Seeing Eye Dogs Australia (SEDA) is taking its show on the road in a bid to raise community awareness of their work breeding and training dogs to support people who are blind or have low vision.
SEDA will be visiting regional and metropolitan centres to showcase their dogs and provide information on all aspects of the process through which people who are blind or have low vision receive their animal helpers.
“Potential Seeing Eye Dog clients will have the opportunity to “road test” a working
dog under the supervision of a qualified Instructor,” said SEDA National Client Services Manager, Harry Vanderjagt.
“These Seeing Eye Dogs have gone through a strict training program, to ensure their clients’ safety, and to allow the client to travel freely and independently,” he said.
“The presentation will cover topics such as breeding, puppy development, training,
client eligibility, application, assessment, and client training”.
As well as educating the community, the roadshow provides the opportunity for prospective SEDA clients to find out if they are eligible to receive a Seeing Eye Dog.
It costs more than $30,000 to train one Seeing Eye Dog and SEDA receives no government funding.
As a national provider of Seeing Eye Dogs within Australia, SEDA are committed to offering their services at no cost to the client, which makes community support and education vital to their success.