14 DAY TRIAL // Blind couple married this weekend after their guide dogs fell in love with each other and gave them the opportunity to find true love. In this unusual love story that makes you believe in fate, puppy love helped the owners to find their soulmates.
Claire Johnson, 50, and Mark Gaffey, 51, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, tied the knot two years after their pet dogs became infatuated with each other at Guide Dog Training classes in 2012.
According to Daily Mail, the newlyweds met on a two-week guide dog training course where their pets Venice and Rodd got friendly and quickly became smitten and inseparable.
“Our dogs were the class love story. Everyone used to joke about how Mark’s dog Rodd and my dog Venice were meant to be together,” Claire said.
When the course finished, the dogs owners didn't want to separate the labrador-retrievers, so they agreed to keep seeing each other for walks and play-dates. Given that Claire and Mark didn't live far from each other, with only 1.5 miles (2.4 km) separating them, their coffee dates soon turned into lunch dates that eventually led to a marriage proposal on Valentine's Day last year.
The couple married on Saturday at Barlaston's Upper House hotel in Stoke-on-Trent, and their dogs guided them through the service and acted as ring-bearers.
“I have no doubt that our guide dogs brought us together and helped me find my true love. Much like our two guide dogs, we really are best friends and soulmates,” the new bride said.
Claire, who lost her eyesight due to diabetes when she was 24, and Mark, who was blind from birth, met when they took their dogs to Venice to Guide Dog Training course in Shrewsbury. The man also admits that their pets brought them together.
“During the training our two dogs, Rodd and Venice, seemed to know something we didn't. They were always playing together and nuzzling up together,” he said.
The couple says their encounter is pure coincidence as they have been in the right place at the right time, and they are convinced their love story “was meant to be.”
Studies show that owning a pet or therapy animal has many benefits for visually impaired people, as they give a blind person more confidence, friendship, and security. Going through life without sight is unfathomable to many, but for this couple, their disability brought them together.