For Rolf Geerlings, having a Seeing Eye Dog was life-changing. His first was Echo, who retired after 10 years but stayed with Geerlings.
Then he and Echo welcomed Stella, his current Seeing Eye Dog, to their home.
“When you have low vision, you can be surrounded by a crowd and still feel utterly alone. But all it takes is a little lick from my faithful companion to reassure me that everything will be OK and that I'll never be alone,” Geerlings said.
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It costs more than $50,000 and two years to train a puppy to be a Seeing Eye Dog like Echo and Stella.
And with the number of people who are blind or have low vision expected to increase by about 100,000 over the next seven years, more Seeing Eye Dogs are needed.
That's why the Petbarn Foundation, in partnership with Vision Australia, is aiming to raise $1 million to fund training of 20 Seeing Eye Dogs, as part of its 11th annual appeal.
“These wonderful dogs – they transform your life. Without the generous help from Petbarn, we couldn't lead a normal life,” Geerlings said.
Petbarn Foundation manager Janelle Bloxsom previously visited the 9Honey Pets office with four puppies who are in training to be Seeing Eye Dogs.
Watch the video above.
“Fully trained Seeing Eye Dogs change the lives of people who are blind or low vision. It gives them confidence to navigate the world safely and with confidence,” Bloxsom said.
“It creates space when they're moving from A to B, for example, in a busy train station having a dog guide you through a station rather than something like the assistance of a white cane simply changes their lives.”
Training puppies to become Seeing Eye Dogs starts from eight weeks-of-age. It begins with basic socialisation skills from volunteer carers with the support of puppy development trainers.
When they reach 12 months-of-age they then start up to five months of expert training with a specialised instructor.
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There's no better time than now to help train a puppy by donating in Petbarn stores or online, with the end of financial year just days away. Donations over $2 are tax deductible
Donations to the Petbarn Foundation Seeing Eye Dogs Appeal can be made at any Petbarn store, or online at https://www.petbarn.com.au/seda
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