LOCAL CHARITI E S GUIDE DOGS


including Australia, Holland and some in America and they exchange frozen semen from their dogs to give them a broader gene pool from dogs that have produced the most successful guide dogs.


“Whilst our focus is always on aiding blind and partially sighted in the UK, we are also really proud to help people in other countries too.”


The more scientific and calculated approach to breeding has led to a much higher success rate of pups becoming fully trained guide dogs – currently around 65 per cent make the final cut.


The volunteers are fully supported in their roles as doggy midwives and puppy minders for the births and early weeks of their lives when they are then handed over to the centre for the next stage of the careers.


Matthew’s role is very much about ensuring they produce the best puppies with the best chance of success at becoming fully fledged guide dogs.


“We have a vast amount of data about the dogs we have bred and we look at all of the individual dogs’ virtues as they progress, including their health, their temperament and their success through training. When we choose mates for the various dogs we are matching them up to give us the best possible chance of success. Some we might want to prospect as future breeding stock as it is essential we get these breeding foundations right. “We are very conscious about genetic diversity too so as well as our own stud dogs, we look to bring in new bloodlines, including from dogs abroad.”


With this in mind, the breeding centre has forged links with other guide dog breed centres from around the world,


“The majority of our dogs are Labradors and Golden Retrievers and we find the most successful pairings are a combination of these two. We have experimented with some other breeds but we adhere to the old adage ‘if it ain’t broken, don’t try to fix it.’ “The breeds we use have been tried and tested and offer a combination of traits required, both physically and in temperament, that match the job best.”


The dogs that don’t make the grade are considered for a number of other roles. The charity also offers two other schemes where the dogs can be utilised. Some are used as Buddy Dogs for children with sight issues, not as a guide dog but to help build self-confidence and improve the child’s general sense of well-being. There is also a companion dog scheme, providing dogs to adults to offer friendship and emotional support and helping to reduce feelings of isolation.


The charity has a strong ethical stance on the dogs they breed. If the dogs aren’t suitable for any of their own roles they may be offered to other organisations which offer assistance dogs and failing that, there is no shortage of people waiting to offer a home for a failed guide dog so all dogs are guaranteed a happy (and carefully vetted) long term home.


Like all charities, Guide Dogs relies heavily on an army of willing volunteers but they could always use more. Matthew explained


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