People in Jersey facing 19 month wait for a guide dog

• Video report by Otis Holmes

People in Jersey are facing a 19 month wait for a guide dog, following delays due to Covid.

The pandemic led to training stopping, which is having an impact on islanders.

When Emilie Douglas was 10 she started to lose her sight. At the age of 23 it went completely, just a week after she gave birth to her daughter.

She says her guide dog Jackie helped her through this. Unfortunately Jackie was diagnosed with cancer and had to have a leg removed as part of treatment, forcing her into retirement.

"Now that she has retired, I'm completely isolated again, I don't have that independence to be able to just go out or the confidence to go on the bus or walk by myself because I don't have the confidence with a long cane, so it's almost like that's been ripped away from me and it was all really quick again."

There are 51 dogs currently in training and eight are ready to be matched to a potential owners in the South of England and the Channel Islands. Getting to that stage normally takes 18 months.

The Guide Dogs association says its more determined than ever to get back on track - but in the mean time Paul Patterson, who has a guide dog called Gyp, is encouraging people to help where they can.

"People would volunteer to be trained by Guide Dogs with mobility techniques to assist people in their local area who have a visual impairment to just lead normal lives whether that people just help with shopping once a week perhaps or maybe its out going walking or some other adventure. Almost just being a surrogate guide dog."