#150: Disco Nap!

Foreign.

Welcome to blind guys chat, where oren o'. Neill.

Hello.

Jan bloom.

Hello.

And mohammed lashear.

Hi there.

Talk about the a to z of life.

Well, hello, ladies and gentlemen. And you're very welcome to episode 150 of Blind Guys Chat. We've made it.

What? 150.

That's it for us, ladies and gentlemen. It's been a pleasure doing these 150 episodes and goodbye.

Yeah, yeah, I think I had enough. You know, it is really, it is too much.

I have a bit of a gripe with Mr. Mohammed last year because yet again, I know, I noticed that he is, he's. I noticed that he is a featuring on the Freedom Scientific FS cast. Again,

that's not, what can I say,

it is now Fish. Sparrow Connect.

Of a Sparrow connect.

It's called the Sparrow Connect. And yeah, I, I do, I do interview around. So I'm sorry, but you know, I can't help my nature. Oren, why are you dating? Why are you, why are you trying keep me down? I have a grip with Oren now.

Yeah, we have a big star in our team. You know, that's. You can say that again.

Big star, big star. Well, I'll tell you what, I'll give you an opportunity to promote Jaws because I just noticed there is an update for 2026. Do you want to talk about what that update is?

Yeah. So one of the great things, and this is for our US listeners initially, but this will come to others later down the line. In fact, whenever we introduce Vispero accounts to the rest of the world, so that's Canada, the EU and other places in the world, you will get this feature. But for now, this is only available in the U.S. it's one of our first account based features and we call it Cloud Settings. What Cloud Settings allows you to do is sync your settings to the cloud and it will allow you to restore your settings should you lose them somehow or your machine goes tailwire. It will also allow you, when you have a new machine, to just set up jaws. With one press of the button, you sign into your account, it comes up and it says, hey, I found cloud settings. Would you like to use those? And boom, your cloud settings will be installed on your device and you'll have exactly the same settings as your previous, previous computer. It'll also allow you to sync settings across devices. So if you have two computers, you want them to have exactly the same settings, you can do that too. So it's a very powerful feature that will allow you to have your settings whenever you need them wherever you need them, whenever you're logged in to your account. So that's one of the landmark new features. It is still in eap. So it's an early adopter program feature. You have to go into your options and go into early adopter program. You can turn it on there. And that's because we're still working on it. We're still ironing out some kinks, and we have some great ideas to improve the feature before we make it into something that's on by default in Jaws. This will also later down the line come to ZoomText and Fusion, but for now it's only available for. For Jaws.

Very good. Well done.

Yep.

Okay, well, let's do. Let's have a quick update on World Cup. I'm very sorry to see that. Scotland. Scotland.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I wanna personally tell Blind Gordon that I'm happy. I'm happy.

Yeah, I'm.

I'm happy. Moroccan. Morocco won against Scotland. But I'm not happy that Blind Gordon is sad. Let me just put it. Aren't I nice?

Yeah, but, but, but it was quite a long story for the Scottish team because due to the fact that we are now with 48 teams, it took very, very long until they finally knew the third number places, you know, when they were also going through one of

the older Dutch commentators who is, I think, no longer going to the World Cups, but sometimes still does matches in the National League. His name is Frank Snooks. He made a joke a while ago that made me laugh. But it's also. It's also very mean, actually. He says the Scots, when they go to the World cup, they generally get back home earlier than their postcards. Sounds very funny, but also very mean. Yeah. I'm sorry, Scott.

Yeah, yeah. Because they had a very, very good impression in the Boston area, you know, because Boston loved really the Scottish people. And they had really one remarkable thing, you know, that on one night, just. I think it was for the first game that they were. That they drank dry all the cups,

you know, there was no beer left in Boston.

There was nothing. Nothing left. No, no, not even water. I think it was. It was dry all over the place. They had fun, you know, the Scottish people.

They did, I hope.

And also Kurchao went home. Our dick. Yeah, but what is it the also the other Dutch team went through? They were the. From Cape Verde. Yeah, the Cape Verde. Yeah.

They have an Irish player on their team.

Oh, really?

Yeah, they do. And I can't remember. I cannot remember the gentleman's name. But he plays for Shamrock Rovers is one of the local clubs actually that.

That team did fairly well in the. In the Conference League last year.

