Month 10 - go walkies sponsored walk event

Well as promised, this month’s blog is about the Gowalkies sponsored dog walk.  The event was part of a national sponsored walk, with events taking place all over the country, the idea was to raise as much money as possible to help create many more new guide dog and owner partnerships.  However these sponsored walks have a special twist, it is not the owner who gets sponsored it is the dog!

Usher and I set up an online sponsorship page so that people we knew could donate online, lots of lovely people sponsored us and left us words of support and encouragement.  I want to say thank you to each and every one of you who sponsored us, it was very much appreciated and it is only by your support that Guide Dogs can continue their fantastic work.  By the day the event arrived we had raised over £150 online and another £150 via my work, family and friends.  My original target was £137, this might seem a strange amount but that is the amount that a complete new puppy walker’s starter pack would cost, from training jacket to dog leads and food.  I was totally amazed when we shot through that target, so as an idea of what our money could go towards I was given these figures so you can see just how far our sponsorship money would go.

• £11.50 could buy a lead
• £13 could buy a dog bed
• £20 could buy a grooming kit
• £60 could provide a harness, lead, collar and bell
• £90 could buy a portable indoor kennel
• £137 could buy a complete puppy starter pack

The children and I woke up bright and early on the morning of the Atherton Guide Dog Training Centre Fun Day.  We only had about an hour’s drive to get there, so we packed our lunch, food and water for Usher into the car and put his car harness on so he could sit in the back with my eldest son, and we set off.  It was easy to find, a massive blue and yellow building on the edge of town surrounded by fields and open spaces.  We could see Guide Dogs flags flying, stalls and a display arena in the centre, together with a brass band playing.  The atmosphere and sounds I knew were going to be exciting for Usher so I was grateful for the fact he was going to have a long walk! There were lots of people there already, some with guide dogs, some with guide dog puppies and as the event was open to all dogs there were all different breeds, shapes and sizes of dogs all ready for the gowalkies event.  We enrolled at the registration desk and we waited until the big tannoy announced the start of the walk.  There seemed to be hundreds of people all gathered and talking, all with one thing in mind, the reason why we were raising money.  I kept looking round trying to see if there were any guide dog puppies around that looked like they could have been Usher’s siblings, but one black dog looks very similar to another!

The walk started off with walking round the outside perimeter of the Guide Dogs Training Centre and then down some lovely leafy footpaths.  All the dogs were incredibly well behaved and people struck up conversations about their dogs as we walked.  There was an amazing guide dog owner who with her guide dog was negotiating all the pit holes and obstacles on the path with ease and was walking at a much faster pace than we were.  It brought it home to me just how her guide dog was giving her confidence to do this walk over quite difficult terrain all on her own.  We seemed to be walking for ages, the route had to be suitable for older guide dog puppies so I do not expect it was longer than about three miles but we went through some lovely fields and had some fantastic views of the Training Centre and their play areas.  The children enjoyed the walk as much as we did as we were admiring other people’s puppies and dogs along the way.

As the walk was a circular one, we arrived back at the start just over an hour later.  I think Usher could have done the walk again but I was in need of a cup of tea by then.  We went to the registration desk and we were handed a beautiful certificate and a little bone dog tag that said gowalkies on it. I only discovered that it was a glow in the dark tag later when I woke up in the middle of the night to see a little green bone glowing on my bedside cabinet!

We spent the next couple of hours walking around and taking part in Fun Day activities.  My children and I entered tombola’s and throwing balls into holes to win prizes, we met policemen and their big van for the children to go into (Usher was quite taken with one of the policemen in full high vision clothing who tickled his ears).  Usher was weighed by the Guide Dog Scales and was pronounced ‘just right’ which I was rather thankful for.  We also met some people dressed up as dogs which Usher did a double take at.  There were some events going on in the main arena so we watched those as well.  Considering that there were so many people, noises and other dogs there, Usher was quite excited by the whole event, he was a bit bouncy on the lead, however that was completely understandable and he still listened to what I was saying.  Ever so often the children and I either went back to the car so he could have a drink or we went somewhere quieter so he could just settle.  That helped a lot.

We went on a guided tour round the Atherton Training Centre.  This was a wonderful opportunity to see where Usher would be going for training and good for the children to be able to come to terms with the fact that Usher would definitely be leaving us, but that he would be going to a really fantastic place with lots of things for him to do and learn.

I took lots of photographs whilst we were there and made them into a Youtube video so you could see them all, I hope you like it and you can see just what we got up to.  Look out for the photograph of Usher peeking out from behind my car!

You Tube video link at go walkies event