Guide Dogs honour Senior-Constable Dave Masters

Guide Dogs Queensland has honoured the memory of Senior-Constable Dave Masters by naming a tiny puppy after him.

The youngest Guide Dogs pups have a special job ahead of them, and special names to match.

Usually sponsors and donors name new pups, but this time Guide Dogs gave the public the opportunity to name their newest litter ahead of Queensland Day last week.

From hundreds of name suggestions, the final nine names have now been given to the adorable ‘D’ litter pups, with a special nod to rural towns and landmarks, as well as honouring Sen-Constable Masters.

Sen-Constable Masters, from Deception Bay Police Station, was tragically killed on the Bruce Highway at Burpengary while on duty on June 26 last year.

He grew up on the Redcliffe Peninsula, went to school here, did a trade at a local car dealership and met and married his wife here.

He then went on to police at Redcliffe, Bribie Island and the Mounted Unit and finally Deception Bay.

Special honour

Guide Dogs general manager Jock Beveridge says the public nominated the name to honour the fallen police officer.

“Our Guide Dog Handlers do love when the dog they are matched with has a special name, and Davey certainly has a special name in honour of a person who clearly made a positive impact on the community,” Jock says.

The nine pups will spend the next two years training to be a Guide Dog for someone with vision loss or blindness.

Clever names

Davey’s siblings also have names nominated by the public.

The six girls’ names include iconic landmarks – Daina is a nod to the Daintree Rainforest, Dottie is named after Dotswood, a rural town in the Charters Towers region, and Dory represents the Great Barrier Reef and the array of species that call it home.

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