Our showroom has always been dog-friendly; we love any excuse to go gaga over our four-legged friends. So you can imagine how happy we were to provide a space for some guide dogs training on our shop floor!
We’ve been working with Henshaws for many years now, and they needed a space to train up some new guide dogs who had never been around mobility equipment. These dogs were going to be working with people with sight loss who required wheelchairs and electric add-ons to get around.
Guide dogs need to be able to concentrate and not be put off by different smells and sounds. As you can probably imagine, an electric wheelchair will make a different noise to what the dog is used to.
This gave the dogs a chance to get used to these changes. They got used to the way that the equipment moved around to make sure that they could still give their human all the guidance and support they might need.
Our retail advisor Gary said:
“We’ve been working with Henshaws for about 10 years now, so when they told us about the guide dog training we jumped at the chance.
“It was a great experience to have them training in the showroom, and it was quite spectacular to see how quickly they can overcome new challenges and distractions like mobility equipment. We’ll make sure to get some dog treats in next time they’re training here!”
The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association ended up buying a new wheelchair, electric wheelchair, and a powered add-on from us to use when training the dogs in future.
Lee Stanway, Head of Specialist Services for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, said:
“The number of applications for a guide dog from people in wheelchairs is increasing and our service is adapting to meet this demand, including the recent recruitment of our Guide Dog Mobility Instructor – Wheelchair Mobility Specialist.
“The staff at Yorkshire Care are friendly and knowledgeable and Guide Dogs staff who attended the training workshop felt they learned a lot and benefited from their time there. We hope that more of our staff can attend the Henshaw’s course in the future and that we can continue to work with Yorkshire Care as part of our training programme.”
It was fantastic to work with both Henshaws and the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association on this project, and we are delighted to be one of their official suppliers. We will continue to provide training facilities, expertise, and equipment whenever they need it.
We’ll be keeping track of the new recruits as they progress through their training!
Graeme has worked alongside the public sector for much of his working life, helping departments improve efficiencies and deliver on projects. In his role at Vivid.Care, Graeme used his experience to tackle some of the most challenging issues in the healthcare sector, from falls through to winter pressures. He was also a guest speaker and a number of different conferences, including at the Falls Prevention Summit in London.
