Dogs Trust Honours 2012: Celebrating Dogs!

This Monday was our Dogs Trust Honours awards, an annual celebration of the absolute wonder that is dogs. Categories including Dogged Devotion and Dog's Best Friend found very worthy finalists and winners, having been judged by our fabulous celebrity panel*, and Mirror readers and Dogs Trust supporters weighed in on the truly extraordinary tales that made up the nominees for Hero Service Dog and Hero Pet Dog.

The evening, held at the Honourable Artillery Company, was hosted by dog-loving Dragon Deborah Meaden, and saw the winning dogs, their families and a host of wonderful celebrity supporters come together.

Attendees and award presenters included Brix Smith Start, Funda Onal, Ben de Lisi, Kaye Adams, David van Day and Sue Moxley, Brian Murphy and Linda Regan, Marc Abraham, Dawn Porter, Kevin Sacre and Camilla Dallerup, Sarah-Jane Honeywell, Matthew Wright, Abi Titmuss, Meg Matthews, Lynette Peck Bateman and Nick Bateman.

Guests mingled over teacup cocktails and sweet treats and were willingly upstaged by their canine companions, from Gladys and Pixie the Smith Start pug superstars to ex-Dogs Trust Harefield Underdog star Sven Sacre. Lynette was delighted to be able to bring ex-Dogs Trust Canterbury sweetie Polar - we simply wouldn't be doing it right if we couldn't make it a dog-friendly event! The dogs got their very own butlers serving canine-conscious snacks.

Last but not least, we have to give a special mention to long-term supporter John Barrowman - that's our Digital Marketing Manager Jacqui grabbing a picture with while she was busy running around tweeting the event! Note Charlie having a good look at Homer, our logo dog... Former Dogs Trust Bridgend resident Charlie was himself a winner in the Media Mutt category.

Dogs Trust Bridgend is celebrating Charlie's win by listing lots of personal items and clothes kindly donated by Charlie's pet John on eBay in the second sale from the phenomenal donation made to our Cowbridge charity shop. Get bidding - there are swimming trunks in there!


And now, of course, the reason all these wonderful people came together: the winners!

Dogged Devotion in association with Live With... - dogs that provided extraordinary emotional or medical support to owners

Winner: Ajay

Ajay has been a constant source of companionship and support to the Brown-Griffin family through some incredibly tough times. Ajay originally came to live with them as Tony's (the mother) seizure alert dog and would warn her before she suffered an epileptic fit. Soon after Ajay joined the family they discovered they were expecting a child with a potentially fatal heart condition. Ajay was present during the birth and stayed in hospital with the family, even sleeping by newborn Mimi's cot; he also offered constant support during the little girl's heart reconstruction surgery. After the birth Tony suffered catastrophic bleeds in her eyes and was registered blind. Ajay quickly became her guide dog, without any special training, as well as still fulfilling his previous role. Ajay has now retired due to hip dysplasia but is casting a watchful over Tony's new working dog Hetty.





Dog's Best Friend in association with Dogs Today - a human who has gone the extra mile for dogs

Winner: Carlos Parreira

Carlos Parreira was nominated by his colleague at Little Dog Rescue. Carlos demonstrates a huge commitment to dog welfare and at only 15 years old has helped improve the quality of many dogs' lives. Carlos has been volunteering at the kennels for the past three years and has taken on caring for several elderly dogs. His commitment to the cause also saw him complete a bike ride from John O'Groats to Lands End for the rescue centre when he was 14. Carlos' dedication to animals is second to none and he gives up most of his spare time to help his four-legged friends.









Hero Dogs in association with  The Mirror  - rewarding spectacular acts of bravery or courageous feats


Winner, Pet Dog: Izzy

Izzy was nominated for saving the life of her diabetic owner's life, David Robinson, not once, but twice! On the first occasion she alerted David's wife Julie that something was wrong in the bathroom. After forcing her way into the room Julie found David unconscious on the floor, thankfully Izzy prevented an unimaginable situation and her instinct saved his life. The hairy hero then went onto show such dedication again when David had a hypoglycaemic attack in his sleep. Izzy is not a trained diabetic alert dog, she has quite simply become a little lifesaver with incredibly loyalty.









Winner, Service Dog: Aman

Aman is a police dog for the Suffolk Police and last year displayed true heroics when he was stabbed multiple times by an armed man. The stabbing happened after Aman had been sent into challenge the man in line with his training and whilst holding onto the assailant's arm he received repeated stab wounds to his body, causing serious blood loss. The man also stabbed Aman's handler during the ensuing struggle. Despite both having significant injuries they both continued to assist their colleagues in the eventual restraint and disarming of the subject. Both survived the attack and continue to work together.









Media Mutt - dogs in the public eye

Winner: Charlie (see above!)

