Guide Dogs for the Blind

The latest of our monthly speakers were Julie and David Oliver, who are members of Preston U3A, accompanied by Julie’s guide dog Queenie. David opened the informative talk by discussing how to puppies are moved to a volunteer puppy walker at 6 weeks old in order to work with the dog and familiarise them with normal sights and sounds in the home and out and about, including people, traffic.

Once the puppy is around a year old they undergo intensive training over a 25 week period including 5 weeks in the home of their potential new owner. The new owner buys the dog for 50p, but the help and guidance of the association is never far away including annual checks, help and re-housing on retirement.

The full cost of a guide dog from birth to retirement is around £50,000 and the association relies heavily of donations and volunteers in order to achieve their aims.

An average guide dog owner could have up to 5 dogs in their lifetime. Guide dogs in London are retired at an earlier age than those in the rest of the country as they are considered to have a more stressful life than dogs in other areas.

Julie described how she was born deaf, and during the time of her schooling also began to lose her sight. Her deafness had already made her feel isolated but this was made more so with her deteriorating vision. It was whilst she was in a residential rehabilitation centre that the suggestion she should consider a guide dog was first mooted.

Once she overcame her initial reluctance she was matched with, and began her own training with her first guide dog, and Julie went on to describe the feeling of independence she gained at this point. Queenie is her fourth guide dog and she talked about how her life changed since getting her first dog. There was an obvious visible bond between Julie and Queenie.

David concluded by talking of some of the other services which are available from Association of Guide dogs for the blind . Some people with a visual disability cannot work with a guide dog or a cane, so a befriending service is offered to these people primarily to take them on social activities. David volunteers one day a week taking a lady out for coffee, going to parks or visits to stately homes.

Perhaps there is someone in OUR community who might benefit from this type of befriending service, who might like to join us at the weekly coffee morning?

53 U3A members who attended the talk gave a fee of £1 per person and this was donated to Julie and David towards the work of the association.

The next speaker meeting is on Tuesday 3rd May. Details of speaker to follow.

Edited from script of Pat McGuire by Marg Kendall