Knights to the rescue of guide dog service

Two years since Malta’s first guide dog, Balto, walked tall beside his owner, just four dogs like him have entered service, a far cry from the Malta Guide Dog Foundation’s plan to have five new dogs recruited every year.

It is estimated that 45 to 50 dogs are needed to serve the 730 individuals who form the blind community, but with each dog costing some €12,000 blind people are being left without their guides.

The dogs are especially important as the blind easily find themselves on the poverty line when their condition strips them of their independence, foundation chairman Ron Colombo said.

Blind himself, his dream as foundation chairman was to introduce guide dogs on the island, giving people with sight problems a sense of independence.

“We need a main sponsor desperately,” he pointed out. This is where the Sovereign Military Order of Malta comes in, promising to take the project under its wing and provide financial assistance.

These knights, who are devoted to care giving, have opened a number of projects in other countries, including hospitals, first aid camps and HIV centres.

Their help in the project was described by Mr Colombo as “manna from heaven”, due to the foundation’s continuous struggle to make ends meet to provide assistance to the blind.

The signing of the agreement between the Order and the association should coincide with the official visit of the Grandmaster next February.

“This is the light at the end of the tunnel for us,” Mr Colombo said, grateful that help became available just as the foundation was going under.

Mr Colombo knows firsthand how a dog can revolutionise a blind man’s life. His own world was overcome by darkness when he lost 90 per cent of the vision in his “good eye” within three days, at the age of 43.

Now 72, Mr Colombo had been diagnosed with glaucoma at a very young age but a massive glaucoma attack later in life left him falling into potholes and bumping into lamp-posts.

He was, however, determined to fight it and not let it bother him, and that’s where Balto came in, venturing where no dog had gone before.

The golden retriever was the first guide dog on the island. He sat beside his owner, the instructions on his harness very clear: Don’t pet me, I’m working.

“With Balto, my life changed from night to day,” Mr Colombo said, two years into his relationship with man’s best friend.

Things were never the same again after the incredible animal walked beside his owner onto countless buses, into supermarkets and even on flights. Mr Colombo’s wish now is for other blind people like himself to own a dog they can depend on.