Take a look at our Facebook album of the event to see more of the wonderful winners and celebrity guests - I particularly love those Meaden / Barrowman smooches!

Want to read more? (Of course you do!)

Check out our Hero Dog sponsors the Mirror and their wonderful account of the night. Lynette Peck Bateman has also already posted her simply lovely post (pun intended!) on her Lovely's Vintage blog, and you can see Marc 'the vet' Abraham's Facebook album of snaps from the night here.

Update: More blogtastic fabulousness from Lynette here, and John Barrowman's website has a lovely celebration of Charlie's win too!


* The judging panel:

Head Judge - Clarissa Baldwin, OBE (Chief Executive, Dogs Trust)
Deborah Meaden
Paul and Jackie Ross
Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford
Ben de Lisi
Dawn Porter
Richard Caring

Dazzling Doggies at the Dogs Trust Honours 2011

Each year, we host the Dogs Trust Honours - an annual celebration and awards ceremony for some of our special four-legged friends, alongside some equally special humans who do fantastic work to help them.

Now in it's fourth year, the event was held at Haberdashers' Hall in London on Wednesday 1st June.

On arrival, the guests congregated in the specially designed doggy playpark and this was a great opportunity to catch some of the familiar faces for a quick 'meet and greet'.

You can watch the video to see who you may recognise and also meet the real guests, their doggy friends!

To find out the more about the winners, please visit our media centre.

There will also be a full list of winners, photos and news available in the coming days on the website www.dogstrusthonours.co.uk

Dogs Trust Honours 2010: Video interview with Kevin Sacre and the lovely Sven

Actor Kevin Sacre is a veteran of Dogs Trust Honours shows, having popped along last year with his dancer partner Camilla Dallerup and their ex-Harefield dog, Sven, who met Kevin on The Underdog Show.

We managed to nab a few seconds of Kevin's time - although he insisted Sven was more popular! - as he mingled with the other guests before the award announcements.

Dogs Trust Honours 2010: Setting the stage for the big event!

The countdown to the doggy event of the year has definitely begun!

Lo and I (Alex) are here at Jasmine Studios in Hammersmith, camera and Flip cam in tow, grabbing pictures and video of the organised chaos as everyone runs around getting the place immaculate for the celebrity canines and their owners (who I suppose are pretty well known too...!).

Here are the first couple of videos we've snatched. As the evening progresses you can follow all the goings on through the special @dt_honours Twitter feed, our Flickr set and our YouTube channel, as well as this blog.

The gorgeous photos for the gallery walls are taken by the ludicrously talented Dan Burn-Forti, in case you're wondering.

DT Honours - The Winners

DT Honours - Jenni Falconer and Alfie the dog
Originally uploaded by Dogs Trust

Hopefully you were all following our special Twitter feed last night and got to see the winners announced live before they reached the morning papers!

If not, these were the lucky pooches (and one man!) handed their prizes by presenters including Jenni Falconer (pictured), Ben Fogle, Lorraine Kelly, Camilla Dallerup, Kevin Sacre and Dr. Christian Jessen.

The Sun Hero Dog Award
Presented by Lorraine Kelly
This is the award for working dogs who contribute to community life by caring for, protecting and serving their human companions and colleagues. The winner has been chosen by readers of The Sun.

Thelma, an 8 year old Crossbreed from Plymouth
Thelma’s owner, Chris Goard, nominated her for the assistance that she has given both he and his wife since she was selected for them by Hearing Dogs for The Deaf. Chris is deaf and has severely restricted mobility, relying on a wheelchair to get about, while his wife, Eileen, suffers with regular epileptic seizures. When Eileen had a very severe seizure in the bathroom, Thelma saved her life by immediately running downstairs to alert Chris. Thelma's instant reaction was the key to ensuring Eileen's seizure was not fatal.

The Dogs Trust Rex Factor Award
Presented by Camilla Dallerup and Kevin Sacre with dog Sven
The award for a uniquely talented dog who can perform an array of stunning canine stunts. Watch the screen and prepare to be amazed by their fancy paw work.

Skye, an 8 year old Border Collie from Newbury, Berkshire
Skye's owner, Susan Bobrucki, says: “Skye is our very own ‘Ronaldog’! She even watches Manchester United matches on TV with the rest of the family. She’s honed her skills over the years and has learnt shimmies, back-heels and goal scoring!”

The Dogs Trust Dog's Best Friend Award
Presented by Jenni Falconer
This is the award for a special human who has gone the extra mile for dogs, either through fundraising, rescuing or rehoming abandoned dogs.

