00:46 S1
On Vision Australia Radio, you're listening to the Seeing Eye Dogs Show - with me, your host, Harriet Moffatt. Today I'm joined by seeing Eye Dogs Handler and Seeing Eye Dogs volunteer Alayna Campbell, who's going to talk to us about her life partnership with Seeing Eye dog Joey and their work together, and her role as a kennel support volunteer in Seeing Eye Dogs kennels. We're going to talk a bit about the role of a kennel support volunteer, the work that Elena does and how she does her work as someone who's blind or has low vision.
Seeing eye dogs could simply not make great seeing eye dog partnerships without the work of all of our volunteers, including Alayna. So we have to give a big shout out and a thank you to volunteers for the work that they do, helping our puppies and dogs reach their full potential and be happy, healthy and working dogs. So without further ado, here is Elena talking about her life and her volunteer role. Hi Alayna, thank you for joining me on the show today.
01:51 S2
No problem. Harriet.
01:52 S1
Could you please.Start off by introducing yourself?
01:55 S2
So my name is Alayna, and I have a guide dog called Joey, and we've been together now for about five months, and I'm in my mid 20s and living in Bendigo in central Victoria.
02:11 S1
Do you have any kind of hobbies and interests or work or anything like that, that you would like to tell us about?
02:16 S2
I like music, outdoors, movies, live theatre, live shows. Just being out and about in the community, I think is my go-to thing, really. Oh, and I forgot about craft.
02:30 S1
What type of crafts do you do?
02:32 S2
3D models - a bit of, like, textural painting sort of stuff.
02:38 S1
Cool.
02:39 S2
Yeah. Also, it's a very tactile project.
02:43 S1
Maybe in that particular form, Joey's not going to be as helpful, but going outdoors or going to the craft store I'm sure he can help with.
02:51 S2
Oh, he gives it a fair go. He... yeah, he quite often has a look at the lower shelves for me and knocks it over and goes, Here, mum, you need this.
03:00 S1
The Labrador tail really does. I need a weapon.
03:04 S2
Oh hell yeah. He is a bit on the... larger, strapping side, Mr. Joey and, yeah, maybe he is still trying to work out how big he actually is.
03:16 S1
I think when you have grown so quickly over a year and a half to two years, yeah... you probably don't quite realise it. Like, it takes humans a lot longer to grow... that amount. And he's probably still just working things out. You know, it's reasonable.
03:33 S2
Absolutely, absolutely. We've got to give him some some grace, credit.
03:37 S1
Yeah.
03:38 S2
Some credit. Yeah.
03:40 S1
So what made you decide to apply for a seeing eye dog?
03:43 S2
I've been a dog guide handler now for seven years. I wanted a bit of a change of scenery per se, and... I ended up with Joey. Yeah. Did... the application process. And I actually had a break between dogs and... yeah, I applied and I only waited about... let's say two months or so and then really until, yeah, they matched me with Joey. And then there was another. I had to wait till he finished his training, his formal training, and... yeah, we... started our training back in April this year.
04:25 S1
Do you have any things that you think are either you know, your favourite favorite things, or even real reasons that you think you might have been matched?
04:33 S2
I think it was just his calm, chilled temperament that he is... with, my last experience with a dog. It was a very high energy. We will go, go, go because I was so young and... I think they wanted to give me a chilled-out dog, and that's what Joey gives me as well. So. And he's got very good... he's a three-speed dog. He's hilarious. So he can give me different speeds to how far I want to walk, intentionally.
05:05 S1
So how do you kind of cue it? Or how do you decide what is which of the three speeds you want to go?
05:10 S2
I just probably made the Hop up or Steady, or he picks one and then whatever I'm feeling that day, I'll go, OK, let's hop up and go faster... or if I'm I'm not quite feeling his enthusiasm on one particular day, I will just tell him to ease it up a bit and steady up. And he's quite obliging. He's a... true gentleman, Mr. Joey.
05:37 S1
So how would you say that your life has been changed since being partnered with Joey?
