Guide dog Baxter instantly recognised the Dundee woman who trained him as a puppy when they were reunited.
But only when he was released from duty, by having his harness taken off, did the Labrador retriever show his excitement and jump up to ‘hug’ Carol Wood.
Three-year-old Baxter returned to Dundee to visit Carol and fundraiser Hazel Reid with his owner Greg Christie, who lost his sight overnight due to a rare medical condition.
Greg said: “As soon as Baxter heard Carol’s voice his ears went up, it was instant recognition.”
And Carol added: “He did recognise me, you could see it in his face but he had his harness on so he didn’t react because he knew he was working.
“Then when his harness came off he was jumping up on me to give me a hug and when the harness went back on all that stopped.”
Baxter lived with puppy trainer Carol Wood, of Broughty Ferry, for two years, including through lockdown.
As a pup he was sponsored by Hazel Reid who raised around £5,000 for Baxter’s training by running a second hand pop-up shop on Gray Street, Broughty Ferry.
Greg organised the reunion to meet Carol and Hazel and thank them, and the city’s guide dog community, for everything they did to raise his dog.
Eye sight disappeared overnight
Greg says having Baxter at his side means he can lead a ‘normal’ life and participate in every day activities with confidence – except, of course, riding a motorbike or driving a car.
However it has taken Greg, a widower, many years to gain this confidence, having lost his sight suddenly at the age of 53.
Prior to sight loss he was a car sales manager for 20 years before studying at university as a mature student then becoming an English literature lecturer and writer.
I thought I had the onset of flu.”
Greg Christie
He said: “It was just a normal weekend. I thought I had the onset of flu.
“I had a headache and dull feeling that got worse on Saturday and on Sunday I had blurred vision.
“Then on Monday morning, I couldn’t see. I stumbled next door to ask my neighbour to ring for a doctor. The doctor came and rang for an ambulance.
“When I got to hospital, doctors told me my sight was not coming back.”
Greg was discovered to have a rare genetic condition carried in the genes of both of his parents, which he cannot remember the name of but says it is a very distant relative to retinitis pigmentosa.
He was the only one of their seven children to inherit it and medics later told him that even if his parents had 50 children there would not be another with this condition.
He said: “It was terrifying, it affects everything – I couldn’t see the cooker to cook a meal, the bath to wash, the bed, my clothes, it took me a long time to come to terms with it.”
It was terrifying, it affects everything”
Greg Christie
Greg learned to use markers to identify food items that sound or feel the same, such as a scrap of paper in sugar or an elastic band around a tin of beans.
And he walked with a white cane for two and half years before getting his first guide dog, a black Labrador called Captain.
Greg, from Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae, off the west coast of Scotland, said: “When I’ve got the dog next to me I can go anywhere and can do anything.
“You can ask him to find the bus stop, find a seat, find the door – there’s no job you give him that he can’t do, unless he see it’s not possible for us and he will turn back.
“I could navigate with a cane to a certain extent, but it only goes where you go and to travel with it requires a lot more confidence than I had.”
Greg, now 65, had Captain as his guide dog for 10 years and he still has him as a pet, but Baxter took over the role of guide dog in November last year.
He said: “There is a waiting list for a guide dog, some people have to wait a long time, but it is necessary the dog is trained to the highest degree.
“Without Carol and Hazel, without their sponsorship and hard work, I wouldn’t have my Baxter and my wait would have been even longer.”
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