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DOG
Guide
dog owner Mary Rasmussen was already feeling on top of the world when she
learned her loyal companion had won a place in the finals of the BBC Breakfast
Guide Dog of the Year Awards.
She and guide dog Campbell were up on a hill on Iona on
their latest adventure holiday when a friend phoned with the good news.
The unusual location - unthinkable when she first lost
her sight - is evidence of the freedom and confidence that the four-year-old
black Labrador has brought to her life.
Campbell was nominated by a friend, Anne Anderson,
herself an experienced guide dog owner, because she recognised he was a truly
exceptional character.
Loving, trustworthy, confident and adaptable, he also
boasts a memory that would shame an elephant.
Last year, he accompanied Mary and a friend on a visit to
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, then walked with them to the other woman's house so
they could get a lift home.
The next time they visited the hospital a year later, he
retraced their steps to her friend's home perfectly without any directions from
his human companions.
"He took us right to her door on his own," laughed Mary.
"My friend couldn't believe it."
Campbell has performed similar feats on numerous
occasions, remembering tricky routes from bus stops to out-of-the-way venues
that Mary would never have been able to negotiate on her own.
And in his daily duties, he has brought freedom and
confidence to her life that she once feared she had lost forever.
Mary was working as a teacher at Albyn School for Girls,
Aberdeen, when she started losing vision in her right eye.
Specialists diagnosed glaucoma and performed surgery to
try to slow the sight loss. But since she already had very little vision in her
left eye after an accident as a teenager, there was little they could do, and
she took early retirement from the job she loved in 1997.
At first, she managed to get by with a short cane, but
after a few nasty falls, she started to lose confidence and found her
nervousness was making it difficult for her to carry out her duties as an
organiser for the Aberdeen and north-east of Scotland music festival. When she
began doubting her ability to baby-sit for her nine grandchildren, it was clear
that action was needed.
The decision to get a guide dog wasn't too difficult -
Mary's last three pet dogs all lived to the grand old age of 17 - but it was a
stroke of good fortune that brought the perfect dog into her life.
Campbell had originally been trained with another owner
in mind - a local man who pulled out before they could be introduced.
Mary, who had been expecting to take delivery of her dog
in October, 2005, was contacted by Guide Dogs in June of that year and asked if
she would like to try out another dog a few months earlier.
Campbell arrived the following day for a weekend visit
and the pair hit it off instantly.
"He's one of those dogs who wags from head to tail, so
you can't help loving him," said Mary.
"Because it had all come about so quickly, I was a little
overwhelmed when he arrived, and the lady from Guide Dogs went to the kitchen to
make a cup of coffee so we could have a chat.
"I sat down to get myself together and Campbell came over
and lay on my feet. And that was it. We just took to one another straight away."
That night coincided with the closing concert for the
music festival and, with some trepidation, Mary took Campbell, too. She needn't
have worried - he strode purposefully into the city's Cowdray Hall, sat by her
seat and behaved like a perfect gentleman all night, charming everyone he met.
He is now a regular in the audience at concerts and
public events across the north-east and has sat unflinching through clashing
cymbals, on-stage gunshots and even fireworks.
The pair sailed through their guide dog training,
finishing the three-week course on the Friday and setting off on a walking
holiday from Fort William to Skye on the Monday.
Once again, Campbell handled being thrown in at the deep
end with aplomb and he and Mary - and Mary's friend, Catherine, who had
previously been afraid of dogs - had the time of their lives, forming close
bonds away from the hustle and bustle of their hectic life at home.
With a house full of grandchildren, Campbell is never
short of playmates when he's off duty. Mary and her husband have also erected a
gate in the fence that divides their garden from the woods behind their Aberdeen
home so she and Campbell can get straight out for a good scurry through the
undergrowth as soon as his guide dog harness is off.
"My children had a good laugh about that," said Mary.
"They said, 'You never built a gate all the time we lived
there, but you've done it for the dog'."
The intrepid pair were off on their latest expedition
last week - a walking holiday on Mull and Iona - when Mary heard the news that
Campbell had been selected as a regional finalist in the Guide Dog of the Year
Awards 2007.
All the finalists will be featured on BBC Breakfast over
the next few weeks, with the winner announced in a ceremony at the Kennel Club
in London on September 6.
Mary hopes viewers will agree he is a dog in a million,
but regardless of which finalist wins most votes, she knows she has found
herself a winner.
"He's just wonderful," she said.
"He has given me a new lease of life.
"Sight loss can be a very depressing thing, but Campbell
has given me the freedom and confidence to do all the things I want, and he
makes me friends wherever we go.
"He is a very special dog and I am ever so lucky to have
him."
Reproduced from the Press and Journal 04 August 2007
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