Go North East has partnered with Guide Dogs in Newcastle, allowing volunteer puppy raisers to travel for free.

Volunteers can make the most of the free travel on Go North East buses by presenting their Guide Dogs ID pass.

This helps the puppies get accustomed to public transport, an essential part of their training to become fully-fledged guide dogs.

Go North East recently hosted a training session with Guide Dogs Newcastle on one of their electric Voltra buses.

The puppies practised boarding, travelling, and disembarking in a calm, controlled environment.

Rebecca Stranney, puppy development advisor at Guide Dogs in Newcastle, said: "A huge thank you to Go North East for providing free travel for our volunteers and hosting this training session.

"Many guide dog owners rely on public transport and so providing real-world settings like this is invaluable to the puppies' development, helping to prepare them for their future roles as life-changing guide dogs for people with sight loss."

Ben Maxfield, business director at Go North East, said: "We’re proud to support Guide Dogs and their amazing volunteers.

"By offering free travel, we hope to help prepare guide dogs for the future."

Guide Dogs are urgently in need of more volunteers.

Visit guidedogs.org.uk/volunteer for more information.