I'd like you all to meet Pixie, she loves playing fetch, she adores her frisbee and she's a beast when it comes playing tug! Like most dogs she loves a fuss and long walks at the weekend but Pixie is a very special dog, every day she puts on a harness and guides her owner to work, to the shops, where ever she needs to go.
Her owner is Marie, a very lovely lady who works as the Hotel Controller at the same hotel where I work. Once Pixie has guided Marie to work, she chills out in the office until home time. The best bit about having Pixie in the hotel is that if I'm having a bit of a bad day I just have to nip to the office and Pixie cheers me right up, and a lunch break is 100 times better when you've got a dog to play with! Marie and her husband also care for Wendy, a guide dog who guided Marie for many years and is now enjoying her retirement.
It wasn't until I met Marie and Pixie and that I started to really train my own dog that I began to notice little things that might make Marie and Pixie's day harder. Like when I leave stuff on the floor in the office and poor Marie nearly falls over it! (Sorry Marie) . Or when I'm walking down the street dodging dustbins because it's bin day, or one that really gets me, when people park fully on the pavement, now it annoys me when I have to drag Oscar onto the road, Into oncoming traffic to get round a car but fair enough, I can see oncoming cars but from Pixie's perspective, she can't see what's coming, there's a bloody car in the way. 97% of blind or partially sighted people have has issues with items blocking the pavements, each time a blind person has to step into the road to manoeuvre an object (car or bin) the lives of themselves and their dogs are at risk. This is such a big issue that the guide dogs have started a campaign to get the governments to hand out more severe penalties to people parking on or blocking the pavement, read more about it here .
It costs over £50,000 to support a guide dog from birth to retirement, I'm not going to ask you all to donate don't worry (but if you do want to, click here) I'm just going to ask you all to think about Pixie every now and think about how you can make the day of a guide dog or a blind person go a little bit smoother.
Love,
Laura.
Thank you to Marie for letting me write about her and supplying the photos for this post, and to Sam, who also supplied a photo.