Canine Partners thanks Cosyfeet for our support
For the past 2 years Cosyfeet has been raising money for Canine Partners. The charity’s mission is to help people with physical disabilities enjoy a better quality of life. Their specially trained dogs can help them with tasks that may be difficult, painful or impossible to perform. They also provide the special companionship, unconditional love and affection that is so unique to dogs. We recently received this letter from the charity thanking us for our support:
“We are extremely grateful for the wonderful support we have received from Cosyfeet and your staff, suppliers and customers. We feel humbled and privileged by the generosity of everyone involved and the money you have raised is just fantastic. Since 2011, Cosyfeet have raised over £18,000 for Canine Partners and this has enabled us to support Trowbridge resident Sheila Sadler and her canine partner, Kerly.
Kerly is a one-of-a-kind canine partner. He is the only Bernese Mountain dog crossed with a Golden Retriever that we have trained and he was partnered with Sheila in 2009. Since then they have been inseparable!
Cosyfeet’s support has helped us raise a huge amount of awareness for our work and this in turn has helped us receive more applications from people who need our help, and raise more funds. In 2013 we received more applications than ever before, and we created a record 67 new partnerships.
Some words from Sheila about the difference that Kerly has made to her life:
“Kerly makes my life complete and together we have a busy and varied life. People say that he never takes his eyes off me, in the house he appears instantly if I make the slightest move to get up from chair or bed, or if I turn on the power to my wheelchair. Since being partnered my mobility has deteriorated, I can no longer stand from sitting and, when upright, my balance is suspect. Kerly recognised my new needs right away, he braces across in front of me, I put my hands on his neck and rump and he does not move until I am up, balanced on my feet, then he will fetch my stick. He then, shadows me, positioning himself under my free hand as I walk..
Our lives are complimented by the enjoyment and rewards of the talks and demonstrations we undertake. Kerly is a born showman. He is the star, and reacts appropriately to whether the audiences are pupils at a pre-prep school or the residents of a residential care home. Sharing these occasions with him, together we work as one, and each occasion a morale boost for me. .
Thank you to everyone at Cosyfeet for supporting Kerly and I, and to Canine Partners who are always there to support us with an aftercare trainer who visits every six months. Despite physical limitations and pain, we enjoy a busy and fulfilling life, and long may it continue.”.