“It Was Meant To Be!” – Blind Couple Engaged To Marry After Their Guide Dogs Fall In Love

Fifty-year-old Claire Johnson and 52-year-old Mark Gaffey fell in love when their guide dogs became an item.

The besotted couple both use guide dogs for their sight disabilities and were introduced when it looked like their two dogs had become more than just friends.

Rodd and Venice, the three-year-old dogs, became inseparable and it wasn't long before Claire and Mark realised there was a spark between them too.

Now, after an 11-month whirlwind romance, the UK couple are engaged and due to tie the knot next March, the Daily Mail reports.

The ring-bearers? The dogs, of course.

Mark said he first met Claire when he went to a local Guide Dog Training class; "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.

"The trainers said that they were the love and romance of the course, and they brought us together.

"We could have easily missed one another by a week because it was a residential course and we just happened to be put on the same one.

"It's ironic we met there because we discovered that we only lived a mile-and-a-half away from each other but had never met.

"We were purely in the right place at the right time.

"I have never believed in fate, but it does seem like it was meant to be.

"Each time me and Claire met for lunch the time we spent chatting got longer and the waitresses were tapping their fingers waiting for us to leave.

"There was a connection from the word go. We chatted about anything and everything.

"I trusted in the luck I didn't seem to know existed.

"Now we joke that with every guide dog you get a free fiance. I love Claire's personality and her laugh is infectious.

"We've never had an argument, we just seem to click."

Mark said he never believed in fate, but it feels like it was meant to be. 

Although Mark was born blind, Claire lost her sight due to diabetes when she was 24 years of age.

She said: "We connected straight away. I remember Mark texting me saying "If you'd let me I could make your world a lot happier".

"It was a lovely surprise when he proposed the first time on Valentines' Day, but I got proposed to four times that day because he kept going down on one knee.

"I suppose I can never say I will forget the day I got engaged.

"And it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for our dogs.

"Rodd and Venice sleep in the same bed and are as much a couple as me and Mark.

"They will be walking us down the aisle and be ring bearers. This wedding is down to them."