GUIDE dogs are not uncommon on the country’s streets, but there are some parts of the world where the four-legged companions have never set foot.

Until September, Kenya was a country where nobody had ever witnessed a guide dog in action before. But that changed when Annie the Labrador Retriever, from East Oxford, arrived in its capital city Nairobi.

Annie accompanied her owner Abby White as she spent seven weeks travelling to Kenya, South Africa and the United States as part of her work with charity World Eye Cancer Hope.

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But it was only when Miss White began arranging her flights to the east African country that she realised seven-year-old Annie would be the first guide dog to visit it.

The 39-year-old said: “When I set things up with Kenya Airways they had no history of having a dog at the airport so we realised that Annie was the first guide dog in Kenya.

“They are a complete unknown in the country.

“Guide dogs are very expensive, Annie will cost £50,000 over the course of her life and that sort of fundraising is just impossible in Africa.

“Guide dogs would be fine in Nairobi because it is higher up and temperate so there are no infection risks. But the further down you get there are more risks.”

Miss White, who moved to Oxford in 1999 to study at Keble College, is partially-sighted and was born with eye cancer.

Annie, who she was paired with in June 2012, is her first guide dog and spent time with her in Nairobi when she was working, as well as joining her on a one-day trip to Helles Gate National Park for a walking safari.

Miss White said: “She is great travelling and she does not seem to get jet-lagged. She sleeps a lot on the flight.

“It was the first time Kenya Airways had a dog in the cabin and when we landed in Nairobi the cabin crew made an announcement and said we had a very special passenger in the cabin with four legs.

“The person behind me had sat there for eight hours and not even realised Annie was on the plane.”

Miss White co-founded World Eye Cancer Hope, which was formerly known as Daisy’s Eye Cancer Fund, and works with the charity to build up care for children with the condition around the world.

She said travelling with Annie to Nairobi had made her work in the country much easier than before.

Miss White said: “Having Annie out there enabled me to go because I have felt in recent years I have been more dependent on my team. Annie being with me meant I was able to walk to the office instead of getting a taxi."