First finalist of the Charley Chau Companion Dog Awards announced!

Thank you to everyone who entered and if you didn't get through this week there are still another 3 weeks of the Awards to run!

The theme for the week was 'Dogs that have changed your direction in life'. After much deliberation and some very difficult decisions and discussions about who should win this week's Charley Chau Companion Dog Award, we have a winner ...

Congratulations to Vicky Payne and Quincy!

Vicky's story about how Quincy has changed her life was true to the theme for the week and really struck a chord with all the judges at Charley Chau and The Kennel Club.

Vicky will now go through to our grand final and has a chance to win £100 of Charley Chau vouchers in addition to the Faux Fur Blanket that she has already won!

"I'd never really seen the point of dogs. I mean, I liked them, you can't want to be a vet from the age of 6 if you don't like them, but I thought they were silly, dribbly, smelly things and certainly didn't understand why people would own more than one! Then we got Quincy...

I'd started going beating on a local shoot so a dog which could come with me seemed the right idea. We went to look at a litter and brought home the one who stuck his head in my bag while the others ran off. Quincy hasn't been the easiest dog but he has changed my life! I learnt so much through training him; about dogs, about me. I made new friends. I was invited to write a Gundog Vet column for a shooting magazine, I became veterinary adviser for several websites. This lead to me being asked if I would run First Aid courses for gundog owners, and then for pet owners and PDSA staff.

All the time Quincy was by my side. Perhaps not the best gundog because of errors I made training him but we entered (and won) many scurries, we tried agility and obedience. We had five minutes of fame at Dash 'n' Splash (a long jump into water) with a 20ft leap.

I discovered working gundogs could go to Crufts and this person who 'didn't see the point of dogs' was suddenly in a ring at the World's Greatest Dog Show. We both loved it and even brought a few rosettes home. Quincy has not only changed my life but others too by being such a great 'patient' for vet nurses and first aid students to practice on; I know students have used the techniques they practiced on Quincy to help other dogs.

One thing lead to another and I now own, work and trial three Springers. I am a KC Assured breeder and a qualified behaviourist as well as continuing my veterinary work and first aid teaching. Quincy really did change the direction of my life, every minute of it is now devoted to dogs!"