05:42 S2
Oh, Joey's awesome, like... challenges that I wouldn't have even dreamed of doing, Joey just takes it in his stride. He goes, Yeah, let's do it. Let's give it a whirl. I was down the street the other day and I went, I did my training. My instructor said, just be careful if you want to do this. Corner might be a bit tough on Joey. Just give him a bit of grace. But, yeah, no problem, no problem. So it's only five months into our working relationship and I'm like, Oh, let's give it a whirl, Joey - no high expectations. And he absolutely nailed it on the first go. Like the freedom that he gives. Like I can just go yeah, let's give it a whirl. And I'm like, oh, right.
Another time is when I've said to people, All right, I'll meet you in a shop or a supermarket or whatever I've got going. I'll be fine. I can navigate my way around. And sure enough, they found me midway down an aisle, looking for something with Joey by my side.
06:47 S1
And you're just kind of there by yourself rather than needing, you know, an escort outside of the shopping centre, that type of stuff.
06:53 S2
That's right. Absolutely. That's right. You can, yeah, get Joey to help me find a counter or find the exit to the supermarket or the shopping centre or, yeah, find the doctor's or find a car. If it's a taxi, for example, you can say to him, Find the car and he'll find it. No problem.
07:12 S1
Out of curiosity, what makes a corner a challenging corner, or like that specific one?
07:18 S2
It had a bit of a, like a dining area sort of seating bit and like a fencing, but you're at the edge of the fence so you could either go one side of the fence or the other side of the fence. But Joey had to do this specific, specific side, otherwise he would have ended up in another fence in a corner. I forget what the technical term is. It's, you find it with roundabouts. They're like indented roundabouts, indented curbs. It's not a straight line travel. It's indented. You've got to go round the corner to be able to go to the curb.
07:50 S1
Yeah. And so for him it's like he... there's a lot, there's probably kind of choices. But he's just got to make the right one based on some random human thing that people have decided makes sense.
08:01 S2
That's right, that's right. Yeah. It's not very logical in their mind, in a Labrador's mind.
08:07 S1
So what is a kind of typical day in your life together?
08:11 S2
So it depends what we're doing. I mean, let's take a day in the city, which we'll get to a bit further in the interview, but, stay in the city. So if I've got a medical appointment or if I'm doing my volunteer job. So we'll get up at 6:00 in the morning, let's say. And then... get ready, have our breakfast, breakfast and get a... taxi into the railway station, and we get a line down to Melbourne from Bendigo. And then we normally toilet Joey and whatnot, give him a bit of a break after being on the train for like two hours. And then we go find the metro platform and get on the metro train. So all the diversity of all the different transports and then we get off, yeah.
If I was going to my job, we'd get off and walk to my volunteer job, which is about a five minute walk. And Joey has learned, Joey and I both learnt that route. Well, Joey actually came inbuilt. You'll find out later why. Yeah, inbuilt with this travel route. So he knew it. I just had to learn it, which was easy. And, yeah, Joey's just chosen the corner. And... when I'm finished my job, I get him out and give him another toilet break and whatever, and we'll go get... something to eat, once we get... back into the city. And then another opportunity to go to the loo before we get on the train. And we get on the train for another two hours and we get a taxi back home, once we got to Bendigo and, yeah, or the King or whatever, because...
10:00 S1
By that time you're probably pretty tired.
10:02 S2
That's right. Or then can feed feed Joey and... then I'll have a bit of a evening play with Joey. Joey loves his evening play. He'll just grab a toy and he's like, Yeah, let's play so rough and tumble on the ground. We do after a hard day's work. And then we... then he goes, OK, I'm ready for bed now, mum. All right. So off to bed we go.
10:28 S1
See ya. I mean, either you're coming or he's going to ditch you. Is that the kind of general vibe for Joey?
10:33 S2
Yep yep yep yep. All right.
10:35 S1
Bedtime. Non-negotiable.
10:37 S2
That's right. Bedtime non-negotiable. He... always likes to pick his spot where he wants to sleep, whether it's on his bed or whether it's on the floor or whatever. No furniture though. No, thank you very much.
10:53 S1
The handle's choice, but not everyone wants to have their whole furniture covered with dog hair.
10:57 S2
That's right, that's right. And I mean, even not being on the furniture, I still find, like, fur all over the furniture, so it's quite cute. Oh, thanks, Joey. Love you to bits, bud.
