BOWERHILL resident Caroline Fielding is celebrating a new lease of life after receiving her first guide dog, Mike.
Prior to the arrival of her guide dog in November last year, Caroline – who is registered as blind – relied upon a white cane as a mobility aid when out in public.
After a two-week residential course in Southampton where Caroline learnt techniques for working with a guide dog, and then extensive training back home in Bowerhill in the weeks that followed, Caroline and Mike passed their final assessment last week.
“The assessor commented that it looked like Mike and I have been working together for years,” Caroline told Melksham News. Mike has given me a huge amount of independence. We are a partnership. -I feel secure with him and settled. I can now confidentially go to other places and relax, knowing that I won’t walk into things, like cars and bins.
“Walking with a white cane was difficult at times. Like anyone, if I was enjoying a walk, I could sometimes get lost in my thoughts and lose concentration. I fell into the canal once when I was walking with my cane. I got lost in my thoughts and did not register what the cane was telling me and failed to detect that I had strayed from the path. That won’t happen with Mike – I know Mike will keep me safe.”
As Caroline enjoys her new-found independence, she is also using the arrival of Mike to help promote awareness of guide dogs – highlighting the need for more volunteer guide dog puppy walkers/boarders, explaining how guide dogs should be approached in public and dispelling some guide dog ‘myths’.
Caroline said, “I was on a waiting list for two years for a guide dog because we need more puppy walkers/boarders in this area. Being a puppy walker/boarder involves caring for a gorgeous puppy for about a year, socialising it and giving it lots of different experiences.
“The really tough thing is giving it up. The consolation is knowing that you have made a life-changing difference to a visually impaired person’s life, enabling someone like me to gain more independence.”
About guide dog ‘etiquette’, Caroline explains, “There are two main rules – never ever feed a guide dog and don’t distract it when it is working.
“You’d be amazed at the number of people that want to sneak them a treat – so never feed a guide dog. If you really want to give my dog a treat, you need to give it to me to give to him.
“Never distract him when he is working. There is no reason why people can’t say hello to him, but they need to say hello to me first and ask if it is okay to pet my dog.
“More often than not I will say that there is no problem because I’ll ask him to sit and I’ll put his handle down – when his handle is down he knows that he is not in charge and then people can pet him. He won’t become playful as he is still working.
“In summary, if out in public the guide dog will be wearing a harness indicating that it is working – so always talk to the owner first before trying to interact with it in any way.”
Talking about some common guide dog myths, Caroline said, “Sometimes people believe that guide dogs are mistreated and that they are forced to work all day. They love working – as soon as Mike gets his harness on, his tail starts wagging, you can see that he is happy. If he didn’t want to do something, he wouldn’t do it. Plus, when he gets home he gets to be a normal dog, his working harness comes off and he’ll know that he can relax and be playful. Also, the guide dog charity carries out regular checks to see if guide dogs are happy and well looked after.
“Some people also believe that guide dogs can do more than they are able to do – I’ve heard some people think that a guide dog knows when it is a green man at a crossing or that you can ask it to take you to the supermarket and it will know the way. This is not true, the dog follows my instruction – he leads me and guides me, but I direct him. I need to roughly know where I am going – that’s why we learn routes with the instructor – Mike and I have learnt five routes that we can confidently navigate together.”
For more information about guide dogs and becoming a guide dog puppy walker/ hoarder, visit the Guide Dogs website: www.guidedogs.org.uk
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