A local face for Guide Dogs in Albury

Albury office manager Ross Still at work with a client.

Albury residents welcome Guide Dogs into their community.

After years of servicing the region remotely, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT has established a permanent presence in Albury. The new office was formally opened last month.

Deputy Mayor of Albury City Cr. Henk van de Ven Following the success of their first pup, Saint, St Johns recently celebrated the graduation
of their second Guide Dog at a ceremony held at the Guide Dogs Centre, Glossodia.

Rinni, a male Labrador, proudly displayed his new skills in front of members of the St Johns Park Bowling Club, as well as supporters, Puppy Raisers and Guide Dogs NSW/ACT staff at

his graduation ceremony.

St Johns Park Bowling Club’s Vice President Brian Rinaldo, in whose honour Rinni was named,

said it was wonderful to witness Rinni graduate as a Guide Dog.
"We were delighted to know that Rinni made the grade. To see the culmination of all the love

and care that had gone into his puppy raising and training is unbelievable," he added.

Rinni was taken through the obstacle course at the graduation by his trainers, where he

demonstrated excellent concentration and ability to negotiate objects, showing no hesitation

with any of the tasks set for him.

Rinni’s formal training included learning to travel on buses, trains and ferries. Instructors also

used the on-site training track at the Centre - a 1.4 kilometre obstacle course of different

surfaces and the sorts of obstructions that he would be likely to encounter in the outside world.

Rinni has now been matched with a person with vision impairment and the pair will train together

to learn handling skills and routines, the first step in what will be a long and happy partnership.

With Rinni’s success, the focus for the club switches to Jetta, St Johns’ third Guide Dog pup-in- training. Jetta is currently undertaking socialisation training with other puppies, and is set

for assessment before formal training at Glossodia in mid-2008.

We thank St Johns Park Bowling Club, and all of our club sponsors, for their continued
support of our organisation.

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