Staff at Haskins Roundstone have raised £6,564 to pay for the training of an assistance dog.

Bloom, a three-month-old Labrador, is currently being trained at the Puppy Training Satellite in West Sussex. Over time, she will be trained to help with a range of everyday tasks, including opening doors, picking up dropped items and helping to unload a washing machine.

After an 18-month training period by a Canine Partners’ volunteer puppy parent, Bloom will go to the Canine Partners Training Centre to learn her advanced tasks before an assessment to determine if she has the skills required to become an assistance dog.

Nominated as the centre’s charity of the year for 2015 and 2016, Canine Partners relies on donations to fund its work with people with disabilities. It costs the charity £5,000 to purchase a puppy and pay for training, equipment, toys, vet bills, insurance and transport.

Haskins Roundstone general mananger Nick Joad said: “Everyone at Haskins enjoyed raising funds for Canine Partners as we’re all dog lovers. We aimed to raise more than £5,000 by the end of 2016 and were so pleased to smash this target. We’re delighted to see Bloom is progressing on her puppy training journey and have every confidence in her that she will become an assistance dog for the charity.”

Jenny Dwyer-Ward, community fundraiser at Canine Partners, said: “We receive no government funding, so we rely on the generosity of supporters like Haskins in order to sponsor a puppy through its first year of training. Assistance dogs are needed to transform the lives of people living with physical disabilities and to change lives by boosting disabled people’s independence and confidence.”