Sadness at death of Shrewsbury guide dog Kelsey
A fundraising campaign has been launched in memory of a young guide dog which died suddenly leaving his trainers devastated.
Yellow Labrador Kelsey, who was almost two years old, was in the final stages of his advanced training with the Guide Dogs Shrewsbury Mobility Team
He had been assigned to an owner who had been waiting over two years for his first dog and they had begun getting to know each other.
But, sadly, Kelsey was taken ill suddenly with peritonitis which led to kidney failure, and there was nothing vets could do to save him.
Now the team based at Abbey Foregate is hoping to raise £2,500 to name a guide dog puppy in memory of Kelsey and contribute towards its training.
The group will be taking part in the Grocontinental Relay at Alderford Lake, Whitchurch, on July 12 as a tribute to Kelsey's love of running.
Daniel Myatt, from Guide Dogs' Shrewsbury team, said: "Kelsey was an incredible dog. From the moment he was born into the Guide Dogs family he was destined to be a life changer.
"Throughout his life Kelsey was a great dog, he was social ,had a wonderful willingness to learn and was always happy to make new friends, both human and other dogs.
"So as you can imagine it was with great sadness that when Kelsey became ill, in his advanced training that the team at Shrewsbury became very upset and although we hoped that he would recover it was with great sadness that we had to say goodbye to a wonderful characterful dog.
"Kelsey like all Guide Dogs cherished his 'free runs' his free time, to run around the park and chase around and that is why we are running to honour the memory of a dog that loved his free runs.
"Guide Dogs supports all of its dogs through their training and career and often through their retirement. But this support of course is not free of cost.
"On average it costs around £56,000 to support a Guide Dog from birth to retirement and we want to contribute something towards that cost in Kelsey’s memory."
*To support the team go to justgiving.com/fundraising/shrewsburymobilityteamrelayforkelsey
