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Thursday, 22 April 2010
Bolton School girls have finally got to meet the guide dog puppy
that they named Rolo!
For the last three years the girls have been collecting towards
a £5000 total to 'Name a Puppy' for Guide Dogs for the Blind. They
reached the target in May last year and were asked to put forward
suggested names for the puppy which were then sent to Guide
Dogs who decided on Rolo, after the chocolate! Rolo is now 9 months
old and came along to the school to meet the girls along with his
puppy walker, Kath Allinson and fundraiser from Guide Dogs for
the Blind, Diane Moore.
Guide Dogs breed and train over 1,200 puppies a year and the
money raised by the girls helps to support this as the service
receives no government funding. To raise the money the girls held
many fundraising activities including cake sales, and collecting
old ink cartridges and mobile phones. It costs over £5000 to breed
and puppy-walk each guide dog puppy and this is just the beginning
- in total it costs over £40,000 to breed, train and support a
single guide dog partnership.
In return for their donation the girls got to follow Rolo on his
first year as a guide-dog-in-training. They received his birth
certificate, progress reports on how Rolo is doing in training,
photos of him from birth right through to a quality framed
photograph of him in harness ready to go on to further training at
12-14 months, and of course they got to meet him!
Rolo's puppy walker Kath said: "The girls can be really proud of
Rolo, he is such a friendly and intelligent dog and is a credit to
them."
The fundraising will now start again in order to sponsor another
guide dog puppy, and Headmistress Mrs Gill Richards will be taking
part in a Blindfold Drive for the charity in September.
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