Well, he is, he is playing. He's marking Messi in the next game and somebody. Somebody said today all he has to do is have one good defense against Messi, whereas Messi is just expected to score every time.

Yeah, he has six goals already. Yeah, yeah, that's.

Yeah, yeah, he's doing very well this World Cup.

And then also Dan Bailey, you know, from France. He was now also having a hat trick, you know, in the. In I think it was 30 minutes or something. Half. Yeah, it was very fast and then Mbappe was dry. You know, he did not even know. Yeah yeah.

It's the Netherlands against Morocco actually.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It will be a big clash on the.

So yeah and I tomorrow actually we'll meet up and fight first.

3am Amo.

Come on, be awake.

Are you gonna get up? Are you gonna stay awake for it?

Yeah, I'll probably sleep like I tomorrow I so the. We're recording this on the Sunday before the Netherlands Morocco match. Yeah. And I work until 9pm which is sometimes something that happens when you work with Americans. But then after that I immediately just go to bed and wake up hopefully on time for the match.

That's what we call a disco nap.

Okay.

A disco. A disco nap. So like on the town. Yeah, if you're going out on the town, you have a little disco nap and then you're full of. Full of energy for your night.

Oh, okay.

Well, there you go. Well, I'm gonna have a disco nap then.

Yeah, no, but it will be. It is one of the. The for this round. It is the. Yeah, it is really.

I think it's the best match this round.

Yeah, it's a bit.

And of course in the Nether there's quite a big Moroccan diaspora. Yeah. Of which I remember.

And a lot of team players of Morocco play also in the Dutch league

etc of have played there or there. They. They were born in the Netherlands. Yeah, there's a lot of them.

So it's a lot of good connection. So it will be a nice game. It will be in a high quality fast. Totally different than the previous games from the Netherlands against all the defensive. Yeah. Defending teams is.

Yeah.

Did you guys hear about the pub in Boston called the Dubliner which the Scots completely adopted as their favorite pub in Boston? And the. And the Dubliner loved the Scottish and you know, even if they were supporting other matches that they weren't playing in. They were encouraged and, you know, okay, celebrated or whatever. And then there was. Now, I'm not going to know the dates, but there was a date where England was playing somebody or other, I don't know, because football, schmutball. But the Dumplinger, the Dubliner pub, announced that they were closing for the day because there was nothing happening that day as a dig, I think. And they did. They did. They closed because apparently they said their staff have been working for two weeks non stop, really hard and they deserve.

Now we have a day off.

Blindguyschat.com drop us a line and come along. Email us on blindguyschat.com drop us a line and come along. Email us on blindguyschat.com

well, ladies and gentlemen, we are now going to have a round table and talk to some guide dog owners for the 50th anniversary of Irish Guide Dogs. And we're also going to talk to a puppy raiser. We have Lawrence, who's a guide dog owner, we have Sarah, who's a guide dog owner, and we have Laura, who is a puppy raiser. You're all very welcome and thank you very much for taking the time to come on and talk about your experiences with guide dogs. Lawrence, where did guide dogs come in into your life?

Of course. So first of all, thank you very much for having me. I'm delighted to be here. And then in actually answering the question, I'm blind since birth and so I would have been involved with Irish guide dogs since I was quite young, around 4 years old. So I used to cane for around kind of 15 years. And then I got a guide dog around two and a half years ago now. And yeah, his name's Pepper. He's four years old now and he's a great fella.

What brought you to deciding that you wanted a guide dog?

I think for me it was all about kind of how can I lead or lead the best quality of life that I want to live. And while the cane is very good in terms of kind of going from place to place and when you have a busy life, it's a lot easier when you do have a dog just because the dog is a bit faster than the cane, a bit more discreet than the cane. And I mean, who doesn't want a dog?

Like, just give them an example of how Pepper has helped you since you got. Since you got Pepper.

Sure. So for a bit of background, I'm a student, so a lot of my day is going to lectures and going to classes and so the main ways in which Pepper helps me is with finding doors. Because when you're in like a lot of these buildings, you're down like a long corridor, all the doors are the same. So finding doors is probably the biggest thing. But also making a lot of the micro decisions. And what I mean by that is let's imagine you're on the street and you're walking towards someone and it's, do I go to the left? Do they go to the left? And all of this kind of thought process has been taken away. So it's, it's definitely helped.

