CHRISTCHURCH MUM SAYS GUIDE DOG ‘CHANGED MY LIFE’ AFTER GOING BLIND

In 2016, Christchurch mum Laura Kelmere decided to have her eyesight tested. She could tell her vision wasn’t what it used to be and by that point she was quite reluctant to drive in the dark or to places she was completely unfamiliar with.

Fast forward to 2020 when the Covid-19 lockdown hit and, like the rest of New Zealand, she spent most of her time at home not driving anywhere.

When she first got back behind the wheel, she knew she was in serious trouble.

In March 2021, the now 33-year-old was diagnosed with cone-rod dystrophy, a genetic condition that affects the light sensitive cells of the retina called the cones and rods.

“They told me ‘you are going to go fully blind’ and I was like, yeah, I’ve realised that. By that point I was hanging onto people because I couldn’t walk out and about by myself without falling.”

It was a shock going from a perfectly healthy mum-of-two to someone living with blindness.

Losing her vision meant also losing her job working with children with special needs, and she was left to find new ways of doing the things she used to do without a second thought.

Kelmere completed orientation and mobility training to learn how to get around using a cane and her other senses.

While Kelmere quickly grasped how to use a cane, she knew she wanted a guide dog. “I am a huge animal person, so if I could have a dog over a stick, heck yes!

“Also, your cane is exhausting. You are finding every crack, you are constantly listening to what your cane is telling you, your brain is just always on. With a guide dog, you hold [the harness], you give directions, and he figures out everything else for you.”

She put in an application for a guide dog with Blind Low Vision NZ, got approved and was put on the wait list. “I was really lucky. I waited about a year and a half before Ryder arrived all the way from Auckland.”

Ryder, a three-year-old energetic black labrador, is now not only Kelmere’s guide dog, but very much a part of the family.

The pair trained for weeks learning how to navigate the world together – from doing the children’s school runs to using public transport, walking through busy shopping centres to flying in an aeroplane.

Whenever he has his harness on, Ryder knows it is time to work and guides Kelmere with impeccable skill. At home with his harness off, he is a lovable goofball who often brings Kelmere a random shoe as a gift.

Despite losing her vision, Kelmere did not lose her passion for life. She is still an avid horse rider, winning an endurance riding competition a couple of years ago, and continues to paddle board and jog on the beach.

She has even driven a quad bike despite not being able to see – “I think I was going about 2kph!” – and zip-lined with her children.

For most of it she has Ryder by her side.

“Ryder has changed my life so much. I feel so much more confident going out.”

“When I screw up like bang into something or roll my ankle, I can laugh it off with him instead of feeling super self-conscious and wondering how many people were watching that. With him we just laugh and say ‘oops, let’s try that again’.”

The journey to becoming a guide dog

Ryder and Kelmere are one of Blind Low Vision New Zealand’s 144 active guide dog teams across the country, with another 129 guide dogs currently in training.

An estimated 193,000 people live with blindness or low vision in New Zealand and someone develops blindness every three hours.

With New Zealand’s ageing population, medical conditions such as diabetes on the rise, and a lack of a national preventative eye health programme, Blind Low Vision NZ expects the rate of Kiwis developing blindness to accelerate, chief executive Andrea Midgen says.

Training to become a guide dog is one of the most rigorous programmes among all service animals, accompanied by a significant cost.

According to Midgen, it costs about $175,000 to raise, train, and maintain one guide dog in service and the organisation receives no government funding towards this.

The journey to becoming a guide dog starts with breeding puppies with desirable traits from specially selected genetics through the organisation’s breeding programme.

When they’re about 11 weeks old, the dogs are placed into homes with puppy raisers who look after them and help develop their confidence and behaviour, while they also start learning basic commands.

When they are ready, the budding guide dogs return to the guide dog centre where they receive months-long intensive training and assessment.

About half the dogs don’t pass their training, says Midgen. These dogs are put up for adoption.

The rest are matched with a person who is blind or has low vision who then becomes their “handler”.

A guide dog works on average about nine years before they retire and go on to live a life of leisure, usually with their handler or another family.

“With an average wait time of 552 days to receive a guide dog and 27 clients currently awaiting a match …. [donations] make a significant difference by enabling us to train more guide dog puppies,” says Midgen, “ensuring they receive the skills and care they need to become invaluable companions to their future handlers.”