The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association Avis 8

Contrary to popular belief, I have seen first hand that a guide dog may not have a very good life. The organisation handed one to a neighbour who had no experience of animal care whatsoever, and no garden to speak of. Thankfully, he soon returned the dog, and I hoped it was sent somewhere more suitable. But that concentration for a young animal on "being good" all the time is nightmarish. When the Association brought two beautiful dogs to Tesco's in Halstead recently, the handlers got in everyone's way and you could barely get access to the store. Sorry, but this whole set up is not as wonderful as it seems.

My father donated to them during his life. When he died October 2022 I informed them he had died. The following March/April 2023 they sent him some address labels. I was extremely distressed and telephoned them. They apologised.

Today, 26 August 2025, they wrote to him AGAIN stating he hadn't signed up for Gift Aid. Their behaviour is UTTERLY DISGUSTING. Do NOT donate to them. All they do is cause untold distress.

Our kids pet hamster died and we decided the best way to soften the blow was to say we were sponsoring a guide dog each for them at £5 a month. My daughter got a puppy called "Honey", a golden labrador which she adores. 3 months later an advert for Guide Dogs.org.uk pops up on Youtube encouraging you to sponsor, yes you guessed it, Honey. They claim you're sponsoring a dog but does Honey exist or is it just another Charity baiting for your hard earned?

I’ve donated regularly to the Guide Dog Association, however, when I tried to apply to re home a dog, they didn’t even respond to my request and follow up email. Hence I no longer consider them a viable association to try and help.

I am very keen to support the idea of Guide Dogs for the Blind. It feels like a good cause, and I wish it well. However, their fundraising tactics have totally alienated me. I gave them a donation online some time ago, and since then I have been bombarded with post. I have calculated that they have spent every penny that I gave them - trying to get me to give more !!!! Seriously, someone in the Chartity needs to think about what its fund raisers are doing. I wanted to help fund the dogs - and thats all!

SERIOUSLY OUTDATED TV AD WITH SOME FEMALE WHO WAS GETTING MARRIED LIKE 5 YEARS AGO & HERE WE ARE YEARS LATER STILL GETTING MARRIED WITH A DOG NAMED AFTER A SWEET! THE DOG IS PROBABLY LONG DEAD BY NOW. NOT EVERYONE IS THAT GULLIBLE.

I was please to sponsor a puppy but seriously not pleased to get begging mail and emails for more money. You cannot email them; I returned the mail; wrote to them but to no avail. My puppy was nearly ready to go to a blind person but has been found to have a disease. I was offered sponsorship of a named puppy = no choice given. It is black and I have cataracts so need a golden one and without begging letters. Surely this is not too much to ask

Came across your stall at the Driffield Show yesterday. A friend of mine died recently and asked for donations to your organisation amongst others instead of flowers. I was initially interested until I realised the woman talking to me was more interested in getting her quotas up, her words, and probably getting some sort of reward for recruiting my daughter, rather than helping guide dogs. It was a hot day and all the other dog related stalls and many of the others has bowls of water provided for dogs. Her colleague actually said to me "People have asked if we have water for their dog as they go round. Why should we? It's their dog not my responsibility." What a poor attitude for a dog based charity! Seems to me your organisation is more money orientated than charitable and i would be interested to know exactly how much of the donations its receives goes to towards providing dogs for blind people and how much lines the pockets of the committee , management etc. It was an uncomfortable experience talking to your very pushy saleswoman and made me sure I didn't want to donate
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