News

Roy’s Story

As soon as Roy grabs his hat, Guide Dog ‘Alanna’ knows their day is about to begin with a four kilometre walk around his local area in Beaudesert.

For the past 40 years, Roy has gradually been losing his vision due to Retinitis Pigmentosa. With only 2% vision remaining, he describes his vision as being “like looking through a drinking straw seeing a foggy vision at the end.”

Roy turned Guide Dogs to take the next steps.

When Roy’s sight deteriorated, he turned to Guide Dogs Queensland for guidance and support.

“I first got involved with Guide Dogs Queensland when I started to trip over and bump into things on my morning walks,” he said.

“I was about to travel around Australia, so I thought I’d better do something about it.”

Roy used a white cane for 12 years before he was matched with his first Guide Dog ‘Andy’ in 2008. After many years working as a great team, it was time for ‘Andy’ to retire and hand the guiding role over to new Guide Dog ‘Alanna’.

With ‘Andy’ still living with Roy in retirement, Roy is looking forward to officially graduating with ‘Alanna’ and starting their working life together.

“Having a Guide Dog gives me extra incentive to make the most of every day and I can’t wait to see what the future holds with ‘Alanna’.”

To Roy, ‘Alanna’ isn’t just a faithful Guide Dog, she’s an invaluable companion. Thank you for helping to make the incredible partnership Roy and ‘Alanna’ possible.