Sarah, you're. You're welcome to the podcast. How many guide dogs have you had so far?

Hi. Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. I am on my second guide dog. So I got involved with the Irish Guide dogs very, very young for a little bit of context and background. I have been registered blind since bir. I do have a little bit of usable vision, but I am completely blind in bright sunlight and at night I can see relatively okay. But I'm registered blind. I have a condition called Leber's Congenital amaurosis. And because when I was born, that condition was only researched in America, myself and my mom traveled over to America when I was only a year old and my mom saw all these little toddlers over there using canes. And I'm the youngest of four siblings and none of my other sisters are vision impaired at all. So, like, my mom basically wanted me to be as independent as all of my older sisters. So a lot of the organizations at the time in Ireland, it wasn't the policy to give canes to children under 12. So the mobility instructor had just started. Victoria had just started working in the Irish Guide Dogs at the time, and she imported a cane from England for me. And she still has it because I think I was her youngest client because I was about one and a half or between one and a half and two when I got my first cane. So that's how young I started with the Irish guide dogs. So I did my mobility with Victoria all the way up through primary school. And I always, always knew I wanted a guide dog. So my family puppy raised two guide dogs. When I was nine and 10, we had two dogs, Uchi and Vic. One became an assistance dog and the other became a companion dog because of he had health issues. And then I got my first guide dog when I was in fifth year of secondary school in. So that would have been in 2017. And I was, I was 17 when I got my first dog and he was Mossy, and he is a golden retriever and the most beautiful, kind, amazing, intelligent dog. And Mossy retired their last June, and I got matched with Rudy, who is a crazy little Labrador girl. And she is so intelligent, she can get herself into trouble if she's not careful. She's brilliant, though. She's an amazing worker when she's got her harness on.

Did you find there was such a huge difference because you're using your cane from one and a half to then getting your first dog?

I never liked the cane because I always saw the cane as an obstacle finder, whereas the dog is an obstacle avoider. So, like, for a cane to be useful, you put it in front of you and you switch it from side to side and it hits things. And when it hits things, you know, to avoid them. But to, you know, the sighted people's perspective, it looks like you're walking into stuff, so. So they're more inclined to come over and make sure you're okay and check. Whereas that's the actual functionality of a kid. It's supposed to hit things. Whereas with a guide dog, the guide dog just like, avoids the poles and avoids everything. So it just makes the process, you know, of just walking down the street or, you know, walking around so much easier. And like yourself and Lawrence were saying a minute ago, you know, like, people will get out of the way if they see the dog coming. And, you know, there. You know, there's obviously pros and cons to both in terms of. With a cane, you don't have to argue with Aer Lingus when you want to try and travel and get the dog on the plane, you know, that's a positive of having a cane kind of. You don't have to think of the dog when you're going places. But, you know, for me, I have had a guide dog as young as possible, and I will probably always have a guide dog for as long as possible because, yeah, I just the. The independence and also, like, I'm a dog person. The companionship of just having an incredibly intelligent dog. Like my. My guide dog came to Canada with me for six months, was like, my, you know, I've spent more time with my guide dog than. Than my family, you know, in the last seven years of being matched with Mossy and. And. And so now Rudy's gonna probably like, Rudy's gonna be the same.

And Laura, hearing all of this, it must make your heart warm when you hear.

Yeah, I'm actually thinking, how did you get started?

Why become a puppy raiser?

It Was kind of totally selfish reasons, really. I started raising puppies 11 years ago.

Wow.

And I had. My youngest daughter was five at the time, and she was terrified of dogs. We don't know why nothing ever happened. Don't know why she had this fear, but she was terrified. And it was becoming a really big issue. You know, if we were going anywhere as a family, we're going to the park or even the seaside we went to one time to the beach. And she was just constantly watching around to see, is there any dogs? Can they get near me? Are they on lead, are they off lead? And she'd be climbing up her dad's shoulders if there was a dog nearby. And we were, thank God.

Wow.

I'd love to. We could get a land of a puppy or something to try and get rid of this fear that she has. My husband said, you know, you can take guide dog puppies and keep them for a little while. And I was like, oh, this might be the thing for us. So I went online and read up about us, what was involved, and I thought, oh, God, this sounds like a really great thing. So we applied. I had just been made redundant as well a couple of months beforehand. So I had time, was looking for something to do. So, yeah, we applied and we got chatting to somebody, found out more about. And I thought, oh, yeah, this sounds great. So we got our first guide dog a couple of weeks later, and we haven't looked back.

