A fantastic morning was spent on Sunday when Chloe and her friends from Assistance Dogs NI took us on the fifth annual Dog Walk in Belvoir Forest in aid of the Assistance Dogs charity. Forestside makes a point of bringing them on mall every year in order to raise as much as possible to help fund the amazing work of the dogs and their trainers.

Assistance Dogs can be trained to work with Autistic children and the results are astonishing. One of the traits of Autism is a tendency to run away when in a public place which some children can find intimidating. The Assistance Dog is trained to lie down as soon as the bolt reflex is detected hence stopping the child from running into a potentially dangerous situation. 

Diabetic Assistance Dogs are trained to react to the Halitosis on the breath of a sufferer indicating the imminent possibilty of a Hypo Diabetic coma and Disabillity dogs can be trained to fetch household items to make the disabled person more comfortable in their own home. 

Sunday's walk raised £150 for the charity and thanks go to everyone who took part or donated. Attridge & Cole provided refreshments for human and canine alike once the guys returned to Forestside and thanks also to Jollye's Pet Superstore Bangor who provided goody bags for all the dogs. 

Good luck to Assistance dogs NI over the next twelve months and we look forward to meeting the new puppies in training next year.