independence

We are honoured to be able to share with everyone a wonderful and heartfelt email sent to us by a lady whose father has recently been partnered with a guide dog.

Dear Sir/Madam,

After having read Janice Hope’s puppy diary on the Guide Dog Facebook page, I feel obliged to write in on behalf of my father Raymond who has recently been paired with an aptly named Sparky.

My father has Retina Pigmentosa which has gradually resulted in the loss of his vision since childhood. However, Dad has not let the loss of his eyesight prevent him from doing anything he wants to do, and is fiercely independent. To the amazement of others, this superman has run marathons, regularly attends step classes even boxercise and quite frankly is an inspiration to us all. So when my father first mentioned applying for a guide dog, we knew the day had finally come when Dad’s eyesight was totally failing. As those who would know, losing ones eyesight is full of sacrifices that many of us take for granted, such as driving, shopping, banking etc. So when Sparky came along he brought along the gift of independence.

Now it has been said that Sparky’s future as a guide dog was questioned throughout his training. Sparky has a particular temperament i.e stubborn and has ”excessive” energy levels i.e hyper. However, I can not think of a better partner for my father. Sparky is the only one who can keep up with Dad, who himself is always revved up to go full speed, and Sparky’s impatient attitude clears away crowds that my formally bolshy father would be proud of.

The two are now inseparable. Sparky is like Dad’s own GPS and the two go everywhere together. The dentist, the gym, supermarkets, the post office. Everywhere. Sparky has offered my dad a lifetime of independence. From the day he arrived he brought so much into not just dads life but the whole family. Anyone who meets Sparky in fact is touched by this beautiful dog.  We secretly call him ‘’sunshine” behind his back. There is a belief that guide dogs are saints. Well I’m afraid Sparky is ,shall we say, not. But he is the perfect dog for my father and if he had failed his training my father’s life would be different because of that.

The choosing of a dog for the owner’s personality is so important and an ”imperfect” dog might be right for the oddball blind person like my father. Sparky has been so well trained, and takes his work very seriously, but he’s a big goofball at heart. Just like his owner. He also makes us laugh every day. Like the time when a callous car driver went through a large puddle soaking both Sparky and owner. Sparky’s facial expressions told their own story that day, and he refused to resume duty until the car was well out of sight. And how whenever he goes to the shopping centre, he takes Dad straight to the toilet, even when dad doesn’t need to go.

Every guide dog owner has their own story to tell of how these dogs truly improve their owners lives. But my main reason for writing is to reassure puppy trainer Janice Hope who has generously given her time and her heart to train little Usher. Then who had to give a little piece of her heart away when Usher left for his next level of training. I just want to reassure her that little piece of her heart becomes whole again when paired on the other side with the owner. The job you do is so valuable, but if you only knew of how you help people in ways you couldn’t possibly imagine. I hope it gives you all the strength to keep going. To all the trainers and everyone involved in the guide dogs, the gifts you give cannot be valued but on behalf of everyone on the receiving end of a guide dog, we thank you.

It’s fantastic to see the difference a guide dog can make to a person’s life, to quote the email above ” Sparky has offered my dad a lifetime of independence” and it’s thanks to our valuable supporters across the board that this can happen. So from everyone at Guide Dogs, THANK YOU!

Hello Again All.

I am back to tell you about mine and Pearce’s first 2 years together and how trust really is the key to a guide dog partnership, the unique and strong bond between owner and guide dog.

After qualifying,  it began to dawn on me that my life was going to be changed quite dramatically and as told the first year would be very hard at times for both dog and owner because you both have to get used to each other. The dogs go through so many changes from around 6 weeks to 2 years they probably have around 5-6 different changes from puppy walker family to the GDMI’s, Advanced Boarders etc so you can understand why it can take a while for them to settle in with their new owner as they can never be sure whether they will be going somewhere else within a few months.

Then there was me having to get used to trusting “a dog”, now a lot people will say “how can anyone trust a dog” and it was like that for me at the beginning but as time went on in became easier because I knew that if I wasn’t able to trust Pearce I would never get maximum independence and if you aren’t willing or able to trust a dog why go for a guide dog in the first place!

It is difficult to explain how it all happens. It took 10 months for me and Pearce to just “click” and we really did one day just click, it just happened and I cannot explain how it happened but from that day on things went so smoothly and we just became a real team and I really felt at that point that I could and can trust him fully to keep me safe wherever I go. Don’t get me wrong, there are still a couple of days that don’t go to plan, the dogs have off days when they just don’t feel like working and they will tell you in ways I cannot describe because every dog is different but I have to say the majority of the time Pearce is an angel and I cannot fault him. We really are the dream team.

