The death of an 11-year-old greyhound has caused ripples across the world – and prompted charity donations of almost £18,000.

Eastern Daily Press: Becky Carr from Oulton Broad, Lowestoft has been writing a blog about her greyhound called David, who recently died.Becky Carr from Oulton Broad, Lowestoft has been writing a blog about her greyhound called David, who recently died.

Thanks to a blog ghost-written by his owner Becky Carr, retired racing greyhound David's Best Mate – known as David – built up a massive online following as 'he' recounted his love of 'sosidges', snoozing and going for a walkies.

It also told how he was evacuated from his Oulton Broad home during the December tidal surge, received a reply to his letter to the Queen and of his campaign to become the 'prime mincer' of Great Britain.

Sadly, that all came to an end when David died earlier this month after being unwell for a short time.

News of David's death prompted his followers to set up a fund in his memory and they have already donated more than £6,900 – pledging £2,500 in the first 24 hours alone.

An online auction, which ended at 8pm on Saturday, raised more than £10,700.

The money will be split between three greyhound charities, including Greyhound Homer Suffolk, based in Capel St Mary, Yarmouth Greyhound Homefinders in Hainford, near Norwich, and Galgos Del Sol in Spain.

Tributes have also been paid by David's fans across the world, with hundreds taking to his Facebook page to express their sadness.

Miss Carr, who adopted David from Yarmouth Homefinders when he was four years old, said she had been 'overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of people'.

'The response has been quite incredible,' she said. 'People seemed to enjoy reading about him. I was stunned that people were that interested in what my dog was up to.

'He had followers all over the world – from Canada to Australia and New Zealand.'

Miss Carr, 27, began writing David's 'moosings' while volunteering for Greyhound Homer Suffolk, which wanted a regular column written from the perspective of a retired racing dog. She started David's blog more than four years ago and later launched his Facebook page, which has more than 4,800 friends.

Extracts from the blog have been published by Miss Carr to raise funds for Galgos Del Sol, and she has now signed a deal with the publisher Diverze-Books to sell the books in stores throughout the UK.

She said: 'David was a complete clown and reasonably easy to write about. His legs worked at 40mph but he wasn't the brightest of dogs. He was always having accidents and knocking in to things.

'He liked to make people laugh and, if you were down, he would always try to make you smile.'

Miss Carr, an administrator at James Paget University Hospital, said her house now felt empty without David.

He had brought her a lot of pleasure, she said, and she would definitely re-home another retired racing dog.

'There are a lot of dogs that desperately need homes out there,' she said.

'As quick as you can re-home a greyhound there are more waiting to come in. They are very docile and gentle and make fantastic pets.'

?Miss Carr organised the Great British Greyhound Walk in Lowestoft last year and is holding it again this year on Sunday, June 22 at 11am, starting from All Saints Road car park in Pakefield. It is open to greyhounds, lurchers and other sighthounds and aims to raise awareness of the breed as pets.

?Visit davidsbestmate.blogspot.co.uk to read David's blog, search for David's Best Mate Memorial Fund on Facebook or look for David B M Carr to see the tributes on his Facebook page.