Pen Farthing, of Plymouth, Devon
Pen has been nominated because of his work rescuing abandoned dogs in Nowzad, Afghanistan. As a Royal Marine, Sergeant Pen Farthing found many stray dogs in Afghanistan struggling to survive in the harsh conditions. He led a small group of Marines in feeding and caring for the few dogs that had found their way into camp. Pen returned to the UK in 2007 and eventually adopted two of the dogs he had cared for in Afghanistan. His experiences led him to found the charity Nowzad Dogs, through which he brings dogs from the region to the UK so they can be found loving new homes.

The Dogs Trust Dogged Devotion Award
Presented by Dr Christian Jessen
This award recognises the achievements of ordinary dogs who, without having had special training, provide a better quality of life for their owners who are living through challenging times.

Maisy, a 1 year old crossbreed from Harrogate
Maisy’s owner, Yvonne Lofthouse, nominated Maisy because she is helping her through extremely difficult times, including battling breast cancer, which has now spread to her liver and lungs. Yvonne says Maisy is the reason she gets up in the morning and carries on fighting. Yvonne reckons Maisy is far better than any anti-depressant.

The Medichem Golden Oldie Award
Sponsored by Medichem, presented by Ben Fogle
This is the award for former Dogs Trust residents, (over seven years old), who have achieved an extraordinary amount in their lifetime.

Tinker, a 12 year old Terrier from Darlington
Tinker’s owner, Gill Crawford, nominated him for the excellent emotional support he gave her during a very difficult period in her life. Gill’s father originally adopted Tinker from Dogs Trust Darlington, and he helped him through his bereavement when he became a widower. Tinker then went on to provide comfort for Gill when her father died, and finally, he was her hairy rock once more when Gill went through a painful divorce.


The Dogs Trust Top Dog Award
Presented by Dogs Trust president, The Marchioness of Northampton, and Andrew Bucher of MedicAnimal.com

Maisy, one year old crossbreed and winner of the Dogged Devotion Award.

Guests on the night voted for their favourite winner to be the very top Top Dog.

We can't quite believe it's all over for another year, but we really enjoyed the evening - and judging by the number of people visiting our Flickr feed, so did you! We'll be posting the official celeb snaps and winners shots there over the next few days, so please keep dropping by to take a look.

Dogs Trust Honours: Follow the action online!

Tomorrow night is one of the biggest in the Dogs Trust calendar. It's the night we get to celebrate the wonderful contribution dogs make to our everyday lives, and reward some of them for it (and one or two of their human friends, too). Its...

The Dogs Trust Honours!

You might have seen the previous blogs about this, and you're about to see a lot more. We (and by that I mean me, Alex, and the Digital Manager Jacqui) will be at the venue from several hours beforehand to document its tranformation and blog, tweet, snap and film every bit of the event we can.

We'll be aiming to interview our celebrity guest presenters, meet the dogs, get the results out there and generally make you feel like you'll be there with us all evening long. Where can you follow?

1. Right here!
2. On our dedicated Honours Twitter feed and main Dogs Trust Twitter feed.
3. On Flickr (photos)
4. On YouTube (video)
5. On our social networking pages like Facebook.

Vote for The Sun's Hero Dog Award and be in with a chance of attending the Dogs Trust Honours!

The Sun's Hero Dog Award aims to reward our hard-working four-legged pals for their devotion to duty. Five amazing canines are up for the accolade this year for their fabulous feats of lifesaving, rescue and protection.

The winner will receive a medal - and of course treats! - from Lorraine Kelly at the Dogs Trust Honours. The big bash, held on 19th May at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham, is designed to recognise the contribution dogs of all kinds make to life in the UK. And you could be there!

Alongside the big vote, there is also a competition to win two tickets to the ceremony! The Sun's competition question?

"What is the name of the Obama family's new dog?"

Please contact The Sun via realife@the-sun.co.uk with your answer and details - don't contact us or comment with the answer here, as the competition is being run by The Sun.

To find out more about the nominees: read The Sun today, visit the paper's website, or follow the Dogs Trust Honours Twitter feed (you can also click to enlarge the photo above).

Even if you aren't the lucky winner of the tickets, you can follow all the goings on, gongs and celebrity attendees on the night as we'll be live tweeting from the event and getting video, photos and blog posts online as fast as our clicking fingers can manage it.

Voting ends Monday, so please pass this on to your dog-loving friends and family, and get clicking!

Three days left to show us your dog's star quality!

There are just three days left before the deadline for the Dogs Trust Honours Rex Factor Award - have you shown us the smart moves and clever tricks your dog can do?

If not, then get cracking. We've already shown you with our how-to video how simple it is to knock 40 seconds of funny footage together and submit it to us. We're not looking for a professional video - it's your dogs skills that are important, not yours (except as a trainer, of course!).

We look forward to seeing your videos ahead of the ceremony on May 19th. To check out some of the existing entrants, visit our special DoggySnaps Rex Factor kennel.

