After 50 years raising funds and puppies for Guide Dogs Australia Olive and Bruce Heider are about to retire.
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Aspiring guide dogs started living at the couple’s Bendigo home in 1966 while completing training.
“Oh, we loved it,” Mrs Heider said of her time with the dogs.
Each pup would stay at the Heiders for about a year and while the couple were not responsible for the complex training guide dogs undertook, they were always on hand to teach basic lessons.
“We taught them things like toilet training as well as taking them out for new experiences,” Mr Heider said.
Those experiences included walks up lookout tower steps, through train stations and other places useful to an up-and-coming guide dog.
Friends reunited
In the days before specialist breeding programs many puppies failed to become guide dogs. That included one of the first dogs they cared for.
“Twelve months after it was rejected we were on holidays along the beach and we saw this dog walking along with another family. We thought we recognised it and called out its name,” Mr Heider said.
“And it recognised us and came racing over.”
Mr Heider said their time volunteering with Guide Dogs Australia began after the passing of a pet.
“We had just had to put a dog down. Then one Saturday afternoon a chappie from the Lions Club was on 3BO FM and said Guide Dogs Australia was looking for people to care for puppies,” he said.
Funds raised
By the mid-70s Mr Heider was helping form an auxiliary to help raise funds for Guide Dogs Australia, which collected funds from ‘collection dogs’ at businesses throughout Bendigo.
The couple would join guide dogs visiting schools to teach children about visual impairment.
Mr Heider will finish his work collecting funds for Guide Dogs Australia over Christmas.
Guide Dogs Australia mobility instructor Paula Foote said Mr and Mrs Heider’s 50 years was exemplary.
“For anyone to do so much work for one organisation over 50 years is a fabulous achievement,” she said, noting caring for puppies could be a 24-hour job.
Mr Heider’s work with Guide Dogs Australia was recognised with a Victorian Premier's Volunteer Champions Award last Sunday.