Geraldine Hennessy

For me and my husband Liam, it all began with our love of dogs. Growing up, we always had dogs, but with both of us working full-time pre-Covid, it wasn’t practical to have our own. One day, the Irish Guide Dogs came into Liam’s office looking for puppy raisers and temporary boarders and we jumped at the opportunity to get involved.

Temporary boarding is when you take in a dog at 10–12 months old to do the ‘school run’ in the mornings, dropping them in for their training and collecting them in the evenings. They spend their weekdays working and then at the weekends they’re free to run wild and just be dogs again because they need their downtime as well. We’ve had about 20 dogs pass through our home, but one in particular stuck out for us and her name is Peppa.

Peppa was originally paired with a child, but there are times when a dog is not suited to guiding and in Peppa’s case she is a timid dog, so she took up the important role of becoming an Ambassador Dog and a part of our family instead.

At fundraising events, Peppa is the star of the show. Without a dog, people often walk past, but with Peppa by our side, they stop, smile and are far more likely to donate.

She’s our own dog, but so much work has gone into her that we still keep up her training. She will not cross the road if it’s unsafe, and if you put her food down, she will not touch it until you blow the whistle. She’s incredibly disciplined, but she’s also deeply intuitive.

If you’re having a bad day, she’ll come over, put her head up on your knee and look up at you as if to say, “I’m here, everything is okay”.

My husband and I were getting so much reward from the dogs that we decided to set up our own local branch and we are now co-founders of the Kinsale Branch.

For me, the most rewarding part is seeing what these dogs can do and the impact that they make on individuals and their families.

At one of the annual Open Days in the Training Centre in Cork, we were chatting to a family who had a son with autism. They had got the dog three months earlier and the son was full of excitement and wouldn’t talk about anything other than the dog. The parents told us they went to McDonald’s for the first time ever, which might not seem like much to others, but the joy of being able to do that just shows how much these dogs are changing people’s lives.

We were chatting to a man in Kinsale who is visually impaired. He has a working guide dog and it has literally opened up a whole new world for him. The first day out he went to Limerick with the dog and his mother called to check in on him, and he said “I’m fine because I’ve got Marley by my side.” The independence that he’s gained from this dog is unbelievable.

Visits to companies help us to highlight the training and expense for these wonderful dogs and the impact they have for people.

Volunteering for an organisation like this isn’t always easy, it takes commitment, but the rewards are beyond measure.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Irish Guide Dogs, and there are big celebrations to mark the milestone, so we are proud to play our part in that.