IF the work of the Guide Dogs Association for the Blind ever need 'a guide' to explain the special relationship between owner and their dog then Nikki Watson from Yelverton and her canine friend Quincey are the perfect team.

Quincey, a border collie/golden retriever cross, is more than a 'woman's best friend' to Nikki. She is very much a working dog whom her owner depends on to cope with the many obstacles that a blind person has to overcome everyday.

The love and trust between owner and four-legged friend is more than 'a working relationship' and the bonds once forged last both a lifetime.

Nikki, now aged 46, is a part-time masseur and complementary therapist who lives with her husband Hal and two dogs and two cats in Yelverton.

From birth she suffered a condition called retina pigmatosa, an inherited, degenerative eye disease that causes severe vision impairment and often blindness.

At the age of ten Nikki was registered partially blind, but her eyesight began to slowly deteriorate over the years.

'First of all I lost my peripheral vision, then my tunnel vision before gradually there was a loss of light and colour vision,' she said.

However, Nikki does have some light and dark perception, and because she was not born blind, has a 'visual memory' of the world around her.

Incredibly, having been officially registered blind at 17, it was another 12 years before she had her first guide dog ‚ mostly because she did not think she would be entitled to one.

She said: 'I was living in Whitchurch in my 20s and used to go to work at the Land Registry in Plymouth on the bus using my short white stick. When it was dark I had to use a long, white cane.

'One winter's night (October, 1996) I was coming back home from work on the bus. I usually walked the same route from the same bus stop but this was the night before Goosey Fair; because of the fair the road was closed off to the bus and I had to get off at an unfamiliar stop and walk through Bishopsmead.

'Without a long cane it was a nightmare. I tripped over kerbs, bumped into parked cars, walked into dustbins, it was terrifying.

'When I got home I took half a hedge with me and was battered and bruised all over. I just sat down and cried and said to myself "Something got to change, I can't go on like this".

'Then I began to think you cannot have a guide dog if you are partially sighted — but I soon learned that this was just not true.

'Unbeknown to me a person could have one if they are deemed to have any visual impairment.

'Also the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association will assess you and if they feel a guide dog will improve or benefit your life they will find a suitable dog.'

Nikki was 27 when she applied but it took a good two years before she was matched with a canine companion.

'They just don't hand over the next trained guide dog to the next person on the list. You have to suit the dog and the dog has to suit you.

'I spent three days at the assessment centre in Exeter and it was the hardest three days in my life.

'They measure everything, how fast you walk, how confidently you walk with a dog, they assess your mobility, how you handle dogs, indoors and outdoors, dog grooming — it was really full-on.'

Nikki remembers that her assessor would walk alongside and 'pretend' to be the dog; this part of the training was where, like a trainee motorist, the vehicle, or dog in this case, was under 'dual control' of her and the instructor.

'Handling a guide dog is not for everybody and when you go to residential training, they always give you the opportunity to say at any time, "this is not for me",' said Nikki.

'Even when they asked me how I thought I'd done, I was still anxious the assessors would think me too independent; my sight was better then than it is now and I even worried they would think I had too much sight!

'When they told me they thought I would benefit from having a guide dog I just burst into tears.'

Then came a long wait for the right dog, but it was all worth it when, in December 1997 they matched her with Odine, a one year-old black labrador/retriever cross from Birmingham.

'Odine was amazing,' said Nikki, 'a sweet little dog, very happy and conscientious.

'We became very close.

'Unless you experience the bonding you have with your first time dog it is hard to explain. It must be like a first baby and motherhood.

'I would have killed for her, it was that strong. She completely revolutionised my life. Odine gave me confidence that I did not even know I had lost.'

Unfortunately after only 15 months with Nikki Odine suffered from epileptic fits and could not continue her working role as a guide dog. The association tried their best by paying for her for specialist tests at the Animal Trust in Newmarket but her condition was confirmed.

'I was absolutely devastated,' said Nikki, 'I was in total panic and just fell to pieces.

'Everybody who has a pet knows how hard it is to lose them, but that sense of loss is more heightened when it is a guide dog because you become interdependent.

Odine was 'retired' from service and found a new home as a pet but Nikki regrets not responding to a letter sent to her by the dog's new owner telling her about Odine's new life because she was too upset to see Odine again at the time.