11:08 S1
But you can keep that on your coat if you would like to.
11:15 S2
Yeah. To me. That's right, that's right.
11:17 S1
So what is your role? Volunteering...
11:21 S2
My volunteer role is at Seeing Eye Dogs in the kennels, actually. So I do that once a week for about four hours for the week. And, yeah, like I said, we come down, Joey chills out in one of the crates or in the office area, or depending who's in the office and who's not and whatnot, because everybody knows Joey, Joey's, yeah, pretty, quite amazing. Who knows Joey? Everybody goes And that's Joey. I'm like, Oh yeah, that's Joey. And, yeah. So he goes out and I... get to work with all the other pups from eight weeks of age, all the way through to training dogs, breeding dogs, pups that are in for surgeries to become family dogs.
Oh, we've got ten dogs that have come in for short term accommodation. All sorts of dogs. With all those dogs, we get, yeah, depending on the individual requirements. I mean, so we might groom a dog, we might... give enrichment toys like a Kong or a Nylabone, health check, toileting, [?parsing], free run. And the best part is, we get to cuddle the pups.
12:53 S1
Some of the little ones are kind of... a little bit mouthier than some of the grown-up ones. But they're all pretty cute, right?
13:00 S2
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And they've all got, yeah, they're all different. It's quite unique.
13:07 S1
So why did you start volunteering at kennels?
13:11 S2
So I found it a bit hard to... get a full-time paid job... or I shouldn't say full-time, I should say part-time. Looking at... options for jobs. And I'm like, Well, they're getting paid. Employment is not going to work, so why not give me something to do and I'll volunteer. And I've done some volunteering in the past at, like, nursing homes and whatnot. And I was, done a bit of Vision Australia up here in Bendigo. I've done the Easter Egg Hunt and stuff like that. And I'm like, mm, I'm getting going. At this point I had been matched with Joey and I'm like, hmm, I wonder if I could help out in Melbourne, give me something to do. Day out. Change of scenery and... yeah. So I turned the negative into a positive and... decided to open my horizons, which a seeing eye dog allows. And, hit the big smoke.
14:23 S1
Like the big smoke and the little puppies.
14:27 S2
That's right. That's right.
14:29 S1
I can only imagine as a... handler, it would be quite interesting to meet so many different dogs and realise, because this is what I was just thinking... it's like when you've got Joey and you've met him and you kind of know what he's like, and I'm not saying like you'd get a, you know, you meet so many dogs in a shift, but to kind of realise how different they are and like, you know, you could have been matched with any other dog that looked, you know, acting has any of the other kind of different traits in a way that you wouldn't necessarily know if you only trial-walked a few of them.
15:01 S2
Like, absolutely. That's right.
15:03 S1
Personalities.
15:04 S2
Oh, there's so many different personalities. Yeah, there's some cheeky ones. There's some bold, loud vocal ones. There's ones like Joey that will just chill out in the kennels in the corner and not have a peep. And, there's some a bit more boisterous, like Joey and others that are not so boisterous and couldn't really give a crap of what's going on. And it's just, yeah, hilarious. I mean, you've got the desexed and non-desexed ones and you've got boys and girls and even different, colours are different. It's... incredible.
15:42 S1
Have you met any of Joey's, like, siblings or relatives since you've been in there?
15:47 S2
I've met Joey's mum at a volunteer event. His mum was there and we got a photo of Joey and his mum together. It was quite cute. Joey's mum is rather small.
16:02 S1
Yeah.
16:02 S2
And... when you look at Joey, it's like, really a big puppy. Like Joey came out of a little pup like his mum. It's quite cute. The half sibling of Joey that I'm caring for at the moment. She is about eight months and her mum is two and a half. And so it's the dad that's the same. And Cassia started to outgrow her mom at about six months old.
16:30 S1
Wow. So that's where... dad's size has come through. You know, you can...
16:34 S2
Yeah. Yeah. Apparently, Joey's dad is, like, 42 kilos or something. Yeah, very big Joe. And that's where Joey gets it from, apparently.
16:44 S1
And the big cuddle. And the big fluff, too.
16:47 S2
Yes, he's a big. He's a big, cuddly teddy bear, basically.
