Tribute to dog collars interest of hundreds

KIM Lownds with her dog Bonnie.

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A DEVASTATED dog owner melted the hearts of Dovestones visitors when she left a moving tribute in memory of her beloved pooch.

Delighted dog walkers stumbled upon a box of doggie treats and toys with the message: "Have fun with your best friend in the sun in memory of my best friend, Bon Bon".

It was accompanied by a heart-breaking picture of "Bon Bon's" paw in her owner's hand and it invited people to take photos of themselves and their dogs enjoying the goodies on Instagram.

After someone posted a picture of the lovely gesture on the Uppermill Community Facebook page it went viral with hundreds of people liking and commenting on the heart-warming image.

The person responsible was Kim Lownds who decided to make up the box and put it where her Staffordshire bull terrier, Bonnie, loved to walk to help her deal with the loss of her best pal of many years who died in February following a battle with cancer.

"I had Bonnie for 13 years," explained Kim, from Hyde. "She was like a child to me and when I lost her I was devastated. I took her home to get her used to people when I worked at Tameside Animal Shelter and she never went back because all my family fell in love with her.

"She was a cruelty case. She had skin infections and cigarette burns on her face when she came into the shelter.

"When I moved out of home when I got married my mum and dad missed her so much she went back to stay there every weekend. She was very much adored and loved by us all so when I had to have her put down we were all devastated and I've not really come to terms with it.

"Me and a friend came up with the idea of putting a box of treats together and taking it up to Dovestone because she loved it up there. The idea was for people to spend half an hour in the sunshine with their dog and to enjoy every minute because I although I had Bonnie for 13 years it wasn't long enough. You don't know how much you miss something until it's gone."

The response to Kim's actions was so overwhelming she says it's helped her no end and she'd like to say thank you to all the well-wishers. "It just exploded on social media, it was amazing," said Kim.

"There were so many lovely comments and people sending me pictures of their dogs playing with the toys. It's made me feel much better and helped me to deal with how I feel. Someone even left another box there with a message in memory of their dog to Bonnie.

"It goes to show little things mean a lot to people and there's lots of lovely stuff going on out there, not just the bad stuff you always seem to hear about on social media. I'm really proud of what we did and it was a proper goodbye from Bonnie."