Meet the Turnhams – the guide dog owner family

Meet the Turnhams – the guide dog owner family

Let’s introduce the family, who live in the Waver Tree area of the city:
Sue Turnham (48) is a mother of three, who has been a guide dog owner for 27-years.  Sitting proudly next to her is Jo, her current guide dog – a black Labrador Retriever-cross.

Mark (30), her eldest son, is the only member of family not living at the Merseyside home.  The football loving guide dog owner – a Chelsea supporter – currently lives in Birmingham with his four-legged companion, Viking.

Continuing down the family line, we meet Roy (21), who is three-years into his first guide dog partnership with a white Labrador Retriever-cross named Ashley.

Finally, Lora (17), who earlier in the month qualified with her first guide dog, Libby – a black Labrador.  Lora becoming the UK’s second youngest guide dog owner.

All members of this unique family have retinopathy, an eye condition which deteriorates over time, often from the late-teens.  But thanks to the mobility and independence provided by their guide dogs, sight loss hasn’t prevented them from leading active lives.

Sue comments: “Having a guide dog is just brilliant.  It means I can go whenever, wherever I want; without waiting for a sighted assistant.”

This freedom has been provided by five dogs, starting with Fleet in 1979, and through to her present dog, Jo.

Mark, Roy and Lora have also benefited from the life-changing role of their guide dogs.  Viking has been Mark’s ‘eyes’ for nearly nine-years, allowing him to travel and pursue his passion for football.

Over the years, he’s been a connoisseur of the ‘beautiful game’, playing goalball at various venues around the country.  This is similar to handball, but for visually impaired people.  The object is to throw a rubber ball with bells into the goal, a skill for which Mark has built a striker’s reputation.  Blind cricket is another of the Liverpudlian’s sporting disciplines.

Lora and Roy share the family’s enthusiasm for sport, both champions in World and European cross-country events for British Blind Sports.

Roy also has a musical talent, being one of the UK’s few visually impaired drummers and leading vocalists. His band, Hot Wire, is well known on the Liverpool ‘circuit’ performing in well known venues such as The Cavern.

All these extraordinary stories are made possible by the Turnham’s family of guide dogs, who each have a distinctive personality.  Sue describes her retired guide dog Harmony – still living in the family home – as the “grandmother of guide dogs”, a wise dog, leading the others by example.  Jo, her current dog, is “cheeky”, Ashley “playful” and newcomer to the house Libby is, “well chaos…. but only when off duty!” laughs Sue.”

It’s quite crowded in the Turnham’s home.  The guide dogs jostle for attention and status.  Harmony wags her tail, she know she’s in charge.  But Libby, too young to know better, thinks differently, having a playful fight with Ashley in the living room.  Jo, peeps her head around the door, then it disappears again, reinforcing her cheekiness!     

In harness, the guide dogs and owners create quite a stir as the family stride through Liverpool city centre.  They dodge the advertising boards and bollards, like a snaking train as they head to the local shops and restaurants, where they normally get a warm welcome from staff and customers alike.

Although it is extremely unusual to find a family of guide dog owners, the life-changing role of these animals dates back 75 years, and has its origins in Merseyside.  Guide dog training in Britain began with a journey of faith in Wallasey, on 06 October 1931.  On this day, four blind pioneers Allen Caldwell, G W Lamb, Musgrave Frankland and Thomas Ap Rhys took the first tentative steps into a new world of opportunity with four very special German Shepherd dogs; Flash, Meta, Judy and Folly – the first four guide dogs. 

Today – over 25,000 guide dog partnerships later – The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association is a world leader in the breeding and training of assistance dogs.  There are currently around 4,700 working guide dog partnerships in the UK, and around 1,000 guide dog pups are born every year.

The charity will be celebrating Guide Dog Week from 02 to 08 October 2006.