City lends Lucy a guiding hand

Meet Lucy — the trainee guide dog who is learning to be well behaved in an office environment with help from City of Bunbury staff.

Before the two-year-old labrador is ready to be given to a visuallyimpaired owner, she has to be trained to sit quietly in the office between walks and toilet breaks.

The partnership between Guide DogsWA and the City of Bunbury followed last week’s graduation of three Bunbury residents and their new guide dogs.

Guide Dogs WA works with businesses to help train their puppies to accustom them to different situations, people and scenarios.

City of Bunbury chief executive Andrew Brien said looking after Lucy was a fantastic opportunity to help Guide Dogs WA by providing a real workplace experience in a busy environment with more than 120 employees to keep Lucy occupied.

‘‘If Lucy’s time with us goes well, then there is the possibility of potentially hosting more guide dog puppiesin-training in the future,’’ he said.

‘‘We are all very excited about working with Guide Dogs WA and learning about the amazing work the trainers do and the affect the dogs can have on the lives of the vision impaired.’’

Guide DogsWA mobility instructor Dianne Craig said staff had learnt about what was involved in training a guide dog, some ofthe access difficulties encountered when the dogs were ‘‘out and about’’ and etiquette when dealing with a person and their dog.

‘‘Already they have been very receptive to advice and requests for improved accessto our clients with vision impairment in the Bunbury region,’’ she said.