When you got the first dog and it came to the time of having to let the dog go off to college, as I call it, how did that experience affect your family?

Well, it's really hard. There's no point in saying it's not. It is extremely difficult because of the nature of guide dog puppies, you know, part of the job that we're doing is bringing them everywhere with us. So they're constantly part. They're like an extension of our left arm, like, I'm sure for guide dog users, but so they're with us for the whole year. Like, they're never left on their own, very rarely left on their own. So you're. I think you're extra attached to them. So it's. It's really difficult. And especially for the kids as well. It's very difficult, but. And you're assigned a supervisor when you start puppy raising and they're fantastic and they try to prepare you for what's coming, you know, and get you ready and give you as much time and all the talk that you need. So they really try and prepare you Great for when the time comes. But it is a really sad part. But it's, you know, it's a small part of it. You have to, you have to look at the big picture. You know, you take them for a reason. You know, they're going on to change somebody's lives. You know, somebody else needs them. So you have to kind of take a step back and say, no, somebody needs these more than I do. And this is what I've signed up to. So, you know, it's, it's hard, but you do, you pass them on and you get your updates. You know, they go off down to Cork to be trained. And the trainers are fantastic. They get in touch with you very regularly and they tell you how they're doing and, you know, all going well, you can be invited down to see them again. You know, it's, it's not the end of the line. Even though you've said your goodbyes, it's not the end of the line.

You enjoyed it so much, you decided we go.

Yeah, it's such a lovely experience. It really. And you learn so much. I never had a dog before we done this and I knew nothing about dogs. And you learn so much about them and you see the progress, you know, especially when they're small pups. They made such huge progress in the first six months. You're going, oh, my God, I can actually do this. And then you meet such wonderful people. Met loads of puppy raisers through doing this. I made some great friends and the support, everything about, you know, everything from the guide dogs, the support and everything. It's a great experience.

And Sarah and Lawrence, when you got your, your dogs, the first dogs, did you contact the puppy raisers? Are you in contact with them?

So, but when I got Mossy, I was only 17, right. So I was an emotionally immature teenage girl. And the thing about guide dog training is you have to try and bond with the dog and it's very much like you have to create your bond with the dog and it has to be because it's, it's like such an incredible trust. So I didn't contact my puppy raiser when I was 17, but the thing was, when I went to college in 2019, I was standing outside a lecture hall and a girl came up to me and asked me, was my guide dog Mossy? And I said, yep. And she was the daughter of the people who puppy raised him. And then I got in touch with Ethna on, on Instagram, the lady who puppy raised him, and she sent me loads of Pictures of Mossy as a puppy. And it was really lovely to, to chat with her on Instagram about like, you know, I, I learned little stories about Mossy. Like, apparently he used to sit on the hedge because why not? And, and just like fun things like that I wouldn't have known about him. And then I was able to update her and send her pictures. So Rudy's puppy, razor, I haven't gotten in touch with yet because I've only been matched with her about eight months. So I'm, it's just about the time where I will get in touch with her. But she's absolutely lovely. She made a photo album for me of all of Rudy's puppy photos and like put little inscriptions like written under, like, this is Rudy, you know, at the beach or you know, Rudy at the airport. And she like made a little photo album for me, which was absolutely lovely. So I need to call her in the next little while and thank her for that.

I actually felt really bad reaching out to my puppy raiser because I was like, I've taken your dog. And I think there's a feeling of that as well, at least for my own self. I remember reaching out and be like, I feel really bad. You've like made this dog brilliant. Now, like, I'm kind of just the lucky person who gets to benefit.

I want to bring my wife in here, Claudia, because this is something I want to, I want to ask all of you, like, is there one kind of common misconception about guide dogs that you wish people, the public understood better

maybe that the guide dogs know when to cross the road? I think this is probably the best one

that they can read the number on the bus.

That they can, they can read the number on the bus. Oh, it's the green man now. And it's definitely not this way. Rather the dog will bring you to the crossing. But it's your call in saying that my own dog kind of does pick up on the change in the beeping and he will go when it goes a bit faster.

