One of our guide dogs and her master proved their skills again. Írisz Kobli and her guide dog Dolly passed a road safety test to prove they are able to travel together without assistance. Congratulations for the two of them!
Each master-dog pair need to familiarise themselves with three potential routes while preparing for the test. On the day of the exam, they are assigned one randomly and then they need to walk along it without assistance It is not at all that simple. No wonder, Írisz and Dolly had to face some quite unexpected events on 12 November in Mosonmagyaróvár.
Írisz needed help from Dolly already at the very start, when a car parked on the sidewalk where it meets the zebra crossing and they could only get to the bus stop by walking around it. Their route led to the local Tesco supermarket, very busy at that time of the day. They had to slalom between shopping carts to reach the pharmacy.
Timber, vans and trashcans blocking the road – yet a well prepared guide dog have an answer for all these challenges
From the pharmacy, they carried on to the local post office which they otherwise visit every day during trainings. Yet, this time everything was different. As this was one of those days when the trashcans are emptied, these were scattered everywhere on the sidewalk. If it had not been enough, at one point the pair’s route was all of a sudden invaded by woodworkers, carrying their machines and timber, and they even parked their van there, with its passenger side door opened. All this was considered a truly severe obstacle on a route that was quite complicated to start with, due to a detour. Nevertheless, the pair performed perfectly even in such an extraordinary situation and, successfully overcoming all the obstacles, they eventually reached their destination, the post office.
The committed and responsible guide work by Dolly was obvious all along the test. Írisz confidently navigated her dog along the route. We may conclude without hesitation that they are able to travel without assistance and together they can reach any destination. The board of examiners agreed with this conclusion. We would like to congratulate again Írisz Kobli and Dolly for successful passing the test.
“Dolly watches my every step”
Írisz swears she will never forget meeting Dolly for the first time. “It was love at first sight, just like with Larry, 25 years ago. I could hardly wait for the day when Dolly was given to me as my guide dog at last. We were eager to meet Maria each week to learn something new and in the meantime we were preparing for the test, too, of course. Dolly watches my every step and all she wants is guide me along my life as safely as possible”
Many thanks to Viktória Farkasné Szalánczi for offering Dolly to the Baráthegyi Guide Dog School, helping our work to facilitate the independent life of visually impaired people. We wish to thank our trainer, Mária Nyíriné Kovács to prepare the pair for the test. We also wish to thank Enikő Bajnóczi and Mária Hajdú for their work as examiners.
