Isaac

Date of birth: May 30, 1993.

Breed: Yellow Labrador.

Puppy walkers: Pete and Ade Spindler, Somerset.

Trainer for advanced stage: Philippa Lodge.

When qualified: February 1995.

Notes: Isaac was the 147th guide dog to qualify from the Cardiff training centre.

Nickname(s): Happy, Ize (eyes), Izzy (eye-zee), Popper, Popperissimo, Poppy-doppy-doo, Pops, Zac.

You can hear a recording of Isaac barking here.

While I was training at the Cardiff centre with Isaac, the guide dog team told us that BBC Radio Wales had been in touch as they wanted to do a slot on a programme about the work of Guide Dogs in South and Mid Wales. There were two others training at the same time as me, David from Newport and Dorothy from Dinas Powys. Two of us were going to be interviewed, we had to decide between us who it would be, and David and I got the short straws!

A few days later, Vincent Cain arrived with his sound engineer to make the recording. It was a pleasure meeting him, he was one of the presenters on Radio Wales that my mum had listened to for many years. We were introduced to him by the centre's manager, Chris Floyd, and were given the opportunity to tell the listeners what a tremendous difference having a guide dog had made to our lives.

When the programme was broadcast several weeks later, Sue Baker from Somerset happened to be tuned in to BBC Radio Wales in her hotel room in Devon! She nearly fell off her chair when she heard my name mentioned, as her maiden name was Nixey. She wrote a letter to the guide Dog team at Cardiff and asked if they would kindly send the enclosed letter on to me, which they duly did. And, from that, we discovered that we had a cousin that neither of us knew about!

Isaac spent almost 12 long and very happy years with us, and during that time we heard of and saw much proof that his name really does mean 'laughter'. His puppy walkers, Pete and Ade Spindler, told us of his antics when he was young, such as the time when he tore up the puppy walkers handbook that the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association had given them. Evidently, Isaac wanted to do things his own way! When you consider that Isaac was the first puppy they had ever walked, they really could have done with that book!

We have made regular visits to Pete and Ade's home since 1995, and it's not unknown by family and friends that my wife Su isn't very good when it comes to directions for driving. In the earlier years of visiting them, we often took the wrong turning at a certain roundabout not too far from their home. We were soon able to guarantee that when that happened, a deep loud sigh would be heard from the back of the car. You've guessed it, it was Isaac showing his disgust at mum taking the wrong turning yet again!!