My six guide dogs have brightened my life-long journey with sight loss

A visually-impaired Lanarkshire gran, who was matched with her first guide dog 40 years ago, has now qualified with her sixth dog – one of a record-breaking bumper litter of 16 puppies born to German Shepherd guide dog, Unity.

The introduction only two months ago of Angela McInnes’s latest guide dog, Pax, has enabled her to regain her independence after five years, during which she sacrificed her freedom to nurse her previous dog, Kai, until he was put to sleep at the grand old age of 15.

Fathered by Golden Retriever Trigger, three-year-old Pax was among the largest litter the sight-loss charity Guide Dogs has ever seen since its breeding programme’s inception more than 60 years ago.

Delivered in late 2021 after what was Unity’s first pregnancy, charity Guide Dogs hoped the pups’ parentage would give them the loyalty and drive of the German Shepherd, coupled with the friendliness and confidence so typical of the Golden Retriever breed.

Sixty-year-old Angela, of Airdrie, was only nine months old when doctors discovered she had congenital cataracts – a condition where the lens of the eye is cloudy instead of clear at birth, leaving her with no sight.

Angela, whose parents are both visually impaired, underwent a procedure known as ‘needling’ – the creation of a tiny hole that would give her a chance of some semblance of vision.

Like her parents before her, Angela attended the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh, where she excelled academically and musically.

“I left school and moved out into the big bad world and found that life was challenging to get around,” she explained.

She applied for a guide dog in her late teens and, after a two-year wait, Angela took ownership of yellow Labrador, Fiona.

“She was small, she was lovely, and she fitted my lifestyle and matched really well with my needs. That was the start of my Guide Dogs journey,” she explained.

Angela followed in her parents’ footsteps to work in Blindcraft’s workshops, founded to provide employment to visually-impaired school leavers.

It was during her nine years with Blindcraft that she met her husband-to-be, Allan, who is also visually impaired.

With guide dog Fiona by her side, musical Angela – who was a bell-ringer and plays piano and guitar – was able to get around and socialise.

As with all her dogs, Angela was fiercely protective of Fiona, avoiding exposing her to situations that might make her nervous or frightened.

“I’ve always been very strict about that kind of thing,” she said. “I considered what journey I was asking her to do, always thinking of her and making sure I knew where I was going so that she would not become stressed.”

In the early 1990s, the couple’s daughters, Pamela and Kirsty were born. Because Angela inherited her visual impairment from her own mother, both girls were examined by consultant ophthalmologists throughout their childhood as a precaution. Neither was affected by the genetic condition.

After 10 years, Fiona was retired and went on to live as another family’s pet, after which Angela took ownership of another Lab, Bonnie.

“She was quiet but, unlike Fiona, she’d steal a cake from anybody,” said Angela, who recalls how Bonnie scoffed her beautifully-decorated wedding cake, placed under a sideboard for safekeeping by her mum ahead of her daughter’s nuptials in 1990.

“My mum went off her head, lost the plot,” remembers Angela. “Bonnie had eaten all the marzipan, everything. It was just typical family life.”

After buying their first house, she and Allan went on to invest in expanding and developing property, becoming landlords and offering quality accommodation to people who had found themselves homeless and were living on the streets.

Angela went on to welcome her third guide dog, Sid – a black Labrador, who would skilfully guide her across wooden planks positioned above the foundations of the extension an architect had been commissioned to design at their Bishopbriggs home.

When Sid retired after eight years, German Shepherd Unity would take his place as her trusted guide dog.

Explaining how next came Kai – a long-haired Retriever with a white coat – Angela said: “Kai was one of these dogs who loved to roll in mud. I would go and get his harness and if he didn’t want to work that day because it was raining, he would go out for his last widdle before we left the house and he would roll in any mud he could find, as if to say: ‘Look at the state of me, I am not going out.’

“He was a lovely boy, but he was a roller. If you took him for a nice country walk, he’d find the dirtiest puddle and come out grey, looking as if he’d done nothing wrong. Once I got him into my way of working, he was the loveliest natured dog. That takes a long time and a bit of work to get that partnership.

“The trainers give you all the tools you need but, once they walk away on the last day and you give each other a hug, it’s then down to you and what you’re willing to do to help the partnership form.”

It was during a Covid-19 lockdown when it became clear to Angela, Allan and their daughters, Pamela and Kirsty, that the kindest thing to do, after nursing him, would be to let faithful 15-year-old Kai go.

“What a day that was. It was dreadfully heart-breaking for everyone,” remembers Angela.

“Allan was there. My two daughters and their husbands were there. Everyone was in bits. The vet was crying.

"They had put him into a sedated sleep for half an hour so we could say our goodbyes. They had to get a senior vet to administer the last injection. Because of Covid, we couldn’t go into the surgery. So, he slipped away in the back of Kirsty’s car.”

Although she has many cherished memories of the long-haired white Retriever who loved to get down and dirty, Angela was “distraught” at Kai’s loss.

It wasn’t until two years later that the gran-of-three could contemplate reaching out to Guide Dogs to request another four-legged companion.

Unknown to her, the charity’s trainers had for some time been closely watching the development of Pax, with Angela in mind.

Pax travelled from Ireland to London and on to Guide Dogs’ kennels in Forfar, before arriving at the charity’s centre in Hamilton to meet Angela.

Staff from various other centres had gathered to welcome long-standing owner Angela and to witness the moment she was introduced to Pax.

“When you have been without a dog for a long time as I had, at home and not getting out and about, it’s like taking a wheelchair away from someone and telling them to dance. It just can’t happen,” said Angela.

“I took one look at Pax and said: ‘You are gorgeous!’ I was so excited, almost crying to see how lovely he was.”

When trainer Darren Locksley asked if Angela would like to walk with Pax, she jumped at the chance, describing the experience as “sheer heaven.”

“I was very tearful,” she admits. “It was like somebody giving me my wings again. The tears were really flowing down my face.”

After a few short stays at the McInnes family home, Pax and Angela were formally matched and qualified together in May.

“He is slowly developing his skills, but he is a little bit of a lad about going in the underground,” she said.

“He rubs his head up and down my leg, as if to say: ‘I am not going down there. Honestly, mum, you really are asking a lot of me.’ It is the air coming backwards and forwards that he doesn’t like, which is understandable.”

With Angela making regular trips to charity Visibility at Glasgow’s St George’s Cross, it is imperative that Pax learns to feel relaxed accompanying her on the tube, as well as negotiating journeys between Queen Street low level and Airdrie stations.

“In the underground, he puts the brakes on,” she explained. “So you pause and have a moment to give him time to re-establish himself. It is quite challenging for them. They are wee dogs, after all, not horses. You have to encourage the dog to try and have confidence.

“He knows if he does this and gets it right, I will give him a biscuit. Quite a few biscuits come out my pocket. He knows where they are kept. He’s not daft.

"The focus is on encouragement, caring about the dog, putting the dog first and remembering that they are dogs and this is a job they are doing. They are only as good as the handler. We are not rushing it, so that Pax can learn to relax.”

With assistance from her dogs Angela has overcome her visual impairment to earn a clutch of qualifications from various Higher Education establishments in counselling, psychotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy. She now plans to embark on a PhD in psychodynamics.

“I have journeyed through lots of challenges, through having children and through being ill when I was young and my husband getting me back to health,” she said.

“My guide dogs have always been there for me, by my side when I was getting better, making me think of the future, and moving forward with me on my journey.

“Like all my dogs, Pax will gain confidence by learning to focus on the positive. I know that he will get on with it and, before long, nothing will be a bother.”

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