Wiltshire dog who helped grieving owner shortlisted for award

A dog who walked 3,000 miles (4,828km) with his grieving owner has been shortlisted for a prestigious “hero dog” award.

Four-year-old rescue Louis, who lives with his owner Nick Johnson near Warminster, Wiltshire, is one of five dogs in the running to be awarded the title at Crufts in March.

Over the course of seven months last year Mr Johnson and Louis walked about four-and-a-half million steps along the English coastline in memory of Mr Johnson’s late wife Lisa, who had ovarian cancer.

“Although he’s a rescue, I’m not sure who rescued who,” he said.

The duo, who have so far managed to raise more than £60,000 for Ovarian Cancer Action, will find out if they have won the “Best Friends” category of the Kennel Club award at on 9 March, the final day of Crufts.

Mr Johnson said they were “extremely proud and honoured” to be finalists in the competition, though added: “We’ll be standing there, probably with our mouths open, thinking ‘what have we got ourselves into?'”

Describing Louis as “100% his best friend”, Mr Johnson said: “He’s always there with a wagging tail, he expects nothing other than his bowl filled twice a day.

“Anything that drops on the floor in the kitchen is his, but other than that he is my full time companion.”

Mr Johnson said the idea for his epic walk came about two days before his wife’s death in August 2023, and he had promised to walk with Louis to raise awareness for the specialist charity.

Throughout the walk, he said, Louis was the “star of the show”.

“Everywhere we went people were drawn to him,” he said.

The winner of the hero dog award will be decided by popular vote, with the first-place dog winning £5,000 to go to a dog charity of their owner’s choice.

All other finalists will also take home £1,000 to spend with a charity.

“Win or lose, Louis and I will just be proud to be part of the process,” Mr Johnson said.