A therapy dog that helped police officers during the Southport stabbings trial has come out of retirement to show at Crufts.
Karen Jones, from Wigan, has become a friendly face at Merseyside police in recent years, with her beloved Shiba Inu pups working as therapy dogs for officers and victims of crime. Over the past year, Jones has turned her attention to helping the responders and detectives working on the 2024 Southport murder trial, with dog Dennis playing a key part in lifting spirits.
Jones, 60, said: “We’ve recently done a lot of work on the Southport attack case which is very raw at the moment.
“We have done a couple of hundred hours there, from visiting the call handlers who took the initial 999 calls to the response officers who were the first on the scene.
“We went on the Friday before the court case started for a final visit to see the detectives and make sure everyone was okay.
“I had actually given up and stopped working with them as therapy dogs a few years ago, because it got a bit upsetting, but they are great at it and it shows just how useful dogs can be.”
Alongside their work as therapy dogs, Jones’ Shiba Inus have also made their names as champion show dogs.
Jones believes the two roles go hand-in-hand, with 11-year-old veteran Dennis the Menace living up to his name both in the show ring and at hospices, making mischief to put a smile of people’s faces.
“His name is Dennis the Menace for a reason, he is just so naughty, but I made him up to be a champion,” she said.
“All of my dogs have such different personalities.
“If somebody wants cheering up and wants laughing, he is the one to do that. He’ll go in and pinch the dinner the police officers give us, or jump up and get what whatever in on the desk.”
Dennis will once again take to the Crufts green carpet at Birmingham’s NEC from 6-9 March this year after a four year hiatus from the competition.
Initially having retired from his showman days, Jones revealed that she decided to go for one more year with the veteran dog, who has already seen a wave of success on his return, and now has ambitions to gain another placing at her favourite dog show.
“When he was younger he was a champion winning dog and he got six or seven reserve challenge certificates,” she said.
“He loved it, but I couldn’t get him to be sensible for five minutes so I retired him about four years ago, and then last year I decided to bring him out again,
“He can qualify into the veteran class now and last year I went to our club show and I put him into the veteran dog class, and he won it.
“I would love him to get placed as the veteran dog at Crufts this year.
“To win would be a dream, it’s like winning the lottery, but to just get placed in the category this year would be amazing.”
Crufts, run by The Kennel Club, is a unique celebration of happy, healthy dogs and of the loving relationship that they enjoy with their owners. Crufts is held from 6-9 March 2025 at the NEC Birmingham. Viewers can follow all the action and highlights on Channel 4 and More4, and for further information and tickets visit crufts.org.uk