13730/01HAVING battled back to health after serious illness, guide dog owner Bill Rees was determined to carry on walking his beloved pooch Lenny.

Throughout his long recovery after he suffered a serious brain haemorrhage, the inspiration for Mr Rees, of Rowde near Devizes, was 'working' again with Lenny, a labrador retriever cross he has had for four years.

Mr Rees, 56, was close to death after his brain haemorrhage two years ago and he had a series of operations to remove blood clots from his brain. He spent about ten weeks in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol.

Since then he had to learn to walk again, recover his co-ordination and overcome memory loss.

During that time he was unable to work Lenny, but after undergoing some refresher training, he and Lenny have recently taken their first tentative steps together again.

Mr Rees, who is also deaf, said: "When I was in Frenchay at the back of my mind I was thinking 'I am not going to give up.'

"Having a guide dog opens up so many doors for a blind person. Guide dogs have given me back my independence and freedom because I don't have to rely on other people to take me out.

"It's not much fun asking my wife to buy her own birthday and Christmas cards because I was unable to go out."

Mr Rees said he was concerned that he and Lenny might not be able to pick up where they had left off.

He said: "A two-year gap is a long time to stop what you do regularly. I wondered if Lenny was still willing and wanting to work with me. My life is in his paws.

"But he remembered everything, where to stop and when not to cross roads. It was strange to start retraining with Lenny, but there is a good bond between us.

"I love Lenny, and when the guide dog instructor told us she was happy with us, it was a great feeling."

During Mr Rees' ill health Lenny became a family pet but the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association was confident that he could pick up his skills.

Guide dog mobility instructor Sue Eighteen put Mr Rees and Lenny through a series of tests out in Rowde and in Devizes.

Ms Eighteen said: "There is a fantastic bond between the two of them which has made their refresher training run so smoothly. Bill and Lenny really are an extraordinary partnership."

Mr Rees' wife, Barbara, said: "The family continued to take Lenny out and keep up the discipline when Bill was ill but we weren't sure how much he would have forgotten about his work."

She added: "When Bill was in Frenchay after the operations to remove the blood clots on his brain it was touch and go whether he survived."

Mr Rees has had six guide dogs including Lenny. He said he was the first blind person in the Devizes area to have a guide dog.

He and his wife have lived in Rowde for 29 years and are originally from Wales. They have three daughters and six grandchildren.