A woman’s best friend
A woman and her dog have risen to fame after winning big at the national Hero Dog Awards.
Gill Pavey’s (66) dog, ‘Danny’, was awarded ‘Best Companion Dog’ at the event, hosted by the Irish Kennel Club.
“I’m just so proud of my boy,” says the Granard lady. “He is the most loving, perceptive great dog to have around. He’s everything to me.”
The category was companion dog. “I’m on the autism spectrum and I live alone so I’m prone to anxiety,” continued Gill.
She bought Danny when he was just a pup. Much like any puppy, her little dalmatian got up to a lot of mischief in his new home.
“He was a normal naughty puppy, he chewed the corner off my coffee table,” she laughed, recalling the antics when he first moved in six years ago.
As time went on, she began to receive comfort from Danny, who began to perceive when feelings of anxiety would creep up on her.
“Especially during lockdown, it became a lot more difficult because, if I become anxious and I have nobody I can ring, no one I can talk to, then it can go into a panic attack. If it’s not controlled, then the panic attack could go into a complete meltdown and that’s quite dangerous,” she admits.
“When he knows I’m very anxious, he just perceives it and comes up to me. If I’m sitting down, he’ll come sit next to me and put his paw on my lap and lick my face and I come back from it,” explains Gill.
She feels Danny has completely changed her life, giving her the confidence to venture outside her comfort zone, something she would usually find very daunting.
“Being on the Autism spectrum, it’s incredibly scary to go out of my comfort zone.”
She began taking Danny to dog shows in the National Show Centre, a task made easier for her by having Danny by her side. However, Covid put a stop to that.
“This year they started up again and I just couldn’t go to the first few, I just couldn’t face it because the National Show Centre was being leased to the HSE since before Covid so we’ve been at unusual venues.
“We’ve been at GAA grounds, we’ve been at race courses and, for me, that’s out of my comfort zone. I don’t know where these places are and I have to find them, so I came out rather cautiously to the shows but I’ve got into the swing of it again.”
Regardless of Danny’s victory at shows, Gill still gets anxious before each event, some days worse than others.
“The last show I went to, I called a friend the night before and said I can’t bring myself to go. He said - just pack the car and, if you actually get up on time in the morning, then decide. If you do decide you want to go, just go because you can always turn back. I went and I had the best experience of the year.”
Having recognised how much Danny supported her, Gill decided to enter him into the National Hero Dog competition to get her boy the recognition she believed he deserved.
The Hero Dog Awards honour canines who go above and beyond to protect the people around them.
“The Irish Kennel Club are having a centenary year this year and as part of that they ran a contest to find the dog hero of the year. There were seven categories.”
Gill was thrilled Danny won his category.
“Everyone was lovely at the awards because, when the president read out Danny’s nomination, he invited me to say a few words, which was incredibly difficult for me.
“I made the audience laugh because I said ‘when you’re in my situation and you’re isolated a lot of the time, your best friend is your dog, and love is carrying a poo bag in every pocket in every piece of clothing you own’.”
Days after the winners were announced, Gill received a call to say The Late Late Show team who were keen to have her and Danny on the show.
“I thought - why would I not? It was absolutely brilliant, it was a sheer honour and a privilege and I’m just so grateful to the Irish Kennel Club for organising it.”