'Virtual' dog-walk: Public urged to join in national fund-raiser for guide dogs

TAKE your pooch for a stroll and raise money for guide dogs – or if you don't have a woofster of your own, get hiking and just pretend there's an imaginary friend on a leash next to you.

Specsavers opticians' is aiming to amass at least €5,000 for the ONCE (Spanish National Organisation for the Blind) Guide Dogs' Foundation (FOPG), a charity it sponsors regularly, but due to the pandemic and social distancing requirements, has not been able to hold any of its usual fund-raisers for over a year.

In keeping with the times, the 2021 charity dog-walk will be a virtual version: Anyone wanting to take part donates the standard €5 entry fee – more, if they want to – and pops their pet on the lead.

Participants choose their own route, which can be as long or as short as they and their dogs wish – and, optionally, post a photo of their outing tagging Specsaver Ópticas on Facebook or @specsaversspain on Instagram, and the best snap will be picked out as the face of the campaign.

Anyone who does not have dogs, or access to one, can select a route and walk it themselves.

To join in, head for your nearest Specsavers store, make your donation and collect your Virtual Dog Walk certificate.

Branches can be found in the coastal towns of Jávea, Calpe, Benidorm, Torrevieja, Guardamar del Segura and La Zenia (Alicante province), Marbella and Fuengirola (Málaga province), and in Santa Ponça, Mallorca. 

The ONCE, which runs a daily national lottery in aid of the blind and partially-sighted, provides support to this community when they become members, and the guide dogs they breed and train and given free to those who need them and are eligible.

Training is also given to the dogs' new parent so they know how to get the best out of their faithful friend.

But it costs thousands to school a guide dog and to care for and feed him or her from earliest puppyhood through to handing over to the eventual owner, so the FOPG always needs donations and sponsorship.

The Foundation, set up 31 years ago, is a lifelong member of the International Guide Dog Federation (IGDF), the European Guide Dog Federation (EGDF) and the European Breeding Network.

April 28 is International Guide Dog Day, but to increase the public's chances of being able to join in the fund-raising, Specsavers' virtual dog-walk will be held over the whole of that week, from Monday, April 26 through to Sunday, May 2.

This final day is Mother's Day in Spain - so if you are, or have, a mum, or your dogs are mum and children, why not combine the two themes for your Specsavers' social media picture?