Greece's First Trained Guide Dog Lara Dies at 16

A black Labrador named Lara, who worked as Greece’s first officially trained guide dog for people with visual impairment, died on Tuesday night at the age of sixteen.
Lara became a symbol of the rights of disabled people in Greece, as she was the very first trained dog to assist blind and visually impaired people for nearly five years, from 2005 until late 2009.
When Lara was receiving her training, the concept of dogs assisting humans in this way was barely known in Greece. There wasn’t even legislation to protect their rights and allow their entrance into public buildings at the time.
The sad news of Lara’s death was announced by her owner, Ioanna-Maria Gertsou, on her Facebook page.
Gertsou praised Lara and her work effusively, but admitted that when she first met the dog, she was startled. However, following her instructor’s orders, she began to trust Lara completely, by simply ”following the dog,” as she wrote.
“Lara Guide Dog School Hellas“ is an organization co-founded by Gertsou in 2008, which has tried to assist numerous people with visual impairment.
Lara will be greatly missed by all those who knew her, as she was a dog who traveled extensively, met hundreds of people around the world, and made life much easier for those around her.
The number of visually impaired individuals in Greece is approximately fifty thousand persons. Out of an overall population of nearly eleven million people, they represent only 2.2 percent of the general population.
Fortunately, guide dogs for the blind are gradually becoming an important part of the lives of blind and visually impaired people in Greece.