The Heroic Hounds of 2015 have been selected for their incredible acts of bravery and for overcoming the odds through the unconditional love and bond they share with their owners.
Seven year old rescue Cavalier Annabelle from Warwickshire (pictured above before and after finding her forever home) is to be awarded for her bravery after overcoming a distressing experience at a puppy farm. At seven, she is considered a more senior dog, but she has only experienced a loving home in the last four months.
Annabelle has spent the last seven years on a horrific puppy farm, purely to produce litter after litter of puppies. Owner Lisa Garner adopted Annabelle after she fell in love with her, following a chance meeting at a rescue centre she was visiting. Annabelle is quite unusual, even after all she has endured, she is absolutely desperate for love.
Commenting on the moment she first met Annabelle, Lisa said: “When I first saw Annabelle, she was literally clinging to my leg when I tried to leave the kennel she was in. It was from that moment that I decided to adopt Annabelle.”
When she first went to live with Lisa, Annabelle suffered with horrendous kennel cough. Coupled with the heart murmur she has, Lisa thought she was going to lose her after only three short days of taking her home.
After numerous visits to the vet in her first week and requiring syringe feeding to build up her strength, Lisa was amazed and delighted to see a gradual improvement in Annabelle’s health.
Cavaliers are known for their gorgeous coat and feathering, but Annabelle’s fur had been clipped so short that Lisa was told it may be too damaged to ever grow back properly. Slowly, Annabelle’s fur is growing back. She also suffers with narrowing of the ear canal, most likely due to an ear infection that was never treated, and even suffered with nightmares when Lisa first adopted her; fortunately these soon subsided and she can now sleep peacefully knowing she is safe.
Annabelle, along with her adopted sister Lucy, also a puppy farm survivor, raises awareness of both puppy farming and just how amazing rescue dogs are. Annabelle is a great ambassador for puppy farm dogs and just how much dogs live in the moment and can overcome such a cruelty. Annabelle is currently in the process of making a 2016 calendar along with Lucy, to help raise both funds and awareness for rescue dogs.
Additional winners of the Heroic Hound category include one and a half year old Lurcher, Pixel (from Swindon, Wiltshire), who saved his owner Rosie’s life when she fell severely ill with a virus; 6 year old Mastiff Cross Dane, Jessie (from Beer, Devon), who, despite being mistreated by a previous owner, helps his owner Julie Barrett cope with several health problems including M.E and fibromyalgia; and seven year old Ruby (from Reading, Berkshire), who has helped her owner Karen Woodage overcome depression and skin cancer through their unconditional love for one another.*
As well as crowning the nation’s Heroic Hounds, SuperDogs Live will see the UK’s most talented and entertaining dogs participate in a spectacular show hosted by Channel 4’s Supervet, Professor Noel Fitzpatrick, for awards in categories including Strictly Doggy Dancing and Most Talented Dog.
SuperDogs Live will take place throughout the weekend at the Eukanuba SuperTheatre, with dogs from across the country taking centre stage and competing to win awards in a fun-filled, action-packed show, judged by a panel of experts including dog trainers Steve Mann and Gwen Bailey.
Owner of Alpha Dog Training School Ltd and Chairman of the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers, Steve Mann, is known for his television appearances on BBC’s Who Let The Dogs Out? and The Underdog Show, while Gwen Bailey, Owner and Behaviourist from Puppy School, has written 13 books on animal behaviour including The Perfect Puppy, which was published all over the world 20 years ago and remains the UK’s best-selling puppy raising book to this day.
To view a video clip of last year’s SuperDogs Live visit – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH7o165GDhc
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