Guide dogs do not have a GPS system in the way that you can't just say, take me to Centra and they'll take, they'll take you to Central like you like. It just does not work like that. Also. Yeah, it's very much. We have to give the dog directions. Not just like, the dog just knows exactly where to go. Now if you walk the same route 50 times, they will know the route and they will want to go the same route. But if you like it, it, it's we're taught, like the way guide dog training works is basically we're taught specific commands. So like, you know, forward to tell them when to cross the road, you know, or to. To start working and then, you know, like right, left and in and over just to tell them to shimmy in a little bit or whatever. Like. So it's. It's very much a partnership. It's not just a take me to Sentra and the dog is off, like, and also another one. I don't know if you guys get this a lot, but just because I'm blind and use a guide dog, I can use the stairs. A lot of people tend to think that if there's no lift, it's not accessible to a guide dog user. The only thing that's not accessible to a guide dog user really is escalators, because guide dogs should not go on escalators in, in this country. I know, like some guide dog, you'll see it on the Internet and on social media. You know, some dogs do, but they are very specifically, very specially trained dogs for people who, like, are in London and need to use the tube and have to use escalators.

I think another big misconception from people is the different services that the Irish guide dogs offer. You know, people just think they train guide dogs and that's it.

Yeah.

Like even Lawrence, you were saying you're involved since your age 4. Is that what you said?

Yeah. Like, I would have done a lot of om. Kind of orientation mobility. Yeah.

Like, I don't think I knew that they. They worked with children or they offered support to children that young.

Their orientation and mobility service is for children in. In Munster primarily, but Once you're over 18, the orientation mobility service is nationwide, but they also do next steps classes now, so say for, you know, blind people who are in secondary school and looking to go to college and, you know, looking to live independently.

Yeah. There's independent living skills as well. Is that another one?

Yes.

I have this thing going on with Flora now again, where I think Larry loves her more than he loves me.

He does.

Have you experienced that? Like Laura, do the dogs know that you're the boss and.

And no, I'm the favorite in my house. I am the number one. Nobody comes close. I am the number one. Isn't that lovely? Yeah, well, I spend the most time with them. You know, I do all the training and I do all the fun stuff as well. The kids come down for cuddles and plays and wind them all up and then they go back upstairs And I'm left to finish off the play and the cuddles. So, no, I am definitely the number one. And I think if any of them tried to even try and pip me or try and take my place, I'd just be like, no, I'm number one. Back off. That's lovely.

If I'm away or like, I'm. I'm out and she's left at home, she will get on the furniture. Right. Which is a guide dog. No, no, Right. She will get up onto my bed, or she will sit on the couch, or she will. Whatever. She will never do that if I'm in the house because she. She just knows that that is bald and that is wrong. But. But the thing is, that is like. So that's her personality. And when I take the harness off her, she runs. She. She'll just zooms around the garden and she is crazy. She has her puppy brain. Whereas when she's working, she is incredibly responsible and mature and she's like. She is focused. It's like. It's like, you know, people, when you're in. When you're in, oh, you know, a day's work versus when you're on a night out at home, you know, you're two different people. And I think that's kind of. It's hard for people to, you know, reconcile the fact that the dog is kind of the same as people. They just kind of see them as pets. And it's a lack of understanding of how the training works as well. It's because. So the training is very much to do with positive reinforcement and so making the dog feel happy when they do stuff. Right. So, you know, the dog wants to work because when the dog stops at a curb, we'll give them a treat or we'll give them praise or whatever. So, you know, if a person. If you're walking along and a person calls them and they want to give them praise and loves, that actually interferes with the dog's training and with the dog's work, because that's a positive influence for the dog. So the dog is going to want to steer towards people then and just not do his job. So they've got.

I mean, they have their own personalities. Lawrence is Pepper. What kind of personality has Pepper got?

