Luke McCowan takes the lead in Celtic Guide Dogs Puppy Appeal | OneFootball

Hoops star, Luke McCowan made some new four-legged friends when visitors from Guide Dogs Scotland visited Paradise yesterday (Tuesday) to raise awareness of the help they need in raising and training puppies for the visually impaired.

Celtic have a long association with Guide Dogs Scotland and is working with the charity as it aims to continually promote improved access to football for all.

Every six minutes someone starts to lose their sight in the UK – that means in a 90-minute football match, another 15 people will have lost their sight.

The Guide Dog service receives no government funding and relies solely on donations to continue its life-changing work.

So we’re asking people to join the pack and support Guide Dogs to help us raise and train the life changers of tomorrow.

Living with sight loss can be incredibly difficult. Without the right support, people can be left feeling alone and isolated from their friends and family, careers and communities, from the world they knew and the lives they planned.

But guide dogs transform the lives of people with vision impairments, being partnered with a guide dog reduces loneliness and enables people with sight loss to get out and live the life they choose.

This year 1,300 puppies will start their journey to become a guide dog, and this October you can support the Guide Dogs Puppy Appeal and help transform pups into partnerships.

Luke McCowan said: “The impact a guide dog can have in supporting people and literally changing lives is really phenomenal and we are delighted to support this great campaign during October.

“I know some of our visually impaired supporters also bring their dogs to matches and again the lifeline this provides to our fans in allowing them to come to the game safely, enjoying the atmosphere and supporting their team is just brilliant.”

One of those Celtic supporters is Eddie Kelman, who brings his own dog, Razza to each matchday at Paradise and uses Celtic’s visually impaired seating section.

Eddie said: “It’s a fantastic experience with the commentary provided and getting a blow-for-blow account of what’s going on.

“It helps us enjoy the atmosphere as well, the facilities here are great and everyone looks after us very well.”

Eddie is proud that his club are backing the Guide Dogs Puppy Appeal to help even more visually impaired people be partnered with a trained dog.

He added: “It’s great that the club do that to promote Guide Dogs Scotland. If other fans can get involved and look at becoming a puppy raiser, it’s a great thing that they do to support other people who are maybe less fortunate than themselves.

“It’s something that the club was founded on as well, helping the less fortunate, so it’s great that puppy raisers do that as well and help people who are in need of maybe an aide to help them improve their lives as well.

“So for Celtic Football Club to recognise that and help to support Guide Dogs, it’s just fantastic.”

There are so many fun ways you can get involved, either with your friends and family, your colleagues, community or on your own.

For more info on each of the above, and the appeal more generally, click below

GUIDE DOGS PUPPY APPEAL