A FAMILY who have been training guide dogs for more than 25 years have urged others to do the same as the county prepares to celebrate National Guide Dogs Week.

Geoff and Val Jordan, from Kidlington, have helped prepare 29 dogs which then go on to support blind people around the UK.

The pair receive the pups when they are seven weeks old and look after them until they are one-year-old.

The Jordans decided to get involved with training when they were looking for a dog for their children Angela, Beverley and Colin, who are now 34, 33 and 29 respectively.

Mr Jordan, 64, said: “We had a young family, and with our youngest being three years old, they wanted to buy a dog but we were worried in case it didn’t work out.

“The guide dogs are not so much different to train than normal dogs. It’s important, though, to get them used to loud noises like vacuum cleaners, televisions and lawnmowers.

“Luckily most supermarkets will allow us to come in with the dogs so they can get used to the busy atmosphere, although we have had some problems going into smaller local shops.”

To raise a guide dog puppy into a fully-grown dog that can help a blind person, owners must make sure it is socialised so it can cope with a range of people and situations it would come across while working. This involves anything from getting used to bus travel, people jogging and even going to the doctors or dentists.

As well as that, the pups go through the obedience training needed to become well-behaved on the lead before, aged about one, they go on to a specialist centre to learn the specific skills of a fully-fledged guide dog.

Mr Jordan, of Laburnum Crescent, admitted that, after caring for the dogs for up to nine months, letting them go can be a struggle.

He said: “I retired a few years ago so have been around for the last few dogs, but because I was working it was mainly the children who looked after them before.

“It meant they would be much more upset than me when they left us, but there is never much of an overlap between one dog leaving and the other arriving.

“We used to go and see the dogs as they were taking their final training but in the end it became too hard to say goodbye.”

About 1,200 dogs are born every year in the Guide Dogs UK national breeding centre, and undergo basic training to see if they will make it as a guide dog.

Mr Jordan said: “Not every dog that comes to us will make it. We had one who is now a sniffer dog at a young offenders institute and another who works in the Met Police.

“I would encourage people to think about taking on a guide dog. It’s a very worthwhile hobby if you have the time, and of course you know that the work you’re doing is helping a blind person in need.”

National Guide Dog Week runs until October 11.