Widford Lodge Prep School was delighted to recently welcome Mrs Jean Howgego and her guide dog puppy, Eric, to their morning assembly. Jean is a guide dog puppy walker. She spoke to the school about how she became a guide dog puppy walker and the training she does with Eric before he goes off to residential training in Redbridge at a year old. Eric is a 15-week-old German shepherd dog and has been with Jean and her family since he was 6 weeks old. As part of his training, Eric has to get used to going in shops, up and down escalators, travelling on public transport and walking on different surfaces such as glass flooring.
Eric was beautifully behaved during the assembly but made us all smile when he started howling during the hymn as if he was trying to join in. He was the highlight of the children’s day and he thoroughly enjoyed being centre of attention. Thank you to Mrs Howgego for bringing Eric into school and giving such an informative talk.
Widford Lodge sponsors a guide dog puppy, Alfie. We get regular ‘pup-dates’ from Guide Dogs for the Blind about his progress. We hope to meet him soon.
