The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, known colloquially as Guide Dogs, is a British charitable organisation that uses guide dogs to help blind and partially blind people. The organisation also participates in political activism for the rights of those with vision impairments.

The charity's royal patron is the Duchess of Edinburgh, who succeeded Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy as patron in 2021.

The head office is near Reading in Berkshire. The charity has eight regional centres in Belfast, Cardiff, Forfar, Leeds, Atherton, Leamington Spa, Redbridge and Bristol. The regional centres in Forfar, Atherton, Leamington and Redbridge are also guide dog training schools. There are a further 14 community teams in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Hull, Liverpool, Nottingham, Shrewsbury, Birmingham, Welwyn, central London, Maidstone, Reading (based at head office), Southampton and Exeter. There is also a National Breeding Centre near Leamington Spa.

The charity's filed accounts for the year ending December 2022 put income for the year at £142.2 million.

Guide Dogs, historically focused on training and pairing guide dogs with adults experiencing visual impairment, expanded their services in the early 2010s to include support for children and young individuals with blindness or partial sight.

The organisation's guide dog service pairs blind or partially-sighted individuals with specially trained dogs, predominantly bred in-house rather than sourced externally. To ensure genetic diversity, there are instances of exchanging sperm samples with other guide dog organizations globally. The charity primarily breeds Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Curly-coated Retrievers, and standard Poodles.

Guide dog puppies are typically born and raised by volunteer breeding dog holders in a domestic setting. At six weeks old, the puppies undergo health checks and vaccinations at Guide Dogs' National Centre in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. Subsequently, they are placed with volunteer puppy raisers who introduce them to essential obedience skills and socialise them to various public environments, such as shops, offices, cafes, restaurants, and public transport.

Formal training for the dogs commences after 12 to 14 months and spans approximately 26 weeks, including an intensive period of three to five weeks alongside their future owners.