Disability support dogs 'graduate' at annual ceremony

• Video report by Hannah Norbury.

A hotel was full of barks, wagging tails and treats as 16 dogs "graduated" as support dogs at an annual ceremony.

The dogs have all been trained to support someone with a disability, with some of the graduates being in training for more than two-and-a-half years.

They were all honoured at the Support Dogs annual ceremony in Sheffield.

One of those was Zeus - an energetic best friend to his owner, seven-year-old Bobby.

Bobby has autism and can find some environments overwhelming. But his parents said things changed when they got Zeus.

His dad, Jody Clark, said: "Supermarkets were always something that was very difficult, because there was so much going on.

"Even at the age of seven he would still want to be in the push chair or pram, because it was too much for him. But now he can walk around, hold Zeus, and it just makes the whole environment a lot more relaxing."

Andrea Jack has a form of auto-immune arthritis that affects her joints, back and hands. She attended the ceremony with her dog Nikey, who is her second support dog.

Nikey can load the dishwasher, and even bring Andrea a phone in an emergency.

Andrea said: "Just a few weekends ago I was away with work staying in a hotel, so when I'm staying in a hotel with Nikey she can help with stuff like pulling my socks and my trousers off, if I drop anything she can pick it up.

"I'm sure that anyone who travels for work wouldn't want to ask their colleagues to help them get dressed."

Support Dogs chief executive Rita Howson said the charity is seeing an ever growing demand for people wanting support dogs

She said: "I think the demand over the years has changed drastically, we get so many enquiries now, and it's quite disheartening because we can't always meet that demand."

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