It was a special edition of Talking Vision last week, as April 28 was International Guide Dog Day.
To celebrate the day we had a pair of young dog guide owners on the show to talk about how their dogs have changed their lives for the better, opening up new possibilities for their mobility and independence.
First up on the program, Sam caught up with a young Seeing Eye Dog owner who people may be familiar with, Ollie Fanshawe. At the age of 14, Ollie recently became the youngest ever recipient of a Seeing Eye Dog.
Ollie was joined on the program by his mum Melissa and Seeing Eye Dogs Instructor Brooke Anderson and spoke the difference his Seeing Eye Dog Sadie has made in his everyday life at school and home.
There was a prolonged wait for Ollie to be matched with Sadie in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Ollie was thrilled when earlier this year he was finally paired with her.
Ollie spoke about the process he went through before and after being matched with Sadie, and Brooke explained the process behind being matched with a dog.
Also on the program is Tegan, a high school student from Perth, who received her guide dog Louis when she was 16.
Tegan spoke about how her love for dogs and having witnessed the benefits of dog guides first-hand had motivated her to get a dog guide of her own at a young age.
Tegan also spoke about how Louis was the first guide dog a lot of students at her school had met, but emphasised just how supportive and welcoming the school and her friends have been.
You can hear all of this and more from Ollie and Tegan on this week’s episode of Talking Vision here.
