Well, that's happened to me this week and I wanted to share it with you.
If you've read my earlier post about the amazing Grant, you'll know that my parents re-home retired Guide Dogs. They currently have two beautiful ladies. Ria, the yellow girl in the pic here, had to be retired from training because of a skin condition on her nose. It's a huge shame because she's the softest, gentlest dog that would have been a brilliant companion for someone. Ria and The Boy have such an incredibly bond and she's his favourite.
Allie, the black Lab here, was a working Guide Dog until she was retired about 18 months ago. She's a funny old thing and it's taken a good while to come to love her.
But last weekend, Mum and Dad took her back to see her old owner who's been quite unwell and she, and her son, wanted to see Allie before the arrival of a new Guide Dog.
And it was a revelation.
Allie, this quiet and apparently ordinary dog has amazed us. Allie used to navigate her handler from Sussex to hospital in London, she's stopped her from crashing into lorries, she's warned her of all kind of hazards and protected her from others. She was, in the words of her old owner, "a brilliant Guide Dog". Allie also used to wrap her lead around her leg and limp sadly around the train carriage getting much sympathy and attention from all the passengers but she also loved the little boy in the house and he loved her.
In a word, Allie changed the lives of at least two people. And now she's changing ours.
We know Guide Dogs are special, we know they do amazing work but sometimes, you just need to be reminded just how outstanding they are.
So, to us Allie might seem like a lazy old lady bumbling around but if she's not earned her retirement, I don't know who has.
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