Midlands Rescue Dog Iggy Nominated for Crufts Hero Award After Overcoming Severe Neglect
A Midlands dog owner is hoping for a prize at this year's Crufts show after nominating her dog, Iggy, for the Royal Kennel Club's Hero Dog Award. Jessica Holmes, 32, from Lichfield, adopted the pooch three years ago after he was rescued from the streets of Turkey.
Tragically, the now 10-year-old dog had been abandoned and was severely neglected. He was also badly injured and unable to bear weight on his front legs before being rescued from a local government shelter by UK-based charity Angels for Animals.
Long Road to Recovery and Misdiagnosis
Iggy still faced a long road to rehabilitation, however, and wasn't helped by a Turkish vet giving him a nonsensical diagnosis of 'Phantom Limp Syndrome'. Jessica said: "He was put through a six-week intensive physio course over there, which I can imagine was pretty unbearable, because unsurprisingly he was still limping after it."
The charity then fundraised and paid for him to come to a UK medical foster, then he went to an orthopaedic specialist down in the Cotswolds and they soon found out both his elbows were broken. They were then able to operate on him and they were really fragmented, they were very broken – there was no cartilage or ligaments left in his front legs – and due to having to over-compensate on his other joints and legs he's got really bad arthritis.
He gets a lot of physio, he gets through so many pain meds per day, he's like a walking pharmacy, to keep him as comfortable as possible. Such was the extent of Iggy's injuries he was never going to make a full recovery and to this day has limited mobility – he is taken out for a walk every day but only for a short distance and at a slow pace.
From Rescue to Therapy Dog
For longer distances, Jessica and her partner take him in a dog stroller to transport him. However, this has not stopped Iggy from becoming a therapy dog who takes his affectionate and patient nature to dementia care homes in his area bringing joy to residents.
Jessica, who works as a senior manager at a technology company, added: "As soon as we got him home it was very obvious he was very people oriented. When he came with me to the pub everyone was just obsessed with him and he loved the attention, and I then started looking into how we could do it more 'officially' for him."
I started to look into a couple of charities over here that help with therapy dogs and after being accredited we work with a charity called Therapy Dogs Nationwide. Obviously, he passed his assessment with flying colours because he's a 10 out of 10 good boy.
Because he's not a dog who can walk for miles and miles he also gets so much from that engagement of being with other people when he's doing his therapy work. It gives him stimulation as much as he helps other people as well.
Hero Dog Award Nomination and Public Vote
Going from the hardest of beginnings to making such a big impact to the wellbeing of others is the big reason why Iggy was selected in the Hero Support Dog category for the Royal Kennel Club's Hero Dog Award. The award itself is put to a public vote during Crufts, with the winner being announced during the final day of the world's biggest dog show.
Jessica said: "When we nominated Iggy I didn't expect to head back, to be honest. Obviously, everyone thinks their dogs are incredible, and the majority of dogs are, so I was just like 'we'll put it in and see what happens.'"
To hear that he'd been shortlisted and he was the Rescue Dog of the Year was a lovely moment and showed just how incredible he is. Iggy was in rescue for two years before we applied for him – nobody else had – and I think it's just a great success story.
There are so many dogs up and down the country and overseas that require medical treatment and better chances over here, and it just highlights why you shouldn't turn them away. Crufts is on from March 5 to 8 at NEC Birmingham.
