The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, known colloquially as Guide Dogs, is a British charitable organisation[2] that uses guide dogs to help blind and partially blind people. The organisation also participates in political activism for the rights of those with vision impairments.[3]
The charity's filed accounts for the year ending December 2022 put income for the year at £142.2 million.[5]
Services
Guide Dogs, historically focused on training and pairing guide dogs with adults experiencing visual impairment, expanded their services in the early 2010s to include support for children and young individuals with blindness or partial sight.
Guide dogs
The organisation's guide dog service pairs blind or partially-sighted individuals with specially trained dogs, predominantly bred in-house rather than sourced externally. To ensure genetic diversity, there are instances of exchanging sperm samples with other guide dog organizations globally. The charity primarily breeds Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Curly-coated Retrievers, and standard Poodles.
Guide dog puppies are typically born and raised by volunteer breeding dog holders in a domestic setting. At six weeks old, the puppies undergo health checks and vaccinations at Guide Dogs' National Centre in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. Subsequently, they are placed with volunteer puppy raisers who introduce them to essential obedience skills and socialise them to various public environments, such as shops, offices, cafes, restaurants, and public transport.
Formal training for the dogs commences after 12 to 14 months and spans approximately 26 weeks, including an intensive period of three to five weeks alongside their future owners.
Guide dogs retire on or before their eleventh birthday - depending on the dog and owner. Many retire due to ill health of the dog or a change in circumstances of the guide dog owner. Many dogs stay with their guide dog owners, but some are adopted by members of the public. Martin Clunes recently adopted such a dog and made a TV programme about it.[6]
In 2020, there were 4,800 working guide dog partnerships in the UK.[7] By 2022, this had gone down to 3,695.[8]
Buddy dogs
Buddy dogs help children and young people who are blind or partially sighted to build confidence in themselves and trust in their surroundings. Guide Dogs piloted the service in 2011 and launched it as a permanent service in 2012. In 2020, 52 children were partnered with a buddy dog. Buddy dogs are Guide Dogs-bred dogs which haven't qualified to become a guide dog.
Sighted guiding skills
Guide Dogs works with communities and companies to provide sighted guiding skills, and also provide sighted guiding training to the family and friends of a person who is blind or partially sighted.
Children and young people's services
Guide Dogs provides the following services to help children and young people with sight loss:
My Time to Play – launched in 2020, this service comprises online and face-to-face sessions to help children aged 0–4 to develop through play, and their parents can also connect with other families affected by sight loss.
My Life Skills – helps children learn skills, including navigating streets safely, preparing food, handling money and managing their appearance. In 2019 Guide Dogs helped 2,845 children through My Life Skills.
CustomEyes Books – provides books in large print, tailor-made to each child's eye condition. In 2019, CustomEyes made 4,000 tailor-made books.
Family Events – a UK-wide programme of activity days providing the opportunity for children and parents to meet other families and access advice from Guide Dogs' specialists. Some 1,095 people affected by sight loss attended Guide Dogs' Family Events in 2019.
Tech for All – In 2021, Guide Dogs is piloting a scheme giving those aged three to 18 with a vision impairment a free iPhone or iPad. The project was launched after the charity's own research found that technology is a vital tool for people who are blind or partially sighted.
Campaigning
The charity's campaigning work covers a range of issues, including making sure children with sight loss are able to access the services they need, and ensuring public transport and streets are as accessible as possible. The charity is assisted by 28,000 volunteer campaigners who sign petitions, share social media posts, write to their MPs and collect signatures on the charity's behalf.
Research
The charity has a research programme to provide an evidence base for Guide Dogs' policies, operational procedures and campaigns. The research is carried out internally and in collaboration with external organisations, helping the charity to understand its service users' needs and care for its dogs.
The charity has two priority research areas:
Canine science – to support the behaviour, health and wellbeing of the charity's dogs.
Human behavioural sciences – to support the emotional wellbeing of service users, plus their family and friends.
In 2020, Guide Dogs began a research project called Born to Guide,[9] which is a long-term study into the complex relationships between a dog's genes and its health and behaviour. The charity hopes Born to Guide will provide new insights into how to breed future generations of guide dogs, with the goal of raising the percentage of pups who go on to become guide dogs.
History and trivia
Collecting model, London, 2017.Statue to commemorate the foundation of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association at The Cliff, New Brighton, in 1931
The first four British guide dogs – Judy, Flash, Folly and Meta – completed their training with Muriel Crooke and Rosamund Bond at Wallasey, Wirral in 1931, and three years after this the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association was formed.[10] The first permanent trainer for Guide Dogs was Nikolai Liakhoff, who came to England in 1933. In 1941, the organisation's premises at The Cliff in Wallasey was commandeered for war purposes and the Guide Dogs moved to new premises in the centre of England at Leamington Spa.[2]
In 1956, Guide Dogs began to recruit volunteers to become puppy walkers. A few years later, a breeding programme was introduced and by 1970, these components of Guide Dogs' work had grown so much they were given their own premises at Tollgate House, near Leamington Spa. The most influential figure in the development of Guide Dogs' puppy walking and breeding programmes was Derek Freeman.[11]
In 1964, the children's television programme Blue Peter followed the training of two guide dog puppies, Cindy and Honey. This feature has been repeated in the early 1980s, in 2006 with Andy Akinwolere with a puppy named Magic and in 2014 with another puppy, Iggy.[12]
Guide Dogs holds the Guinness World Record for the largest number of guide dogs trained by an organisation, which stood at 33,910 in 2016.[13] The charity also holds a world record for the Largest Virtual Tea Party, achieved in April 2020 when thousands of people posted a photo of themselves enjoying a cup of tea at home on Guide Dogs' Facebook page.
In 2021, the charity celebrated the 90th anniversary of the UK's first four guide dog partnerships with a host of activities including an artisan sensory garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.[14]
Travel
After the implementation of Brexit, the rules regarding guide dogs travelling throughout the UK were changed, with guide dogs travelling to Northern Ireland needing extra paperwork and vaccines;[15] this raised difficulty for adult dogs and for puppies due to go into training. At the end of 2023, guide dogs were subject to the same paperwork as pets.[16] and those travelling to the European Union could longer use a EU Pet Passport issued in the UK.[17]
