🦮🦮International Guide Dog Day🦮🦮

Where would some people be without these wonderful, brilliant dogs.  They help partially sighted and blind people every where they go, and also do tasks for them, like fetching the phone when it rings, or putting laundry in the washer to name a few. They are also a constant emotional support for them. The dog and owner build up a bond that probably few people ever experience. 

Believe it or not, Guide Dogs go back a very long way, to about 79AD. Paintings of these dogs were found helping the blind when they were uncovered in Pompeii.

They have been used for a long time in various countries, but it wasn't til the mid-1800s that the first legislation recognising these dogs started to appear.   

In 1934 the Guide Dog Association was established in the UK.  People after WW11 saw them used extensively for veterans who lost their sight in the war.  Many communities have made progress in the way of guide dogs. but it wasn't until 2010 the ADA helped establish legal rules for those with disabilities who are in need of these dogs. 

Today honours these brilliant dogs and the work they do throughout the world.  They certainly deserve this day as well. 

Here are some facts about these dogs :

• The most common guide dogs breeds are German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers. Sometimes poodles are even used.

• Training and socializing guide dogs begins when they are very young puppies, often when the pups reach about 8 weeks. Some organizations even have their own breeding facilities.

• Don’t pet a working guide dog! While guide dogs are in their harnesses, they are at work and can be distracted if people try to pet them.

Sadly, at the moment, the amount of dogs available has dropped for various reasons, but everybody concerned is doing their utmost to get this back on track.

How to celebrate today, maybe learn more about these dogs and the organisation Guide Dogs for the Blind, and maybe make a donation to this worthy cause as well, and help to make somebody else's life, who isn't as fortune as you and I, a lot easier and better.

So today, let's play tribute to these dogs and post all things relating to Guide Dogs and their work, along with our usual fun and chit chat!