From Basil to Theo

Our sponsorship of Basil the trainee guide dog has taken an unexpected turn, and we're now introducing you to Theo.

Basil had started training school and was adapting to the next stage in his journey, but he was easily distracted by other dogs and people, making him lose concentration and focus during training. As Basil started to move out of the training room into real-life situations, his trainer found he was becoming easily overwhelmed and struggled to complete walks in a harness without getting distracted. His trainer worked with a colleague to offer Basil extra support, but unfortunately they didn’t see any improvement. His high distraction level is difficult to manage so it wouldn’t be possible to ensure Basil’s wellbeing if he became a guide dog or buddy dog.

With this in mind, the Guide Dogs team made the tough decision to take Basil out of the training programme to ensure that his best interests and those of a potential future owner were accounted for. Basil is currently living with his volunteer fosterers while the rehoming team checks applications for his forever home.

While this is disappointing news, we're delighted that we've now been allocated a new puppy, Theo, so our sponsorship continues. Theo is at a similar stage to Basil and he’s progressing well on his journey to become a life changer. You can follow every step of Theo’s story to date on his puppy page.