Guide dog appeal begins today

collectors for the annual guide dog appeal hit the streets today.
This year the appeal target is $945,000 and until Sunday thousands of volunteers nationwide will be "rattling the buckets".
Kim Norton, regional dog instructor for Wairarapa and Wellington, said the service, part of the New Zealand Foundation for the Blind, received no government funding so it relied on public support, donations and sponsorship for the funds to provide guide dogs and other valuable services to blind, deaf and vision-impaired New Zealanders.
Ms Norton said it cost around $22,500 to breed, raise, train and match a guide dog to a blind or vision-impaired person and was provided entirely free of charge.
There are 300 working guide dogs in New Zealand, all trained by the service, and one of the current crop is Egypt, a 16-month-old golden labrador with "all the qualities of an excellent guide dog".
"If I went blind tomorrow I would want Egypt."
Intelligence, an even temperament, good concentration so she's not easily distracted, are some things that make a dog the ideal other half of a unique relationship based on love, trust, companionship and mutual respect.
When Egypt graduates in May after six months intensive training with Ms Norton, she will know how to help her blind partner move around safely and with greater speed and confidence.
She will guide her owner around hazards, they will negotiate traffic correctly and confidently, go shopping and travel on planes and buses.
Every year more than 90 puppies are homed with a "puppy walker" for about a year to learn basic obedience and to be friendly and accepting around humans.
Ms Norton said in that first year she would visit the puppy regularly until it was time for it to move on to between four to six months intensive training.
She said many breeds could be a guide dog but labradors were still "our bread and butter" because they were so straightforward to train.
Golden retrievers and some German shepherds were also used along with dalmatians, giant schnauzers and standard poodles, which are used if a blind person or someone in the family was allergic to dog hair. In total there are 14 pure breeds or purpose bred cross breeds.
Although all puppies bred by the service did not become guide dogs, the success rate was one of the highest in the world at around 70 per cent.
About 80 dogs are matched with a handler each year, and those dogs which don't meet the strict criteria often made good police or customs dogs, and if they were not suitable for those roles they could become companions for people with disabilities or in nursing homes, or offered to the puppy walker as a family pet.