Today we did a 10 mile charity walk. This was to help out a client of ours who has been blind from birth and has had guide dogs for 40 years. To celebrate and try to give something back to GDBA, she has arranged to walk 40 miles over 4 days with her 6yo guide dog Faith. Today, the route took her over the wild moorlands of the North Pennines and she needed a sighted person to help her with the route, hence my involvement with Tarka and Lochan. Anyway, Faith was absolutely great and led Chris for 10 miles over very rough country in fairly appalling weather and apart from discovering an interest in the myriads of grouse on the moors over the last couple of miles she never put a paw wrong. But Tarka and Lochan were fantastic too - they walked under orders mostly off lead to heel for 10 miles and very quickly learned not to step in front of Chris at all, seeming to realise she didn't know where they were. A cup of tea and a piece of carrot cake or delicious fish chew (species dependant) was a great end to a tiring day. Another 10 miles for us tomorrow, again in the North Pennines, then someone else helps out on Thursday. Very proud of all three dogs!
And so you should be proud , that's a fantastic achievement , for all of you . What a lovely positive post to read , well done all ( you should sleep well tonight ! )
Oh how fantastic of you and the dogs. You have every reason to be proud Hope all goes well tomorrow om Stage 2
Wow, wow, wow well done to Chris and Faith. Lochan very well done for taking part in such a wonderful event and of course to Tarka and Lochan behaving so brilliantly, what an achievement keeping your girls under orders for 10 miles, I can only dream err... for a very long time Hope you all have a good nights sleep xxx
Great experience and very good dogs. Hope you are not too foot sore. The scenery must be superb, that is if you could see it in the appalling weather, hope it is better tomorrow.
Well done to all of you! Ten miles at heel is no mean feat, especially over rough terrain. Good luck for tomorrow
You will all sleep the sleep of the virtuous tonight. Well done to everyone! I can't even imagine how daunting walking in those conditions when blind would be!!!!
Haven't heard a peep out of the dogs since we got home. The area we were walking in today is truly wild, desolate and beautiful to me - at least it was in the brief glimpses I got when the fog lifted to give me more than 30m visibility....the forecast is for heavy rain tomorrow, going to have some very soggy dogs I think! I am in total awe of Chris and her relationship with Faith to be able to trust her to guide her in safety over that terrain - amazing stuff.
Well done and good luck for today - hope the weather is kinder 10 miles of walking to heel? Wildest dreams springs to mind
Brodick and Cuillin send admiring well done wags to their Cousins Tarka and Lochan, and of course to the very wonderful sounding Faith, and you Chris . Brod's wag of admiration to the dogs in particular is very strong as he can't imagine how on earth you could walk to heel calmly in the presence of Grouse...hope its not too hideous weather wise today...
What an amazing achievement for you all....all the dogs sound amazing...made me teary reading this imagining the challenge of it and how amazing it must feel to accomplish.Good luck today and stay safe x
Oh my goodness what an amazing, inspiring, exhausting thing for you - and for your friend and dog! Massive kudos to all of you.