Pepper. He's an interesting fella. I get two reactions when people see Pepper. They say, what an incredible guide dog. Or, how is he a guide dog? He's on the harness. Incredible. Honestly. Really, really good. But then when he's off the harness, like us, all he's a bit bold. He jumps, runs around sometimes, goes on furniture, really doesn't hold back. And to be honest with you, I love to see this in him because it's him letting out the pent up energy from the day and it's so important. But as for who's my dog's favorite, it sounds terrible, but it's definitely me. And it's in a way kind of with circumstance because I'm with the dogs the most. But also when I moved out with the dog, I've never lived at home with him. We've always lived away. So like I finished guide dog training and went to student accommodation. That was, that was reality check for him. But when I got the dog, one of my friends who also is a guide dog, he said, you're no longer number one, you're no longer the guy. And like I've, in a way I've become so much more cool and less cool at the same time. Like, I remember I was going for coffee one day and a girl walked by and she was like, oh my God, it's Pepper. And I was like, oh, okay, fame at last. But also it's, he's, he's a big personality. Like, even when we were going away, it wasn't like I went to Strasbourg for a year. It wasn't, it's Lawrence's going away party, it was Pepper's going away party.

And Lawrence just happened to be, yeah, we might be the number one person to our dog, but I would say as soon as you get a guide dog, you become second fiddle in your own life. When I was in college, during COVID they used to like, I went to Trinity College and on the gate on the way in, the security used to make you provide ID when like to get into college. But because Mossy was very distinctive, you know, red retriever and he was gorgeous and everyone knew Mossy. You know, I never actually had to give my ID at the gate because they always just knew that I was, you know, the guide dog user, student and Trinity or whatever. Like, you know, people knew. And I went in to college with Mossy and I needed to run back out for two seconds to just drop something out to my sister. So I literally went in the gate with Mossy. I didn't need my id. I left Mossy in the apartment because it was dark and I couldn't navigate out myself. Ran back out just outside the gate and went to come back in and the security guard was like, sorry, do you have ID there? And I was like, okay, so you have no idea who I am. Yeah, but it's really funny because you will. Like, I was on the Lewis one day and this girl, she like this just random girl, she came up to me, she was like, do you do law in Trinity? And I was like, yeah. And she's like, is that. Is that Mossy? Yeah. Hi. Who are you? Just like, oh, my sister is on your course and she told me about you, so. But it's really funny. It's like people will not remember you. They will remember your dog, though.

I always said to Oren, because you get. You do get more attention when you've got a guide dog than when you've got a cane. Like people. You're right. People avoid you with a cane. I think. Like I've watched both with Orin and I told him he should have had a dog when he was a single fella because he would have been coming down with women because women love dogs. Well, everybody love dogs. Well, most people do. But like, people stop you in the street all the time or don't they?

Oh, yeah, they do. Yeah. Sometimes it's. Yeah, it can be quite annoying when you just want to get from A to B. I mean, Laura, have you had that. That experience with puppies?

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. How does that work out?

And you know, if you walk them without the jacket, you know, the training jacket that they wear. If you walk them without the jackets, they don't get as much attention. Yeah, but when you put the jacket on, it's like, oh, it's a puppy. And people, people. Some people are great. Obviously we would do a lot of talks in schools and colleges and businesses to try and raise awareness and stuff and try and say to people, please don't touch them. You know, please don't touch them. But what a lot of people actually do is they send their kids over, as they say, there's a. That's a really well behaved, friendly dog. So go over and say hello to it.

Yeah.

Oh, please don't. Yeah. Or, you know, if you're in shops or, you know, part of our. Part of spending the year with them is we'll meet our supervisor, you know, out in shopping centers and.

Yeah.

All sorts of social places. And anytime there's a particular retail center that we go to that has a Smith's, you know, the toy store. Yeah. And we'll just walk in and around that for the noise and you know, there's usually teddies falling off shelves or games, shooting games or something, you know, just to get the pups used to it. And there's always somebody sent over. Always a child sent over. You know, if you stop at the checkout or something is always, oh, say hello to that dog. They're really friendly. Please don't.

I actually find kids are more aware of the guide dog rules. And, like, kids will come over and they will ask me, can I pet the dog? And I'm sorry. Sometimes I will say no, because just, yeah, if the dog is working and concentrating. But I find adults are more inclined to go, I know I shouldn't pet the dog, but I just can't help it. Right. Kids are the ones you would expect to have impulse, you know, control problems. But it's actually. It's actually the adults and the parents, please do try and help yourselves, you know, and not pet the dogs. And if, you know, you shouldn't.

The kids, they love to learn, and, you know, they ask so many good questions.

Yeah.

And, like, what I will say is, like, it's always important to ask questions. Like, I was a very curious child. I loved asking annoying questions. So I'd. I definitely encourage it. But with kind of parents educating kids, that's. That's all you really can do. Now I actually got more questions when I decay than in comparison to when I had a dog. Or at least I heard it a lot more. Like, I'd hear, daddy, why does that man have the stick? And you hear, shh, don't be saying that.

