MORE life-changing Guide Dogs will be trained in Leamington.
A former disused garage at the charity’s Warwick New Road site has been transformed into a new training centre.
The work was carried out by Willmott Dixon after one of its employees nominated Guide Dogs for the construction company’s community challenge – which sees it provide its services free of charge.
Charity supporter Keith Merritt and his family board guide dogs, giving them a home away from the centre at evenings and weekends.
The work has seen the disused garage transformed into a £200,000 state-of-the-art training facility including new doors and windows, heating, flooring, lighting and partition walls to train the dogs individually.
Charity spokesman Graham Kensett said: “At certain stages, training a guide dog requires a controlled environment and this is now a far more comfortable and appropriate space for both the dogs and trainers. Having a guide dog can truly change the life of a blind or partially sighted person, giving them greater freedom.
“This refurbishment means we can train a greater number of dogs more easily, helping to change the lives of more people, and we are extremely grateful to Willmott Dixon for undertaking these works.”
Some 250 dogs annually are trained to become guide dogs at the Leamington site. Each pup spends around 16 weeks with a guide dog trainer and then ten weeks with an instructor during which time they are matched with a person with sight loss.
Visit www.guidedogs.org.uk to find out more about the charity.
