Retired guide dog Ridley, who lives in Dawlish, has been honoured with a national award at the Guide Dogs People Awards 2025.
The eleven-year-old black Labrador cross golden retriever scooped the Hero Dog Award in recognition of his life of service, not only as a guide dog but his continued contribution as an ambassador dog, therapy dog, and loyal companion.
Ridley was nominated for the award by Peter Boston, his owner, and the two attended an afternoon tea celebration at the Guide Dogs National Centre near Leamington Spa, Warwickshire (on 25 November), together with the...
A group of 10 guide dog puppies have enjoyed a special visit to Exeter Picturehouse, as part of their important socialisation training.
The local pups from sight loss charity Guide Dogs visited the cinema on Tuesday 29 April.
They enjoyed watching The Penguin Lessons on the big screen, exploring the seating areas and visiting the cinema café.
Each pup was accompanied by their volunteer Puppy Raiser, who looks after them until they are just over a year old, before they will move to a Guide Dogs’ centre to start their formal training.
Exeter Airport recently welcomed some VIP visitors as guide dog puppies descended for a dedicated training day to give them new experiences.
Thirteen guide dog puppies and their volunteer puppy raisers visited the airport as part of the pups’ preparation to become future guide dogs.
The puppies, around 12-months old, got to experience all the sights, sounds and smells of a working airport including going through security, exploring duty free, and planes landing and taking off.
With many registered guide dog owners in Exeter and surrounds being regular visitors to...
Guide Dogs for the Blind in Exeter and District will benefit from more than £500 raised by Bloor Homes at the launch of a new Country Park at the housebuilder’s Bloor Homes at Pinhoe development.
The funds were raised as part of a dog-friendly Family Fun Day, which aimed to raise awareness of the Charity, and let people know about the new Country Park as a new recreation and leisure location, including dog walking.
Guide Dogs and Guide Dog puppies were the stars of the event, which held a raffle of pooch-themed prizes donated by local dog friendly-businesses as well as...
Bloor Homes has teamed up with Guide Dogs for the Blind to celebrate the launch of a brand-new country park with a dog-friendly Family Fun Day on Saturday 21st September.
Guide Dogs and Guide Dog puppies will coming along to the ‘dog-friendly do’ at the ‘Bloor Homes at Pinhoe’s development in Exeter, where there will also be a dog-themed charity raffle and an ice cream van complete with dog ice cream. There will also be a Guide Dogs stand including a Tombola and Guide Dogs merchandise and all proceeds will go to the charity locally. There will be opportunities to meet a Guide Dog...
Local fundraisers in Exeter have won recognition this week for raising £13,000, funding a guide dog into a partnership with someone with sight loss. Thanks to these hard-working volunteers, guide dog Kane is now fully funded to support someone with sight loss for his working dog career.
It costs around £55,000 to breed, train and support a guide dog throughout their life. Guide Dogs continues to support the dogs during their time working as a guide, so the £13,000 figure covers the cost of food, vets’ bills and ongoing training after the dog is partnered with someone with sight...
Sapphire the buddy dog – or wonder dog as her family calls her – came into the Ring family’s life in 2020, after the first lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Buddy dogs are provided by sight loss charity Guide Dogs for children with a visual impairment.
Jane Ring, of Exeter, was concerned about the impact the lockdown was having on her daughter Chloe, who is deafblind.
“Chloe had only just started secondary school in September 2019, which was already a massive shock to her. It was a much busier, noisy environment with so many new teachers and pupils to get to know....
The local branch of charity Guide Dogs is urgently looking for new volunteers in Exeter and surrounding areas. They are in need of people to join the local fundraising group, which organises community events and collections to help raise much needed funds. The charity relies on donations to keep its vital services running and has suffered with the impact of Covid-19 putting a dent in much of their face to face activities over the summer.
Guide Dogs has local fundraising groups across the country. This means that people can volunteer in their local communities and make a difference...
Guide Dogs has seen a surge in applications by the members of the public looking to rehome withdrawn and retired guide dogs from the charity – and urges people to think carefully about training.
The trend follows the exploding interest in dog ownership seen during the Covid-19 pandemic, with rescue centres and puppy breeders reporting considerably higher demand.
In 2019 the charity, which has a training site in Exeter, saw an average of 355 applications every month to join its rehoming waiting list from across the UK. This increased significantly to 830 applications per...
Local fundraisers in Exeter have won recognition for reaching the 13,000 milestone that funds a Guide Dog partnership twice in one year. Earlier this year the Exeter & District Fundraising Group funded guide dog Winter to help a person with sight loss, and now they’ve done it again with guide dog Gucci.
As a result of reaching the £13,000 milestone, the group have been able to fund a working partnership between guide dog Gucci and a person with sight loss.
It costs around £57,000 to train and support a guide dog partnership throughout the life of the dog. Guide Dogs...
