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If you are an animal lover you’ll understand the heartbreak of losing a dog. When you trust your life to that dog, that loss is even more profound.
Therese has suffered a number of losses in her life. She lost her husband and she lost her sight at a very young age after a terrible accident…
‘It was from an injury I had in a car crash. Even now, I’m in so much pain that some days it makes me physically sick.’
But when Bessie, her Seeing Eye Dog, came into her life nearly a decade ago, Therese regained the confidence she’d been missing for so long.
‘Bessie made me happy… I could feel the love coming from her. You just get so close’, she shares.
But when Bessie began to develop her own vision problems, along with arthritis in her hips as many older dogs do, she became too frightened to go out with the responsibility of looking after Therese.
And when Bessie was scared, so was Therese.
It was time for Bessie to retire. Just thinking about that was devastating for Therese, and left her wondering whether she’d be able to keep up her busy, active lifestyle without Bessie.
This is why your support today is so important.
Many people like Therese are facing the uncertainty and fear of their faithful companion retiring. And others are still waiting for their very first Seeing Eye Dog.
We urgently need to raise $500,000 to meet the growing demand around Australia for Seeing Eye Dogs to help support people who are blind or have low vision, like Therese.
Your generous support will help to ensure that more pups can be trained so that people like Therese don’t have to struggle without a Seeing Eye Dog by their side.
Thankfully, with the generous support of people like you, Therese has been able to welcome her next Seeing Eye Dog, Yael, into her family.
‘Yael has settled in really well. At first, when Yael was getting his harness put on ready for work, Bessie would come up to have her harness put on too. She’s still getting used to retirement.’
Having Yael around to help makes the world of difference to Therese.
‘Yael has such a good memory, and he is so well trained. Just weeks after we’d been together he knew all the places I needed to go!’
Your generosity today will help care for and train more life-changing Seeing Eye Dogs like Yael, and match them with people who are blind or who have low vision.