Im back!!!

Hello Everyone

We are back I have been meaning to update my blog for so long now but has never got round to it after being so busy we thought we had to sit down and tell you what we have done over the past few months.

In January after we did the talk to Pupils at St Pauls School in Milton Keynes they had guide dogs as their advent charity and they did lots of different activities to raise money for the branch and on Monday 15th March A Puppy Walker and his puppy and myself and Pearce went back to the school to accept a cheque for a massive £3000 we were gob smacked and couldnt believe how well they had done!

On March 6th Pearce was 3 Years old time has flown by he has now spent two birthdays with me I just cant believe it really but I cant live without him now everybody loves him and he is just so adorable and so laid back and so we took him for a walk up the woods he had fun with water and sticks and all sorts.

Then on 16th March me and Pearce did another talk to Loughton Manor First School in Milton Keynes and the children loved Pearce and he was just so good until I bought out the Guide Dog Andrex pup he wanted to play with it and all the children started laughing, I couldnt get it off him, he did clam down in the end and I showed the children the harness and explained about guide dogs and they asked lots of interesting questions too so a successful few months with the talks which I really enjoy.

I was officially made Branch Organiser on 23rd February 2010 after our former one had to step down as she had taken on too much, so now its up to me to organise different events for us to go to and to manage a branch of volunteers! We did a collection at Tesco on 26th and 27th Feb 2010 and raised £1009.86 in total another amazing amount!

We have a few more events lined up too for the year ahead and I have written a letter which is to go out to all supermarkets in the area to see if we can get collections at the stores and I am sure more talks will be coming up now that I have been on a speaker training course and in June me and Pearce have been invited to go along to a Pets Thanksgiving Service at a Church in Bedford.

Me and Pearce are getting along fine together and are now a partnership, I hope to be back more regularly and I do enjoy reading other people's blogs too.

Hope your all well

Monday's talk

I am back to let you all know how my talk went to the Pre school children who were only 3 and 4 year olds.

I have to say they were all very good indeed and throughly enjoyed our visit. We first showed them braille alphabet sheets which they were really fascinated by and they apparently went home excited to tell parents what they had been given, they were also able to try out my long cane which some children did and enjoyed trying it out and having a go to see how it is like to be visually impaired. We then went onto the guide dogs and I just said a little about pearce and did a demo which he did very well including showing me the way out lol! and then the puppy walker spoke a little about his role as a puppy walker and then it was time for them to be able to stroke the dogs and even some children who were scared came and touched and stroked Pearce even though the little pup was still to exuberant for some children, they both enjoyed all the fuss they were given. Afterwards we said our good byes and the lady kindly wrote an evidence letter for me to show that I had done the talk and how it had benefited both staff and children.

Also went round a friend's house this evening and enjoyed a cup of aero hot chocolate and a chat while her dog and Pearce played silly games together.

Another Talk on Monday

Hello Again I have not been blogging since Christmas I cant believe it I just really havent got round to it but I thought now would be a really good idea as I am doing another school talk on Monday Morning to a Pre School sounds interesting.

I have to talk about braille books and how we read as visually impaired people and also I have to talk about the long cane and then the guide dogs and we are also having a guide dog puppy in training come along so alot to go in to these little children but we will just have to make it short and sweet, if anyone has any suggestions let me know.

I am really looking forward to it and I am sure Pearce will enjoy all the fuss and attention he will be getting.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year and I will let you all know how it goes when I get another chance to do another post.

For now have a lovely weekend, Pearce is fast asleep after a good free run in the woods

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Hello All

Me and Pearce just want to take this opportunity to say sorry for not updating as often as I would like but we have been very busy getting lots of pressies for all our friends and we still have got to go into work on Christmas Eve and have been told that we have to stay in all day how cruel is that at least half day but no it has to be all day.

Have a lovely Christmas and a wonderful new year!!!

Lena and Pearce

1 Year on

A year ago on Saturday 28th November me and Pearce celebrated our 1st year together and what a fantastic year its been.

We went to London on Sunday to Hyde Park where they have winter wonderland which has all kinds of different stalls, christmas markets, fair ground and we really enjoyed it until the rain came down and we had to take shelter but we all did get a German Sausage in a roll including Pearce as a special treat for giving me the independence that he has and a wonderful boy wouldnt have him any other way, I cant say there werent any problems because we did have a few issues but was all resolved and both of us used to walk at a snail's pace but now people call us speedy gonzalez we have gone from 0 - 100 in a few seconds even!!! thats how pleasing my boy really wants to be and he is such a handsome chap as people call him and cant resist stroking him and today was a nightmare was trying to put his handle onto his harness and people were talking to him and about him and he knows it and he was wagging his tail and he wouldnt sit still but fortunately the people stopped talking so i could get the handle on and then what do I get, he's in training we mustnt distract him but i had already got up and walked off lol, i get that all the time as I wear glasses doesnt bother me though.

We did have quite an eventful week last week beginning on Tuesday 24th Nov when Pearce got attacked by another dog but fortunately wasnt hurt but the next day we had to report it to the police and big issue who have hopefully sorted the problem out. Then on Thursday evening mum noticed a red lump on Pearce's hind leg so took him vet friday evening after trying to get hold of guide dogs dog care and welfare team and they think it is just a hot spot which could have been caused by a bite of some sort and he has aggravated it by licking it so he is on antibiotics for a week and got some cream to put on it so fingers crossed thats all it is.

My friends on that Tuesday were also told to leave a restaurant in MK city centre because of the guide dogs and now that is really not good for a city like Milton Keynes, mind you they ddid not shift but didnt give them their service either apparently a customer complaint but I do feel like walking in there and giving them what they deserve, it has been reported and hopefully should be sorted soon.

I did two talks one on fri 20th and another on mon 23rd November and both really enjoyable I was nervous but apparently i did very well by not showing it and I went to this school a few years ago and teaching assistants that helped me are still there and they all said how I have changed so much and grown in confidence I know that a few years ago I would never have been seen dead in front of 5 people let alone 300 and I am really proud of myself and everyone was really impressed and Pearce was a star performer and even bowed at the end of the assembly what a show off!

Today Nov 24th Pearce was attacked by a dobermann didnt get hurt fortunately but i am going to talk to someone within the council to see if we can get these people sorted out as there is no way of getting past them and I was nervous before but even more so now it ran across the road at us so scary but we are both ok I am pleased to say.

Well Today was another day but this afternoon we had a funny experience. Pearce likes to wander around the switchboard and today he went into the little office next to us and a lady from another culture was there and Pearce sniffed her apparently and my supervisor was there and this lady said to her "he sniffed me" and my supervisor goes "hes not going to bite" and then she walked back towards me Pearce in tow and then the manager of that team came round to speak to me and my supervisor and she said this lady usually prays at around 3 every day and now she cant because your dog touched her and now she is unclean so keep your dog away and we said "ok we will try to" and then this lady walked away and then as i was on the phone once i had gotten off the phone my supervisor told me all about it and I was so shocked and told some others and we just thought what rubbish I just cant believe some people, they can say things to us but we are not allowed to say things to them as it would be classed as racist, I get it all the time on the bus and I find it so unfair that I cant say anything but they can say what they like, I would like to know how others think about these issues because I really dont understand.