16:52 S1
Yeah. You could almost think. You could almost think he'd be tough. Like looking at him because he's so big. But he's they're not. They're not like hooligans. They're just big smushes.
17:00 S2
Oh, yeah. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. He's so... yeah, mouldable. So kind of cuddly like. Yeah, it's somewhat... we always say someone with a Joey wouldn't be a security dog. He'd help them carry the TV out.
17:18 S1
Yeah. And he might ask them. Hey, would you mind opening this drawer here? That's where my treats are.
17:23 S2
Yeah, if you wouldn't mind.
17:25 S1
And then I'll help you. Yeah.
17:26 S2
That's right, that's right. Absolutely.
17:30 S1
So what do you kind of... enjoy about volunteering?
17:34 S2
The community aspect of it, like... get diving into my community. Sort of my community.
17:46 S1
Wow. That's bad of you, Alayna. You own all of the volunteers? No, I like it. We've got one queen bee of volunteers.
17:53 S2
Take it. Yeah. So, yeah, I just like the community and the working with different dogs instead of just my own. And it broadens it... a lot. Yeah, I just like the idea of giving back in a way, like I've got going and... yeah, giving back to the work that they've put in to, yeah, everybody's put into Joey. Well, why not help someone else be able to... get their seeing eye dog?
18:26 S1
Oh, it's super cool. And would you recommend, I guess, other handlers get involved in volunteering or, you know, is there anything else that you would like to share about your experiences volunteering? As someone who's blind or low vision.
18:41 S2
I mean, they're always open for... feedback. Like, we've had to make a few accommodations... for us, vision impaired, I think there's only two, maybe three of us that are vision impaired that work in kennels. And, yeah, we've had to make a few accommodations, i.e. the washing machine. We've got bump dots on it. So we can all identify which one's the start button and which one's the stop button and the power button or whatever. And then we're, yeah, also talking about like how to make it accessible for us, but also not too taxing on the rest of the... workforce, for the rest of the workforce, like the trainers and the... instructors and whatnot.
With the ID cards that the dogs sort of have, it's hard to explain, but, yeah. To tell us who's in what kennel basically is what it is. And, yeah. So we're trying to, there's always opportunity for us to be able to, like they're open for accommodations and stuff like that. So like, yeah, some of us might be able to take a photo of it and others might be able to be solely... reliant on a screen reader for example. So, handwriting would work for a screen reader user, but it would work for someone to take photo and blow it up and enlarge it. So we're all, yeah, it's... so yeah. Going back to the... Would I recommend someone volunteer? Absolutely. It's very... inclusive. And they're open to it for sure.
20:51 S1
And I guess it's one of those things that, like you said, there's everyone's got a different kind of needs and accommodation. So it's kind of, I guess chatting to each person to help them work out what they need to. It's quite complicated, isn't it? Not as straightforward.
21:06 S2
It's not straightforward because like, we've come up with ideas and we're like, Well, why don't we do this and that and the other? But then we come across the privacy problem. So it's like, OK, we can't just leave for... Our example, consciously named badges of either dog or humans, whether that's staff, clients, you name it, can't just leave them lying around because that's a no-no. Even the pups, you can't do it. So it it's just it's quite... an interesting adventure to jump all the hurdles.
21:44 S1
Yeah.
21:44 S2
To be able to find the happy medium for everybody, it's quite, quite good.
21:49 S1
But I can, yeah, I can imagine though, that. Yeah. For someone who's kind of interested in, in trying it, you know, reaching out to the team and... finding out about like helping out or getting involved. And you know, I'm sure you've learned quite a lot in your time in kennel so far.
22:03 S2
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, I just did it... the way every other normal person would - just because I'm a client or I got my vision or whatever, I didn't have any... special, yeah, any special requirements in my enrollment, Sort of. But a lack of a word, yeah, and, yeah... so we just, yeah, filled out all the paperwork, did all the interview and the induction and the, all the... checks and whatnot, and, yeah, it's just that you let them know, you go, Hey, I've got a visual impairment or I'm blind or whatever it might be. And they, yeah...
22:53 S1
They find a crate for your dog, and there you go.
