Dogs For Good - the rebranding of Dogs for the Disabled

Today is a special day as the assistance dog charity Dogs for the Disabled is rebranded to Dogs for Good. Dogs for Good is an amazing charity, it has trained over 750 dogs in the last twenty seven years and these have helped enrich the lives of many people with disabilities. They have changed their name because the dogs are trained for more varied roles. As well as training assistance dogs to help people with disabilities and children with autism, they provide advice and support to people on how their pet dog could benefit the whole family. They also train activity and therapy dogs to work in the community and schools.

This is a photo of my assistance dog Rowan at Center Parcs in November 2007.

I have benefited from Dogs for Good in the past (when they were Dogs for the Disabled), I had an assistance dog called Rowan between October 2002 and July 2009. He was a friendly, lively golden retriever, who helped me in many different ways including help with practical tasks such as picking items up and carrying them, to pulling off my wellies and pulling open doors. He also gave me the confidence to get out and about more independently, I didn't feel like people were staring at me because of my wheelchair and long cane, I believed that they were looking at me because I had a very clever, gorgeous dog!

We had many amazing adventures as a result of our partnership, one time we went on a London Eye photo shoot to promote the charity, and in February 2008 Rowan was selected  to be one of the dogs for Royal Mail's Working Dogs stamp issue. He was on the 1st class stamp! It was amazing, especially because in the auditions he was so over excited that I thought he was running too quickly with the letter that he had to give to me. It was like being with an overexcited child!

Rowan was brilliant, I have many fond memories of him and he will always have a special place in my heart.

Dogs for Good welcome any support you can give them, they receive no government funding so are entirely reliant on donations, fundraising and volunteers. It costs £12,000 to fund a puppy to being a fully trained adult and £20,000 to fund a dog for its entire working life. If you would like to find out more about Dogs for Good, you can visit their website: www.dogsforgood.org