Meet Vickie, former guide dog extraordinaire, who was matched with Jolyon in 2010 and retired in February 2019.  She has sniffed the Queen’s shoes, chased Larry the cat off the step of 10 Downing Street and had a bark up with Lord Blunkett’s dog in the lobby of the House of Lords. She was possibly the best informed dog in Westminster and (we suspect) has her own views on how to solve BREXIT.  

To Jolyon and his family, she has been a much loved member of the team.  For Jolyon, she was a true partner guiding him around London safely and making friends wherever she went.  Vickie is now enjoying retirement in Scotland with family and whilst we miss her, she is happy.

For the last few months, Jolyon has been without a canine companion and back to using a white cane. Life has been a lot harder and more stressful with many bumps and bruises and every journey takes much longer. Some days it feels easier not to do something...  It has definitely reinforced how amazing it is to have a guide dog. There is however a massive waiting list in London with over 70 people awaiting dogs.  Jolyon has been lucky as Birmingham has stepped in with a dog offer and this summer he is training with Melody, the new girl in his life!

It costs £55,000 to train a dog from breeding programme to graduation and support beyond. Every partnership and all of the other amazing work by Guide Dogs is thanks to fundraising. 

We are doing the Coniston Challenge (a 5k run, a 12k cycle, a 1k kayak and a climb up the Old Man of Coniston in the Lake District (and presumably down again!) because we want to fundraise as much as possible as a thank you for Vickie. 

We know how important it is to get every person on that waiting list a dog and independence as soon as possible. But for some the wait for a first dog could be 2 years. For Jolyon, Vickie arrived 18 months after going on the list. Help us to contribute towards someone’s new dog. It makes an incredible difference!