A sweet little dog in Somerset, England has taken on the role of ‘guide dog’ for his blind golden retriever friend.
11-year-old golden retriever, Tao, unfortunately, lost his vision to glaucoma in 2019 which led to his owner to find him an adorable helper named Oko.
The guide dog was introduced to Tao when he was only eight-weeks-of age and they have since formed ‘the sweetest bond’.
Footage shows the cute duo from Shepton Mallet, Somerset, hopping along together, and apparently they also love playing tug of war.
Oko is now 16-weeks-old and he has become Tao’s best friend.
Owner Melanie Jackson had the following to say:
“Tao was diagnosed with glaucoma which is when the eye has an irregular drainage angle and cannot drain away the fluid.
It all happened so fast as he was fine in the morning but on the evening he was shaking his head which suggested he is in pain.
Five hours later, he was blind and his eye was removed!
We were told his second eye will need removing to but we were able to control the pressure for a few weeks by applying eye drops.”
Tao had to learn new commands for when he would completely lose his eyesight and his second eye was removed at the start of 2020.
But despite looking happy and able to walk around when being guided, according to Melanie, something was still missing:
“We were pleasantly surprised when Tao began walking up and down the stairs just three days after his operation,” she said.
“But I just felt like he needed a buddy to help him and play with him now that he can no longer see.
We got Oko at eight-weeks-old and they have formed the sweetest bond.
Tao follows him around the fields and they sleep with each other.
We are in the process of training Tao to follow Oko so he doesn’t get in the way of any danger.”
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Source: DailyMail
