Blog

Katie, a Guide Dog who visited the college while she was still just a puppy in training, officially qualified as a Guide Dog over the summer and has now moved to a village near Lincoln where she works for a woman named Sarah. Sarah and Katie enjoy travelling to the local shops and visiting Sarah’s friends and family together, and Katie loves village life – she’s made good friends with some of the other dogs who live nearby and really enjoys all her country walks.

Dave, Katie’s puppy walker, passed on the above photograph taken at Katie’s graduation and adds “You could say she landed on her paws with Sarah!” Following Katie’s graduation, Dave has become involved with the Advanced Guide Dog training and now works with dogs who have passed their first 4 months training. He works with dogs for three months, during which time dogs will be matched to their new owners.

His most recent charges include Otto, who has already qualified and is now working in Greater Manchester, and Ace, whose training will run until the end of November.

Meanwhile, Josh - our college's very own Buddy Dog - has greatly enjoyed meeting all the new students as well as his old friends, and he can often be found keeping an eye on things in one of the classrooms or being taken for a walk with the students. Here he is, waiting patiently for a treat. Josh is so well-loved by all the students at Royal College Manchester that people are taking on new challenges just for his sake - asking questions and making comments about Josh, and practicing telling him to 'Sit!' or 'Lie Down!' so that they can reward him for being such a good boy.

One woman, who sometimes struggles to use her vision at the same time as she touches something new, has been seen to look at Josh while she strokes him, and another student has been initiating conversations with people about Josh and what he knows about dogs in general - although he was a little disappointed to realise that while most dogs bark, Josh is very quiet and never does!