VETS and dogs put their best paws forward by climbing Ben Lomond in honour of a young guide dog that passed away.

The team at County Vets took five of their in-house four legged friends to raise money for the guide dog charity after the shock death of much loved Maggie.

Maggie died on August, 30 after vets at the Maybole surgery had battled for days to save her.

Her devastated owner Debbie Mckenzie who had her for two and a half years told the Advertiser: “They (the vets) were so shocked at the sudden death of Maggie.

“She was poorly for about five weeks, she ate a sock and when they operated on her they found she had peritonitis, which is an inflammation in the stomach. It destroyed her intestines in the end. They worked really hard for her, but there was nothing anyone could do.

“Maggie was a really good guide dog; she was complete fun. She enjoyed her days and enjoyed her work and had so much personality and so full of life. Even talking about it I get upset.”

“They decided they were going to do a walk for dogs in memory of Maggie. It’s amazing what they’ve done..”

The vets and pets trekked up the stunning 974m Munro on Sunday, October 20 after gaining support from pet owners, who pledged donations following the tragic news.

Donations were gathered through an online campaign with cute pictures of the dogs taking part next to a collection tin.

A post of pooch Jack Russell, Rex read: “Meet Rex who has been collecting donations for the guide dogs. For just £2, the price of a coffee you could make a massive difference to this wonderful charity.”

So far the vets have managed to raise £398.18 of their £500 target.

Vikky Synott of County Vets told the Advertiser: “After Maggie had died, we all decided that we wanted to do a walk and we said let’s do it for the guide dogs. “A guide dog is the owner’s lifeline.

“It was a beautiful day, the dogs absolutely loved it.” “We are keen to do it again, we are thinking of Goatfell next year.”

Vikky was joined by Fiona, Helen and Lucy from the practice.

Fiona brought her Jack Russell Rex, Lucy took labs Macy and Juno and Vikki had a white cavalier rescue Sonny and her own black cavalier, Tank.

There are almost 500 guide dog owners in Scotland with the lifetime cost of owning a guide dog over £55,000.

You can donate to the vets fundraiser here.