hill resident Paula Mitchell and her sister Sally Chandler, from Glenhaven, it was an extremely emotional occasion.

Ms Mitchell said goodbye to her charge, Hazel, while Ms Chandler had already seen off her 'baby' Otto who had been placed with his new owner before the graduation ceremony.

Otto was Ms Chandler's second guide dog puppy, having already raised Willis who graduated earlier this year.

She has now taken on yet another puppy named Gizelle, and is hoping she too will make it through the five-month course successfully.

Although Otto passed the tests with flying colours, Ms Chandler said there was some doubt as to whether he would ever make a good guide dog.

"We called him 'Grotto' because he's a real character. We got him when he was 10 weeks old when we handed Willis back, we got him on the same day," she said.

"He was quite a different character, very cute and cuddly. We used to go outside and find Otto upside down in the compost bin, all you could see was his back legs and tail.

"We thought he wouldn't last five minutes in training, but he matured very quickly He really wanted to learn. We're very proud of him."

Last Friday's ceremony included a demonstration of the guide dogs' new skills. The dogs were taken through a course with pretend traffic light poles, sets of stairs and obstacles that block pathways.

The training course involved many exercises including walking the dogs throughout local suburbs such as Richmond and Windsor and getting them used to navigating trains and shopping centres.

Around 50 per cent of puppies make it through the course successfully, while others aren't suitable for various reasons including health or obedience problems.