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Guide Doggos

Posted on 28th Jun 202027th Mar 2021 by One Vision

Cartoon golden retriever guide dog standing in front of a big gold star

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association is a British charitable organisation founded on August 30th 1934. Guide Dogs help blind and partially sighted people across the UK through the provision of guide dogs, mobility and other rehabilitation services.

A Guide dog can help you become more independent and mobile. Highly trained to support you in navigating any mobility challenges you may face, guide dogs are a great way to get you out and about with confidence.

Training is given as well as numerous visits at home and then eventually if accepted for a dog, extensive training with the dog to makes sure you are both a good match for each other.

People with my condition, have got and can have a guide dog, if their vision is causing difficulties and putting them in danger. Not everyone you see will be totally blind with a guide dog.

The person must be legally blind, able to travel independently (good orientation and mobility skills), and well-suited to work with a dog.

On average the whole process of application and being matched can take up to 2 years. This is because Guide dogs only breed a select number of doggos a year and the training process is long.

There are several different breeds on the breeding programme so that they can produce a wide and diverse range of guide dogs to suit all the needs of different people.

Labradors, Golden Retrievers and German Shepherds have been and remain the most common pure breeds on the programme. Historically the Golden Retriever crossed with the Labrador has produced the most successful guide dog of all, combining many of the great traits of both breeds.

However, it has been recognised that other breeds and indeed other cross breeds may lend additional benefits to Guide Dog users and as such, they now have curly-coated Retrievers, and two standard Poodles on the breeding programme. It is when these breeds are crossed with their own established breeds that it\’s hoped they will produce, first and foremost, successful guides, but may also provide a secondary benefit e.g. shed less hair which may be advantageous to people with allergies to dog hair.

Not all dogs trained are successful. Some will be better at this than others. Around 70% of puppies make it to being fully trained out of 1400 that are bred each year for this purpose.

Even after this, sometimes the dogs have to be retired early, due to changes in behaviour or laziness.

Please don’t approach a guide dog while they are working to stroke it. They are concentrating and focusing on making sure that their blind or visually impaired owner gets around safely.

Once they are off duty that’s fine. At a cafe for example, go have a chat with the person and a fuss of the dog.

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Slots of fun

Posted on 26th Jun 202027th Mar 2021 by One Vision

With the quarantine coming into effect in March 2020. That\’s scuppered me and my friends plans to go away in April.

It was all booked and we were so looking forward getting together. Just the 6 of us.

I’ve known these ladies for years and years. They are the sort of people that you already know you have had the best time away, even before you have gone ☺

Putting the world to rights, laughing… Lots of that. Helping each other vent about something that’s bothering us or upsetting us, cheering someone up, sometimes wiping the tears away and having a cuddle, taking the mickey, getting drunk and then watching your friend help another because she has fallen out of the taxi, while the rest of us are laughing at the situation. We are in our 40s. That was a true event.

I can rely on them to take any difficulties away that I would face on my own. Because I treat my reading glasses like the holy grail and frightened of breaking or losing them, I don\’t take them out. I will have to get a spare pair of glasses.

But for now… they become my spare set of eyes.

They would read the whole menu for me if I asked them, but I wouldn’t have them doing that and because I’m at the seaside I will most likely say… ‘have they got one of those seaside fish and chips special things with the little pot of tea and the bread and butter?’

They will read it out to me. Tell me how much it is and then bless them, they will usually order for me as it’s just less stressful for me.

They will read anything I can’t see if they see me squinting or I ask them.

Enlarging a photo on their phone is standard nowadays. Then, even if I still can’t see it, they tell me what it is, I stare abit more and then I can usually make it out if I know what I’m looking for.

Sometimes I just say ‘still haven\’t got a bloody clue’

I also have to trust them if they take a picture as my eye has developed abit of a slight squint that I only became aware of when I looked at some photos recently.

I think it’s because my eyes are so near a phone they are rapidly trying to focus. Panicking thinking.. ‘What they hell is that? … Hurry up… She wants to see it’

They point out where I should look at them camera. We will all delete one, when it’s not best for all of us.

If it\’s bumpy ground or there is kerb hell where I am, I will link arms so that if I go down… they will either stop me or I’m taking them down with me.

The thing is… I can relax.

I usually don’t like looking at my phone very closely in public. But I will when I’m with these lot as I don’t care as much, because woe betide any randomer that would make a comment about it to me.

Before I could even react or say anything at all, the poor person would immediately regret it ☺

They would most probably be more angry and upset than me.

So, we have provisionally moved our little holiday for October.

Something to look forward to ☺

If that can’t happen then we will just move the date again.