Here at McGunnMedia we have had the recent privilege to meet Lewis, the dog.

Lewis is no ordinary dog, he is a guide dog.

He was given to owner Deborah Persaud only 10 weeks ago and in that short time he has completely transformed her life.

Living in London, Lewis has his work cut out for him. His typical work day isn’t perhaps so dissimilar to yours, only Lewis is guiding Deborah through the maze of the busiest city in the UK. Lewis is at work the second he steps out of his front door to the time he arrives back home.

He is Deborah’s DogNav, leading her to the bus, safely crossing roads and finding their way around all the obstacles we don’t ordinarily even take notice of. He helps her around pot holes, bins, utility poles, low hanging branches, skateboarders, cyclists and pedestrians, and many other obstacles that could cause injury to her. He guides her through London, allowing her to carry on working in the city center. In the short weeks he has been homed, Lewis has been to yoga classes, BBC Proms, the Olympics, as well as many, many restaurants, markets and Deborah favorite cake shop in and around London, allowing her to attend some of the most amazing opportunities by being given the freedom of access.

Lewis is a super-hero. The people that trained, looked after, and then gave him to Deborah after all their hard work are super-heroes.

Any dog owner will know the trials and tribulations of dog obedience training, but you cannot help but be awestricken on Lewis’ discipline and impeccable manners. He asks for permission to go to the toilet, he doesn’t eat unless commanded to by whistle, and he finds things and commodities like chairs, restrooms, and locations by name. He understands commands such as “find the crossing”, “find the bus”, and “find the pub” (ok, I might have been exaggerating on the last command, but only because Deborah has had him for such a short amount of time. I’m sure he will learn that one quickly!).

Not only was this dog trained to live with Deborah, she also underwent training to learn how to care for and live with Lewis. The Guide Dog Association carried out assessments at Deborah’s home and her lifestyle, in order to best match her to Lewis. As this partnership can last as long as 8-10 years, it’s important they get it right, after which time Lewis is promised a sausage sandwich and a well-deserved retirement.

Each guide dog partnership involves around 20 months of training, 7 years of support and has a lifetime cost of over £40,000. The guide dog association is not a government funded charity and they estimate that they currently have 4,500 established guide dog partnerships in the UK.

It’s estimated that each owner will go through 7 guide dogs in their lifetime, therefore it stands to reason that most of the charities’ work is in raising new dogs to replace those that are to be retired.

If you would like to get involved in helping to train more guide dogs like Lewis, you can sponsor a puppy for as little as £1 a month by following this link.