Little Treacle is on track to becoming a Guide dog for the blind

Lakeside Village Shopping Centre has gone barking mad for adorable six-week-old puppy Treacle.
TreacleTreacle
Treacle

The Doncaster centre has been hard at work fundraising the £5,000 needed to put Treacle through his 18-month guide dog training, as part of Guide Dogs’ Name A Puppy scheme.

Staff from Lakeside teamed up with Guide Dogs’ local branch to fundraise the amount over a two-year period, before running a competition earlier this year to ask its customers to help name the pup.

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Lakeside will now receive a puppy birth certificate and updates on Treacle’s progress and training over the next 12 months, when he will leave his puppy walker to go to Guide Dog Training School.

Kelly France, from Guide Dogs, said: “The staff and customers at Lakeside Village have done something amazing, as the money they’ve raised will help to bring independence to someone with sight loss. A guide dog brings confidence, mobility and companionship. Treacle will truly change a life.

“We’ve built up a great relationship with Lakeside and Treacle is actually the sixth puppy they’ve helped fund to send to Guide Dog Training School, so we’re really grateful to them for their ongoing support.

“Treacle is currently under the care of a puppy walker, who will work with him day-to-day, taking him out and about, socialising him and teaching him his basic commands. He should be ready to start his early training from the time he is about 12-14 months and should be all qualified as a trained Guide Dog by the time he’s two.”

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Lindsay Parry, Lakeside’s deputy centre manager, said: “We’ve worked closely with the local Guide Dogs’ branch to raise the money, with a series of tombolas and raffles and plenty of donations, our customers have been really generous and we can’t wait to meet Treacle in a few weeks!”