22:56 S2
That's right. Find a crate. I mean, I've even had Joey in his kennel.
23:02 S1
So he can make friends.
23:04 S2
That's right, that's right. So, yeah. No, Joey. And, I've had Joey in the free run with some of the other pups and just, and it all comes down to... like, you just pretty much treat that working seeing eye dogs sort of similar. You just got to match it to every other dog's personality. So it's like, would Joey match with this dog or that dog or you know what I mean, for example.
23:33 S1
Yeah, yeah, of course most of our dogs are pretty good together. I mean, I feel like, of the time that I spent in... kennels, I feel like all of the dogs are pretty... generally well-mannered. The only thing that you really get is some, you get some intense play sometimes, but it's generally pretty good.
23:50 S2
I remember when I was supervising one of the toilet times, and first time I'd come across this, non de-sexed pups, and we had a few in, a few of the mums in one of the kennels and were toileting them and they're having a bit of rumpy hump, rump and I'm just going, Oh no, what did I do? I freaked. It was hilarious. You're like, Oh, they're all right. They're just a couple of the mums going for it. Don't worry about them.
24:25 S1
This is this is normal and natural and fine.
24:29 S2
Okay. That's right. Don't worry. It was quite hilarious. I, yeah, I panicked a bit there, but I don't have to worry about it no more, because I've got the knowledge now to... be able to not stress about it. And yeah, to know.
24:44 S1
To know when the difference is between nice, nice girl play doing thing, girl things together and when things are starting to get a bit heated.
24:53 S2
That's right, that's right, that's right. And I didn't realise too, that... they were all females. I thought there was, might have been a bit of... acting in there.
25:06 S1
Hanky panky with a boy who slipped in.
25:09 S2
Yeah. Yeah, I thought I thought they might have had a bit of a... they might have been doing one of them mating sessions, but they weren't. It was just the ladies, just relaxing between sessions. I've got nothing much to do with the breeding part, so I'm not completely sure on that one, but yeah.
25:32 S1
So just to finish off, is there anything else that you would like to share with our listeners?
25:38 S2
There's probably just, don't be afraid. Like if you want to... get into a program or get into volunteering or, yeah, try something new. Like I said, whether that's at a client base or whether that's getting more involved in Vision Australia or Seeing Eye Dogs or with the dogs or not, with the dogs in the office or whatever it might be. Just give it a go. It doesn't hurt and nobody bites, so it's awesome.
26:11 S1
I mean, that that said though, if the dogs get too excited and you give the kibble in the wrong way, sometimes your hand does suffer a little bit. But, you know, not intentionally.
26:20 S2
Not intentionally. They, they're just Labradors. They want the food.
26:24 S1
Well, thank you so much for joining me on the show and sharing a bit of your story with Joey and about volunteering.
26:30 S2
No worries. I appreciate it. Joey and I are very grateful to be able to join you.
26:36 S1
And so many more adventures. Only five months down and... a lifetime of partnership to go.
26:42 S2
Probably, hopefully eight to go.
26:52 S1
You've been listening to the Seeing Eye Dogs Show on Vision Australia Radio. I hope you enjoyed my interview with Alayna Campbell, talking about her life and partnership as a seeing eye dog handler of Joey, and about her volunteer role as a kennel support volunteer at King Arthur's Kennels in Kensington, Victoria.
To find out more about Seeing Eye Dogs, the work we do, or how you can help, head to our website at SED dot Vision Australia dot org. If you are based in New South Wales, I would like to find out more about becoming a seeing eye dogs handler. Our roadshow will bring the information to you across Sydney November 25th to 28. Our local instructors will be popping up to a Vision Australia office near you to answer your questions about dog guide mobility. Come and meet the team and register for a roadshow event on our Seeing Eye Dogs website, if you'd like to find out more about becoming a handler.
If you are blind or have low vision and are interested in dog guide mobility, we are happy to chat with you about your needs. You can email us at info at SED diot visionaustralia dot org to find out about becoming a handler. Our team would love to chat with you. You can also give us a ring on 1800 037 773. Thank you for listening to the Seeing Eye Dogs show. Have a lovely week and don't forget to tune in, same time next week for another episode of The Seeing Eye Dogs Show.
