Betty Bridge Director Of Guide Dog Training...(1951).
Betty Bridge set up and ran the State guide dog training centre that would assist to give blind people get independence and security by providing them with a trained guide dog in Western Australia.
Their first home was two old trams joined together on land at the Dog's Refuge Home in Shenton Park before moving to a specially built centre in Belmont.
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West Australian 30 November 1951.
FOR GUIDE DOG TRAINING IN W.A.
Miss Betty Bridge, who arrived in Perth yesterday, will be the first director of guide dog training in Australia. A new training centre has been established near the Dogs' Home in Shenton Park, and Miss Bridge will begin immediately to train guide dogs for blind people.
She is seen renewing acquaintance with Mr. Arnold Cook and his guide dog, Dreena, which Miss Bridge trained in England, and had not seen for nearly a year. Miss Bridge said that she was impressed with the enthusiasm which had been shown by the president of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (Mr. J. A. Dimmitt, M.L.C.) and the committee responsible for establishing the new centre. "It is the intention of the association to provide trained guide dogs, free of cost, to blinded people, and for this purpose substantial public financial support is required, as well as a steady flow of suitable dogs, aged from ten to 18 months," Miss Bridge said.
Any big dogs with a shoulder height of 20in. were suitable, particularly collies, border collies, labradors and retrievers. For preference they should be females. One golden labrador and several collies have already been given to the centre, and several others will shortly come from the Geraldton and Carnarvon districts. About 20 applications for guide dogs have already been received from blind people in this State, and others have come from every part of the Commonwealth. Dreena had been a "tremendous help" to her master, it was stated, and the lives of other blind people would be broadened when dogs similarly trained could be provided for them.
Western Mail, 28 October 1954.
Devotion of trained dogs gives the blind independence
NEXT time you rush outdoors on an impulse to visit a friend or see the shops, stop and think. Blind persons could not do this. They would first have to find someone with the time and readiness to take them. Often what they would like to do today has to wait till next week. Their almost complete dependence on the generosity of others is one of the most difficult things they have to bear.
No matter how well disposed and understanding a guide may be, intrusion on the thoughts and privacy of the person being led is inevitable. Where the guide is not so understanding, well-meant efforts to assist and make conversation are often a source of great irritation, but one which must be suffered in silence.
Another great disadvantage suffered by the blind is a lack of exercise, which may adversely affect their health and general outlook. In both respects, a guide dog is the ideal answer.
Since the inauguration in this State of a guide dog training centre, new prospects have opened up for blind people. The centre, which is run by Miss Betty Bridge at Belmont, supplied five dogs to blind people last year, and, with an accelerated rate of training in the next few years, many blind people who are today dependent on others to take them where they want to go will be given a measure of independence and security they have never known before by the possession of a guide dog.
It all began when Miss Bridge passed through Fremantle in 1951 to join her parents in New Zealand. So persuasive was a delegation of blind people headed by university lecturer Arnold Cook that she consented to return to Perth and carry on the work she had begun under the world-famous Captain N. Liakhoff, director of guide dog training in England. It was from Miss Bridge that Mr. Cook, then studying at London University, had obtained his black Labrador retriever Dreena, which has since become a familiar sight in Perth streets.
The first home of the centre was in two old tram bodies that once jolted and rattled through Perth streets. It was situated on land lent for the purpose near the dogs' refuge home at Shenton Park. The new home, equipped with concrete kennels, has just been opened at Belmont.
There is no charge to the recipients of the guide dogs but the cost of training each animal to date has averaged 350 hence the urgent necessity of securing funds. It is expected that as the output of trained dogs increases the cost per dog will be lowered, but it will always be expensive.
THERE is no comparison, Miss Bridge explains, between these animals and the "blind man's dog" of other years. They are carefully selected animals which have undergone rigorous training. They are taught to respond to a set of commands, to be able to lead their owners to named destinations and around obstruction, to look both ways before crossing roads and to allow sufficient room for their master to pass people.
The whole basis of training rests on the devotion which humans are capable of inspiring in dogs. There is no question of compulsion, for the animal's willingness to do the work is a first essential in guide dog training. Unless a dog shows willingness it is rejected before training commences, and if unwillingness develops during the training period or even after the animal is fully trained it must be rejected.
The best dogs for the job are Labradors, Border Collies, Alsatians and Boxers. Miss Bridge, however, prefers Labradors, and nearly all dogs at the centre are of this breed.
The dog has to be taught not to sniff at objects. Chasing cats is strictly forbidden and to recognise another dog in the street just isn't done.
Dogs are awarded on the basis of priority and on the suitability of the animal for the owner. Dog and master must be temperamentally matched and take to each other, otherwise the right relationship essential for guide dog work will not be established. Before a dog graduates, Miss Bridge teaches its future owner how to use it. Tuition may occupy a month or two, and during this time affection has to be transferred from Miss Bridge to the new owner. However, it may take a year before the dog can be allowed to take over all responsibility when out walking, and so allow the owner to relax completely.
The centre is the only one of its kind in Australasia and possibly south of the Equator.
It is essential work, but costly. Salaries are small, for the training director and her kennel assistants are enthusiasts, but with the cost of food, medicines and the maintenance of equipment it represents a considerable annual outlay. To meet this, the association looks towards a sympathetic and generous public.
TOP: Miss Ann Green (24), with her Border Collie guide dog, enters Government Gardens. She travels to work each day from Armadale.
LEFT: A newly trained dog being tried out by volunteer helper Rochelle Smith (17), of Mt. Lawley, who is blindfolded. The dog waits at an intersection till the traffic is clear.
LABRADOR PUPPIES at the new training centre at Belmont give one another an affectionate greeting. Dogs of this breed are now used almost exclusively by training director Miss Betty Bridge.
COMFORTABLE MODERN KENNELS at the Belmont centre. Said to be the most modern in Australia, they were erected at a cost of £900. The kennels are built of concrete cavity bricks with asbestos roofing. Each has a concrete-paved yard enclosed with link-mesh netting.
West Australian, 4 August 1954.
Miss Betty Bridge (left) with her one-year-old trainee guide dog, Coleen, who is being admired by Sapper K. Thompson, Pte. B. Allison, Pte. S. Nicholas and Cpl T. Stewart, of the Women's Royal Australian Army Corms.
The army girls donated £20 collected from their winter ball to the Blind Dogs Association. The dogs, usually Golden Labradors, are trained at the association's kennels in Belmont-avenue, Belmont.