A month later Nikki was introduced to Annie, who she had for the next 10 years.

Nikki laughed when recalling the 18 month-old golden retriever/border collie cross : 'Annie was an excellent guide dog but she was a nightmare to live with!

'She had all the worst characteristics of her breed - stubborn, bloody-minded and if I had to describe her in human terms, she was a complete flake!

'They had a lot of problems training her but when she worked as a guide dog Annie was brilliant.

Annie, from Nottingham, had suffered from kennel stress and couldn't get on with the other dogs, was very fussy with her food and to cap it all had an excitable bladder.

'I was told she would grow out of her bladder problem but it took five years!' said Nikki.

Nikki recalls Annie used to cause all sorts of problems escaping from the garden and wouldn't think twice about leaping over a seven foot fence.

'As a working guide dog she was absolutely brilliant and once even saved my life.' said Nikki.

'After work I got off the bus and crossed the busy road at Yelverton roundabout to the island half way.

'It was pitch black and around 6pm. Because the cars had their lights on I was able to make out their shapes.

'I commanded Annie to go but she just sat there. I did it again but she would not move. I thought she was just being her stubborn self but suddenly a car whooshed past. If I crossed the road we would have been killed, I don't doubt that.

'Then I realised the car didn't have its lights on.

'Annie saw it and made a decision, a decision not to cross and that saved my life.'

At the age of 10 and a half Annie earned her retirement and was homed with Nikki's friend in Plymouth. Colleagues from where Nikki worked as a switchboard operator at Plymouth police station gave Annie a retirement send-off, such were their affection for the dog.

After waiting four months waiting for another dog, Ripley entered her life in 2006. The 18 month-old border collie/labrador cross from Kent was the exact opposite of Annie.

Nikki said: 'Ripley is a lovely dog, an absolutely joy to live with but the truth is he was an absolutely rubbish guide dog.'

'He has a real problem travelling on buses. All my other guide dogs just happily got on the bus and just flopped down and enjoyed the journey. Not Riply.

'He would dig in his nails on the floor, shake, pant and because he was so rigid he kept falling over and rolled down the aisle when the bus stopped.

'On trains he was fine. No problem. I have a theory that being a London dog he was used to going around by Tube as a puppy and couldn't take to buses.

'As a dog he is a little angel but he really lost the plot on the bus.

'It got to the stage when Ripley even tried to avoid bus stops.

'I wanted him to take me to the bus stop at Yelverton and I would find myself being yanked by Ripley down the road towards Princetown!

In November 2011 Ripley was given a guide dog 'MOT' and failed all the tests by his assessor.

'He was just too nervous of traffic. Ripley should never have been a guide dog but he still has brought me so much joy,' said his owner.

'When it comes to guide dogs you must remember that they are still dogs and when working they are going against all their natural instincts.

'It's not natural for them to be on a lead, not being able to sniff all over the place, walk past lamp-posts, not stop to eat a disgarded pie and chips on the pavement or socialise with other dogs when out with their owner. They have to override their smell and chase drive and suppress most of their natural urges.'

Nikki and Hal did not have the heart to part with Ripley so he is now officially retired and still living with them, joined by her present guide dog Quincey, who became guide dog number four in 2012.

Quincey, from Nottingham, is another border collie/golden retriever cross and comes from a litter where all his siblings have names beginning with the letter Q — Quiver, Quella, Quest and Quasar.

'Quincey,' said Nikki, 'is an absolute star.

'He has all the good bits of Annie and Ripley and none of the not-so- good. He is a great guide dog and a dream to live with.'

'What these dogs have done is give me independence, confidence and the ability to get on with my life.

'All the dogs have taken me on a journey through college, to my work places and helping me now to run my own business.

'If I had to depend on a cane to help me around instead of a dog I would have only achieved half of what I have in my life. The dogs have been a real blessing.'

l Nikki is a member of the Tavistock branch of the Guide Dogs for the Blind who are desperately looking for new people to join them to help their fundraising efforts.

To train and support each guide dog throughout its lifetime costs around £50,000. For further information contact Nikki on 01822 852060 or call branch organiser Jill Green on 01822 610953.