Pearce does have habits such as growling and making me aware when someone is around and I can definitely tell when there is someone or something he isn’t sure of or doesn’t like the look of.  It always makes me aware that there are people or dogs around, he is a big, big wimp even though he sounds scary he doesn’t mean a thing and will run away from the front door as soon as its opened!

I do hope you all had a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year and I look forward to doing lots more posts in the new year.

David Blunkett is lending his support to launch a national fundraising campaign for Guide Dogs in partnership with the recycling charity scheme ‘Each One Counts’ and Veolia Environmental Services.

Guide Dogs is asking the public to donate used inkjet cartridges (and unwanted or old mobile phones) for recycling in exchange for cash to support its work, which helps provide independence and freedom to thousands of blind or partially sighted people.

Politician David Blunkett, who has been blind since birth, comments: “This is an excellent scheme that combines recycling with a fantastic contribution to the mobility, dignity and independence of blind people.  The initiative of recycling print cartridges is painless for those taking the trouble to contribute but extremely valuable in raising the necessary funds for guide dog training.  As my own dog, Sadie, will be retiring next year, this is very close to my heart.  I commend all of those who have been involved in the previous scheme to recycle unwanted mobile phones, which raised £5,000.  I hope we can do even better with this new initiative.”

Against a challenging economic backdrop in which personal charity donations typically declined by more than 10% in 2009/10, the new Guide Dogs recycling fundraising scheme allows donors to raise extra money without having to part with more cash.

Pat Stead, founder of Each One Counts, said: “In these financial times, it is not always possible for people to donate to charity. However, anyone who uses a printer can make a real difference and it’s absolutely cost free. The donation of just ten inkjet cartridges could support a working guide dog partnership for a whole day.”

Each One Counts is run by Environmental Business Products, Europe’s largest remanufacturer of inkjet printer cartridges, which has been working in partnership with Guide Dogs since 1998.  Over 130 charities across Europe are now signed up to the Each One Counts scheme, and to date has paid out more than £5 million to the charity sector.

Each year, over 60 million inkjet printer cartridges are needlessly thrown away when they could be turned into cash for charity.

If you would like to collect inkjet cartridges in support of Guide Dogs please call 0845 603 9779.  Alternatively, cartridges can be taken to local Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC).

Remember guide dog Moss? We are excited to announce that Moss and two other “top dogs” have been chosen as category winners for the first judging stage in this year’s Guide Dog of the Year awards.

Moss has won the “Life changing” category, having learned 20 routes in six months to enable owner Dawn Sergeant to gain back her independence and return to work.

“Outstanding work” category winner Gus, is owned by student Jemma Brown. Gus and Jemma share an active lifestyle crammed full of lectures, touring with Jemma’s cricket team and shopping!

Guide dog Gino is “top dog” in the “beyond the call of duty” section. Gino, owned by Maxine Ingram, barked to warn bus passengers that a man on board was going to have a fit thus ensuring that first aid treatment was quickly given.

Readers of Woman’s Weekly and Guide Dogs Chief Executive Richard Leaman, will now have the tough challenge of choosing which of the deserving three will be crowned Guide Dog of the Year 2010.

Good luck to all!

Since starting Guide Dogs numerous pages on Facebook we have gained many new friends and stumbled upon some fantastic pages. One of them is – My guide dog Moss. Moss and his guide dog owner have been doing a fantastic job writing about the life you lead in a partnership.

Recently we posted a link to our latest young guide dog owner’s FB page – Andrea on Moss’ FB page and here’s what his response was:

Guide dog Moss.

This is a lovely page, I too have optic Atrophy like Andrea, I was told at 19 and registered partially sighted, then registered blind at 24. Moss has givin me everything, hes enabled me to continue my job as a Tax officer, to be a single mum to my little girl and live independantly. I owe a great deal of my independance to Moss. Hes shown me that anything is possible if you try and that  nothing is beyond my grasp. At 27 I’m now living the the life of ndependance that I was previously stopped from living, I dont have to reply on anyone and Moss never judges me. He’s always there for me no matter what.

We wanted to say ‘thank you’ for such wonderful comment.

There is thousands of blind and partially-sighted people never leave home alone and Guide Dogs aims is to help people with the skills they need to get around and move on with their lives.  Our work would not be possible and complete without your support and the great work the guide dog owners do to raise awareness. We are able to create two new partnerships each day. That’s two more people every day, who gain back their independence.