After being carefully selected and trained, Hamilton, Gidget and Earl have officially graduated after two years of seeing eye dog training.
The trio were among nine pooches put through their paces in preparation for a life guiding vision-impaired handlers.
The furry friends were front and centre during a ceremony at NSW Parliament on Wednesday, kicking off lives of service that will continue until their retirement.
With Earl by her side, Jennelle Schroder detailed the unique challenges she faced and the improvement her sidekick had already made.
"It's that weight off of having to meticulously plan everywhere I go, or getting stuck and realising I've bitten off more than I can chew and now I'm either lost or have to ask for help," Ms Schroder said.
"That doesn't happen now because he's there with me."
All the Vision Australia dogs are put in environments that test their abilities to assure trainers they can carry out tasks required.
To make sure dogs are paired with the right handler, Vision Australia gathers as much information as possible about different challenges and circumstances.
Dogs are then matched with owners based on similar traits and lifestyle habits.
Once the dogs have been trained to a point where they are ready to join their handlers, the pairs spend three weeks together.
"It's really intensive," Vision Australia's Lester Chraim said.
"We want to give people the instruction manual essentially.
"How to use the dog, how the dog has been trained and getting the dog used to the person and their routine."
Each dog costs about $50,000 over two years, which Mr Chraim said hadn't kept up with inflation since grants were introduced years ago.
He said Seeing Eye Dogs were in constant demand and any donations received would go a long way towards helping people in need.
