{"id":49416,"date":"2023-06-27T06:01:52","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T04:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/peoplespost\/celebrating-seven-decades-of-assisting-the-visually-impaired-community-20230627\/"},"modified":"2025-03-19T21:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T19:05:13","slug":"celebrating-seven-decades-of-assisting-the-visually-impaired-community-20230627","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/peoplespost\/celebrating-seven-decades-of-assisting-the-visually-impaired-community-20230627\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating seven decades of assisting the visually impaired community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Luca, a black Labrador and visually impaired helper lies silently at the feet of his owner, Jenny Pretorius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fish Hoek resident was paired with Luca last year December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This month the pup features on shopper bags, as part of a campaign to raise R700 000 in 70 days for the SA Guide Dog Association\u2019s 70th birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regional marketing manager at the SA Guide Dog Association, Jackie Quail, explains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSA Guide Dogs Association is turning 70 this year and for part of our celebrations, we launched a campaign called 70 Days of Giving, where we will try and raise R700 000 in 70 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a sponsorship programme as we are a non-profit organisation and receive no government funding, so we rely on fund-raising and sponsorships to get our dogs trained. If you sponsor R100 000 it pays for a dog\u2019s training and you get to name the dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPick n Pay came along and they did the sponsorship for Luca and got to name him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She adds that their guide dogs are all born and bred at the SA Guide Dog Association\u2019s head office in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe breed all of our dogs. We have a place called Puppy Block and they are born there. They live with their mom for the first eight weeks of their lives and then after that, they go to volunteers that work for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese volunteers are called Puppy Raisers and they look after the pups for us from the age of eight weeks all the way until they are 14 months old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this time puppies are taken to puppy classes and socialisation training until the age of 14 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese dogs get used to being out in public and when they are about 14-months-old they come back to the association and we start their formal training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe training lasts about six months after which they are paired with their person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Luca and Jenny\u2019s case, they paired perfectly together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLuca is easy-going, he is very devoted to his person and Jenny needed a dog that could help her with guiding but also with hearing and Luca just fitted that brief,\u201d says Quail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"

<\/p>\n

Jenny Pretorius with her guide dog Luca. PHOTO: Natasha Bezuidenhout<\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Jenny\u2019s mom, Jean Pretorius, says her daughter was born profoundly deaf and her eyesight started to fail when she was a teenager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe was born profoundly deaf and when her sister was born, we tested her and she was also profoundly deaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey went to a school for the deaf in Cape Town and when we first got a notion with a problem with her eyes she was 13. One of her sisters came to me one day and said when Jenny plays tennis, she can\u2019t see the ball on the sides of the tennis court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd that was the first inkling of the problem with her eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that having a guide dog changed Jenny\u2019s life and made her very independent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKaine was her first guide dog and he was lovely and Luca is perfect as well. They have changed her; she is so independent and goes for walks by herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore she had a guide dog, she used to use a long cane and she would walk alone with the cane in Fish Hoek and people would come past and kick it out of the way, it was very sad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe dogs have changed her life completely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pick n Pay loyalty marketing manager Lauren Hard said a limited-edition fabric shopping bag is on sale, a portion of the proceeds going to the SA Guide Dog Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe SA Guide Dog Association recently reached out to us about its 70 days of giving campaign and we wanted to help,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe produced these beautiful limited-edition fabric shopping bags featuring the guide dogs on them. There\u2019s also a QR code customers can scan, and R5 from the sale of the bag goes towards the initiative.\u201d The cost of the shopping bag is R40.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five percent of the store\u2019s Nutriphase dog food will also go towards the campaign, to help raise R100 000, which will go towards the association\u2019s R700 000 target, Hard pointed out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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