Does your dog have the Rex Factor? Show us - it's easy!

From time to time you'll have heard me mentioning the Dogs Trust Honours, awards that celebrate man's best friend. This year we have a video category - Rex Factor - that invites your dogs to take centre stage, showing off their jazziest moves and cleverest tricks.

Some people have said that they're nervous about entering because they don't have any professional equipment, so we made the video below to prove that you don't need any of that!




For the record, we used:

1 x Dogs Trust Web Editor with supremely dodgy video editing skills
1 x assistant camera person who shall remain nameless (oops!)
1 x Canine Gang Dog
1 x Flip video camera (but any other video recording equipment is fine)
Windows Movie Maker editing software which came with our computers (anything will do as long as it can chop it down to size)

See? There's nothing to it! All you need is 40 seconds of your dog being clever*, a free YouTube account and a few more seconds to give us your details and the embed code. You can check out some of the existing entries on our special DoggySnaps kennel.

The deadline is on the 15th of April, so please show us your efforts now and put us to (even more) shame!

*Videos containing dangerous stunts or dressed up dogs will not be accepted.

Video: Kate Humble & Charlie introduce the Dogs Trust Honours awards

TV Presenter Kate Humble cuddles up to cutie Charlie in Regent's Park to tell you all about how you can nominate your dog (or a special friend of dogs) for an award.



Visit the Dogs Trust Honours website to find out more and nominate a friend (four-legged or otherwise).

Dogs Trust Honours: Nominations open with new video category!

At Dogs Trust we’re constantly hearing wonderful stories of how dogs have enriched people’s day to day lives. This can be through a “paws on” approach with acts of bravery; by being a comfort to the sick or the lonely; or by supporting those with special needs. Of course, there is also the role of loyal companion that they play to the millions of dog-owning British households. All are equally worthy of being honoured.

The Dogs Trust Honours 2009 is a unique opportunity to celebrate these wonderful stories. Bringing together all the positive aspects of dog ownership and giving special recognition to those dogs who have gone the extra mile for their human companions.

Over the next few months, we would like you to nominate those dogs who you feel deserve a Dogs Trust Honour. There are five categories - including one designed for those visually creative people who like to spend their time online! - for which you can nominate a dog and all entrants will be included in our Roll of Honour.

Dogs Trust Rex Factor Award - A uniquely talented pooch chosen from a video clip submitted by you (40 seconds or less, hosted on a sharing site such YouTube, with the embed code sent to us on the nomination form. Videos involving dangerous stunts or dressed up dogs will not be accepted).

The Sun Hero Dog Award - For working dogs who contribute to community life.

Dogs Trust Dogged Devotion Award - For dogs who, without special training, help provide better quality of life for owners going through hard times.

Dogs Trust Dog's Best Friend Award - For a special human who's gone the extra mile for dogs.

Dogs Trust Golden Oldie Award - A lifetime achievement award for dogs aged 7+.


The winners will be chosen by a panel of distinguished judges and presented with their awards by an array of celebrities at the ceremony on 19th May 2009 at London’s prestigious Hurlingham Club. An overall winner – to be chosen through a vote on the night from the five category winners - will receive the ‘Dogs Trust Top Dog Award 2009’.

So come on Britain - you have until midnight on 15th April to nominate your outstanding hounds for the Dogs Trust Honours 2009!

Dogs Trust Honours: Sponsors & prizes sought

Our annual Dogs Trust Honours will shortly be open for nominations. These are awards dedicated to the bravest, most devoted, smartest and most talented of our four-legged friends (and the odd human who has gone the extra mile to help dogs). I'll be blogging more about the categories and past winners when nominations open, but in the meantime I have a special request for anyone able to contribute to making this a very special evening.

We're looking for both sponsorship and 'money-can't-buy' auction prizes.

Sponsors need to be companies, and there is a range of ways to get involved, from principal to event, table, award or online sponsorship.* It's a fantastic opportunity to support a pet-positive event and help us celebrate the dogs and people that make us so determined to continue caring for thousands of dogs every year. As the UK's largest dog welfare charity, we can offer coverage in a variety of ways - online and off - with a potential audience of millions.

'Money-can't-buy' prizes for the charity auction on the night are also very welcome. Can you offer someone a truly unique experience that people would fall over themselves to bid for? We have been very lucky to receive generous gifts from celebrity supporters over the years and hope that this year will continue the trend. If you are someone who can help - or know someone who needs little persuasion - please get in touch!

If this has sparked your interest and you have a suggestion, please email me with details and / or questions and I'll be sure to get back to you asap. The Dogs Trust Honours will be held on May 19th.


*Normal Dogs Trust advertising rules do apply, however, so breeders, pet food manufacturers, pharmaceutical / vet services and pet insurers are not eligible.