Hi All,

Today, I thought I’d do another Visually Impaired related blogging tag. This time it’s ‘The Guide Dog Tag’. So without further ado let’s do this!

1. What is your guide dogs name?

Her name is Blossom!

2. What is the breed of your guide dog?

Blossom is half Labrador and half Labrador Retriever

3. How old is your guide dog?

At the time of writing this, Blossom is 2 years old, but will be 3 on 12th June!

4. Where was your guide dog trained?

Blossom was trained at The Guide Dogs Training School in Redbridge but was then taken to Hertfordshire to The Welwyn Garden City Mobility Team. If you want to see a clip of Blossom at her time here you can watch the video below! 

 

5. When did you qualify with your guide dog?

I qualified with Blossom on the 15th September 2017

6. Is he or she your first guide dog?

Yes, Blossom is my first Guide Dog!

7. Summarise your guide dogs personality in five words?

Fun, laidback, cheeky, playful, wonderful.

8. What is the best thing about your guide dog?

I know a lot of Guide Dog Owners probably say this, but the ability to go out anywhere I want and at spare of the moment!

9. What is the funniest thing your guide dog has ever done?

For, the funniest thing Blossom has ever done is during our early days of training, I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day ahead and in the bathroom, there was this see-through shelf that I didn’t see. So, as a result, I whacked my head on it. Afterwards, I looked at Blossom and she just looked at me, sighed, shook her head and went back to her bed sighing again!

10. Has your guide dog ever gotten you into any embarrassing situations?

Oh yes, she sure has! I can think of one incident in particular! At my church, sometimes I am an altar server, at one Sunday, we were getting ready to process back down the aisle. As I came closer to the aisle I noticed, Blossom was laying right in the middle of it! So as a result of this; all the servers, choir, and vicars had to walk around her and continued to walk down the aisle!

11. What is your guide dog like on harness?

On harness, Blossom is excellent! Sure, there are days where she struggles a little and doesn’t want to work as hard, but the way I look at it, is at the end of the day they are dogs and we do ask a lot of them!

12. What are some of your guide dogs quirks?

One of Blossom’s quirks, really makes me laugh sometimes. There is this one thing she sometimes does that makes everyone laugh. We can be heading somewhere or heading home from somewhere, and at some point, we will come across a bus. Blossom will sometimes notice the bus stop, stop at it, and look at me as if to say: “Dad, can’t we just go home on the bus?” People have said she is so like me it’s unbelievable! Also she knows that a night I suffer from ‘Night Blindness’ so she knows when the when to push the buttons a bit, and see what she can get away with! 🙂

13. Where does your guide dog seem to work the best?

Blossom works really well at night. Part of my condition is that I suffer from ‘Night Blindness’ and over the time we have been together, she has worked this out. So at night, I couldn’t fault her in the slightest. She also loves to work in busy and noisy areas like London, there is always a spring in her step whenever we go there!

14. What is your guide dogs favorite thing to do when off harness?

I only have one word to describe this…sleep! If we’re not out and about, she’s sleep. She’s even fallen asleep on buses and I’ve had to wake her up to get off the bus!

15. Has your guide dog ever done anything that goes beyond the call of duty?

I don’t think I can really answer that just yet, as we have not been together that long, but who knows in the near future I think she just might!

So that’s it! I hope you have enjoyed reading this, enjoyed getting to know to Blossom a little more! There will be plenty of photos in the up and coming reviews and many more adventures we have together! Any other Guide Dog Owners, who want to give this tag a go feel free to, I got the questions and inspiring from a fellow blogger & youtuber ‘Fashoneyesta‘ who’s video I will link here! If you want to see more of Me and Blossom, then please follow us on Twitter, that way you get to see all the update information, photos, and videos, plus all else that we get up to!

Until Next Time,

The VI Critic