Nominations open for Crufts Hero Dog Award 2025
Vesper won in 2024 for her work with the UK International Search and Rescue Team in Turkey and Morocco.
Crufts has officially launched nominations for The Kennel Club Hero Dog Award 2025 as it celebrates heroic and extraordinary dogs.
The award, which is sponsored by The Kennel Club Charitable Trust, will be presented at a ceremony during Crufts 2025.
Entries can be made across five canine categories, which recognise rescue dogs, working dogs and those which have improved their owner’s life. The winner in each category will be awarded a donation to their canine charity of choice.
The finalists will also be invited to Crufts on Sunday, 9 March, where a public vote will decide the recipient of The Kennel Club Hero Dog Award 2025. The runner-ups will each receive £1,000 to their charity, while the winner receives a £5,000 donation.
The winner will be announced before Crufts’ Best in Show grand finale.
The categories include ‘extraordinary life of a working dog’, for nominees which have shown bravery in workforces such as the army, police force or search and rescue. The ‘hero support dog’ category celebrates support and assistance dogs, who may work in roles such as medical detection or as a hearing or therapy dog.
There are also categories for ‘best friends’ – dogs which have seen their owners through the hardest times – and the ‘child’s champion’, for a dog which has supported a child’s life. Meanwhile the ‘rescue dog hero’ recognises a rescue dog which has overcome adversity to change its owner’s life.
This year’s winner of the Hero Dog Award, presented by Paralympian Libby Clegg and aired live on Channel 4, was search and rescue dog Vesper.
Vesper was celebrated for her work with handler Niamh Darcy, from Merseyside Fire and Rescue, as part of the UK International Search and Rescue Team. They were deployed to both Turkey and Morocco, where they worked tirelessly to search for survivors of earthquakes.
On receiving the award, Ms Darcy said: “The whole competition has really moved me.
“It shows what dogs mean to people – not just to me – and the differences and the changes they make to people's lives.”
Cathy Guiver, head of events at The Kennel Club said: “We want to hear your stories of dogs who have changed a life, brought comfort, or shown extraordinary courage.
“We invite everyone who owns or knows a dog that has made a remarkable difference to nominate their unsung canine hero and help us shine a spotlight on why dogs are truly our best friends.”
Nominations can be made on the Crufts website until 20 October. Crufts 2025 will take place at NEC in Birmingham from 6-9 March.
Image © The Kennel Club
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