And, like,

there's no issue with being curious. And I think that's the main thing. And I do believe it is the local branches who organized the trips into the schools.

What was the moment where you realized, this dog's gonna change my life?

I would say I bonded with Mossy fully, completely. You know, we were friends beforehand, but when, like, when I bonded fully completely was when I went to Canada. I was in third year of college, so it was a good long time into our relationship. And, like, Covid was in the middle there. So it was like, things got weird, right. During COVID everything got weird. So, you know, I had to walk the same route every single day. Mossy hated it, I hated it, and whatever.

Yeah.

But when I was in Canada, it was just after Covid had. So it was January 2022, and Canada instituted restrictions for the first six weeks when I was in Canada. And so it was just me and Mossy in a room in a country that we didn't know. But me figuring out all those routes by myself with Mossy, and, like, different challenges. Like, you know, guide dogs aren't trained how to navigate, you know, insane snow and, and those kind of things. And trying to, like that working together, like, relationship between myself and Mossy, trying to navigate problems like snow and, you know, like, trying to get from Kingston, where my college was, to Toronto by myself with three suitcases and a guide dog. You know, just, just experiences like that for me, really, like, I just didn't feel like I was alone and I, I always felt like there was someone, someone there. And, you know, that's kind of how I, I feel about my dogs. Like they're, you know, I went up the Comber Mountains the other day with my, with my new dog, Rudy, and I went up with my sisters as well. And what I would have done previously when I had my cane was, you know, use my sisters as guides and, you know, hold their shoulders and get them guiding. But like, going up the Comrades last week, it was a real test for me and Rudy in terms of. I haven't done anything that tricky with her before, and any trainers listening to this would probably say, you shouldn't do that, and I probably shouldn't, but it's, it's because the way I'm working with her and she's incredibly clever. And for me, going up the mountain there, like last week was probably it for me and Rudy because I got up the mountain with only her guiding me and she did it better than any of my family members could.

Can I ask a question? Quick question, Lawrence, to you as a student. How do you see your future unfolding with Pepper by your side? And do you think your life is better now with him? He's your first guide dog, right?

Yeah. So he's my first guide dog, I think definitely he's opened a lot more kind of doors and opportunities and he's definitely brought me to more places than maybe I would have found myself where I not have got a guide dog. So this kind of answers Oren's question as well. So kind of a moment that really kind of signified that was toward the end of my Erasmus in Strasbourg, and I'd had. I'd flown from Cork to Frankfurt to get a bus to Strasbourg to get a tram across the city. And then we're on the final kind of end of our walk and it's like half past one in the morning. No one's around. It's quiet. It's like eerily quiet. But there is a lovely kind of feeling of togetherness. And I was thinking, I was like, you know, we could end up going anywhere. And it's, it's, it sounds Very romantic and very idealistic, but it's. It is also very true. And so my own future with the dog, like, as I often say at the moment, like, I need to find a job or else I need to do a master's. And a lot of that kind of revolves around networking and talking to people. Now I say to everyone, the guide dog does 80% of my legwork. I just have to not say the wrong things because everyone loves dogs. And so even within that, I think. I think overall it's just for the con, for, I suppose, in the confidence, in a way, and even, like, knowing, like, if I am going into, like, an intense situation. And I felt it a lot with exams last year and I'm sure I'll feel it again in a few weeks, but, like, no matter how the exam goes, like, rain or shine, the dog. The dog is always by her side.

And, like, the thing is that, Laura, it's yourself and your colleagues as puppy raisers that make that happen.

It's lovely, really lovely to hear these stories because we don't often get to hear them. And it does make it all worthwhile. It really does.

I want to ask us all one last question. How has Irish guide dogs changed your life?

