Guide dogs charity calls for puppy training volunteers

A charity which matches guide dogs with visually-impaired people says it needs more volunteer foster carers to look after puppies in training.

About 1,400 dogs were trained in 2019, but numbers fell during the Covid lockdowns.

Previously, visually impaired people waited, on average, about one year to be matched with a dog. One issue is that when a guide dog retires, typically around age 10, there isn't always the right dog to take its place as dogs and owners have to be carefully matched.

Darren Paddick waited four months between his guide dog Nan retiring and new dog Penny arriving.

"When I was out and about with a white cane, I did sometimes feel a little bit vulnerable and sometimes I would avoid going out", he said.

Video by Paul Murphy-Kasp and Dave Godfrey