Oprah Update

Below is an excerpt from a letter sent to Mr and Mrs Fitch providing an update on Oprah.

Just wanted to touch base & give you an update on how Oprah is going in the Guide Dog Training Program.

Over the past 3 weeks the team has been learning to stop at different types of curbs, walk in straight lines & directional cues such as left, right & forward. We’ve been out and about in the residential streets of Richmond putting everything together in preparation for our review point.

We’re now at the end of week 6 and Oprah has passed her 6 week review.

Oprah is a pleasure to have in the team. Her training is coming along nicely and she is having lots of fun playing with the rest of the training group. She sometimes gets distracted by birds & dogs but is generally very good at refocusing on her work. We’re excited to see how she progresses in the training program.

Over the next 4 weeks the team will be learning to avoid obstacles, walk on travellators, locate things like seats, poles and counters as well as how navigate around pedestrians. The dogs are reviewed regularly throughout the training program however the next formal review point will be at week 10. This formal review requires the dogs to guide their trainer who is blindfolded around a local shopping centre area.

We will touch base with you again following the 10 week review point and will upload some more photos over the coming weeks.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Kind Regards,

Guide Dog Trainer
Guide Dogs NSW/ACT

For more information on Guide Dogs NSW/ACT or to donate please visit:  https://www.guidedogs.com.au