Lunchtime Speaker – Dr Gareth Holsgrove – Guide Dogs

his week a talk by Gareth Holsgrave and Anica Zeyen about Guide Dogs for the Blind. Anica is blind.
She has a guide dog called Maisie, a black Labrador cross, who came to our meeting. Anica is a Professor at
Royal Holloway and does a lot of travelling for work, often by plane with Maisie. She has had two guide dogs
and told us about her experience with them. Both have worked well with her. She said that on one occasion
when crossing the road her dog wouldn’t move because it could see a motorist jumping the traffic lights.
Gareth spoke about his experience as a volunteer puppy raiser. The application process is quite lengthy. It
includes an interview, a home visit and a DBS check. If accepted, the puppy raiser has to sign a legal
agreement. Both Gareth and his wife applied and were both approved and then put on a waiting list. They
finally acquired a black Labrador puppy called May. The rules of puppy training are called PREP (puppy raising
for excellent partnership). Raisers use reward/encouragement rather than scolding to train the puppy. The basic
training is carried out by the puppy raiser, but includes puppy raising classes at which raisers will often swap
puppies. The puppies are trained to be with children and other adults, to learn how to travel in cars, on public
transport and planes, to cross roads safely, to take directions to places where their owner wants to go. Most
importantly, a guide dog needs to be able to recognise and obey commands by their owner. The basic training
takes 14 months, after which the dogs are given intensive formal training at a training centre. This lasts for at
least 20 weeks. Assuming that the dog passes its training, it is then matched with an owner. The potential guide
dog owner is also given training and assessed to see if they can work with a dog. The owner is then matched
with a potential canine partner. Guide Dogs will then assess whether the dog and owner are a good match.
They work with the owner to design a training programme to build a trusting partnership beween the dog and
owner. Normally a guide dog has a working life of 8-10 years and which point they are retired. They are usually
rehomed, although some can be retrained into less intensive roles or stay with their owner. Guide Dogs raises
money through legacies, individual and corporate donations and fundraising.Teresa Stedman gave the