Glossy black Labrador Drumoig bounds excitedly on to the upper floor of the Lanarkshire charity’s centre where she’s training to be a guide dog and races around the open space at break-neck speed.
Yet, the instant Academy guide dog mobility specialist Darren Locksley produces her harness, her demeanour alters. Calm, focused and alert, Drumoig is now in working mode and ready to learn further behaviours that will enable her to keep a visually impaired person safe.
Darren’s role with charity Guide Dogs, which he took up in January, is a far cry from the 12 years he spent working in education, including a spell as deputy head teacher at a primary school in London.
