The presence of a dog in the school is always exciting, but Bronco isn’t a regular dog.

He is a guide dog with the special role of providing much needed assistance to Mr Bryant, who has been blind since the age of 17 when he developed Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). 

“I lost my eyesight overnight at age 17 in my right eye and I have about one per cent peripheral vision in my left eye,” he said.

The genetic condition has seen Mr Bryant’s eyesight deteriorate over time to the point where he relies on Bronco to help him get around and perform tasks. 

“I didn’t get involved with Guide Dogs until I had a close call with a bus,” he explained.

“Now I can happily say I am proud to be a blind man with a guide dog.”

When he is not behind the microphone on 107.5 in Orange, Mr Bryant travels around to schools to teach students about the role of guide dogs for people who are blind. 

Students at Bathurst South Public School were very responsive to all the information they were given.

“The idea of today is to raise awareness for Guide Dogs NSW/ACT and to teach kids all about guide dogs,” Mr Bryant said. “The dog is always the bit hit, but the idea is to teach them about guide dogs.”

Training a guide dog is not cheap, so Guide Dogs NSW/ACT relies heavily on people’s kind donations.

Mr Bryant informed the students how they can help raise money to support blind people in need of guide dogs and hoped they will remember his advice next time they’re out in the shopping centre.

“Whenever you see those plastic dogs in the shops that you drop money into, that money is helping to train dogs like this [Bronco] for people like me,” he said.