A DOG'S BEST FRIEND!

OKO THE GUIDE PUP HELPS TAO FIND HIS WAY

- Charlotte Nisbet

When Melanie Jackson’s beloved golden retriever Tao went blind, she got him a guide dog of his very own.

The ageing pooch, 11, sadly lost his eyesight to glaucoma last year and while he could still walk off a leash, Melanie felt something was missing.

When she found Oko, now a 28-week-old pup, she knew they’d make the perfect companions – and have since become inseparable. Now, the furry friends play tug of war, and Oko guides, Tao, on walks. Happy and healthy, it’s a far cry from Tao’s condition just last year.

“It all happened so fast,” Melanie tells New Idea. She took Tao for his usual walk when she noticed that he wasn’t acting himself. Later that night, the pooch was crying out in excruciating pain.

The following morning she took him to the vet, where he was diagnosed with glaucoma, a condition where the eye has an irregular drainage angle and the fluid cannot be drained away.