Well, it's opened up. I've made so many friends from this. I've met so many lovely people. I've gone from no interest in dogs to just learning so much about them and just love them now. It's a lot. It's an intense year, but it's like having a. So rewarding. It is, it is, but it's. It's a great experience, absolutely great experience. And I'm actually doing a thing, it's called Club Lead, where it's just an extra support to people who are puppy raising for the first time. It's like a buddy system, almost brilliant. That's a really good idea. It's just an extra point of support. And, you know, if you're. Because everybody that does puppy raising, I think, at some stage doubts what they're doing, thinks they're doing it wrong. Everybody goes through doubt, so it's just a little bit of an extra. You know, you're doing great, you can do this. You know, advice, tips, anything that I've gone through, I'll look at it. I've gone through this. Don't worry about it. Try this, do this. Yeah. It's just an extra support to tell people that are doing it for the first time time, like, for my own

part, as much as I often say, like, I've Got so much mobility and orientation kind of skills from them. I very much view it as I was taught to teach myself. And I was given the skills to go out and further expand my environment. Like, let's say, for example, when I would have been doing routes around my town in Middleton. Say you're going to indent at a crossing and why are you indenting? Because of safety, because you've left things to filter. And understanding what steps and what tools I can use to best optimize and kind of lead my life has definitely allowed me to strive a lot further.

For me, it would be. I mean, the Irish guide dogs has always been in my life, you know, from as early as I can remember, you know, from Victoria, doing orientation, mobility, and then, you know, getting my dog at 17. But they've given me a guide dog. The question that I sometimes get asked is, you know, do you find you've done so much more than you would have if you had, if you hadn't had a dog? And I would say to that, no, I probably would have gone to college. I probably would have gone to Canada. I probably, you know, would travel as much as I do. But the difference is I'm doing it with my best friend in a way more comfortable way. So I'm doing it, you know, with my. With my companion, with. With my dog, who is making it so much more enjoyable for me and is making it so much easier for me. And the guide dogs has also helped me indirectly. Having a guide dog. Any guide dog owner will tell you you need to advocate for yourself. Whether it's to do with, you know, being refused entry into places or, you know, trying to get your dogs onto planes or things like that. You're going to have to advocate for yourself. They've given me the opportunity, I guess, to develop my advocacy skills and, and things like that. And also, I mean, they've given me friends. Like, I would say I'm friends with some of the trainers down there. You know, I would know Lawrence and a couple of other guide dog owners just from, you know, having guide dogs and being, you know, friends. So it's a real community.

This has been a wonderful chat. Thank you so much for giving us the time. And I really hope that you continue to love your guide dogs and work with your guide dogs and continue to have joy and love with your dogs as you go through your life. And thank you to Laura and Sarah and Lawrence.

Thanks for having us.

Thank for having us.

Thank you so much for having us.

Thank you very much to our guests for taking Part in that round table. It was great. And we have more.

Yeah.

Interviews with people to celebrate 50 years of Irish.

50 years.

50 years.

How about Larry? Did Larry listen also already? Because Larry.

Larry asleep in the background, I think.

Oh, okay, okay.

But how is his health, by the way? Is he going?

He's good, strong.

The poor fella. Yeah, he like, poor fella. Why poor fella?

Like, he should pay him more now.

He doesn't know what's going on these days with the weather. He's just. He goes outside to sunbathe and he comes in about 30 seconds later and goes, it's too hot. It's really hot out there. Just check it again. I go out again.

Is he a swimmer? Is he just swimmer?

No, he doesn't swim.

No, he doesn't.

This makes me think of a cat we once had who, like, she was growing up, so we didn't let her outside as much. So every time the door opened, she would run to the door to. To try to go outside and we would stop her. But one time it had snowed and she jumped past me while I opened the door to get outside. Yeah, she landed in the snow and she stood there. She just stood there. She was like, no, she was like, what? What's this? Yeah, no, I could. I could just pick her up. She did not run away. There was nothing. She just was. She was just stunned.

Well, I'll tell you lovely. I'll tell you a lovely story about Larry. Many a few years ago, there was. We haven't had much snow over the last few years. We did have some snow recently. A few years ago, Larry. Larry saw the snow outside our house, went into our sitting room and got his favorite toy, which is a duck. Brought the duck to the window, to our patio window to show him the snow.

That is fun.

That is so cute.

Adorable.

He's like, look, look, it's snow.

Look.

Do you want to come?

He gets sad for me.

And you know what the dog said?

That's fantastic. Jan is on a roll today.

Oh, my God. We cut it out, guys. We cut it, guys.

We will see you in two weeks time. Don't forget, the email is blind, guys. Chat gmail.com and we will see. See you in two weeks time. Okay.

All right. Bye bye.

Bye bye.