'My autism assistance dog is everything to me'

A teenage girl and her faithful autism assistance dog have been nominated for an award at this year's Crufts.

Faith, from Crewe, Cheshire, and Ember, a St Bernard, will be attending the dog show where she is shortlisted for young person of the year.

The 17-year-old and her canine companion were nominated after they won The Kennel Club's awareness award in recognition of her efforts to highlight the work of autism dogs.

Faith, who also has a fainting condition, told BBC Radio Stoke: "Ember is my best friend, she goes everywhere with me and we get along very well."

She has owned Ember since she was a puppy but the dog now weighs about 70kg and is "very fluffy", Faith said.

As well as being her autism assistance dog, Ember can also detect when Faith's heart rate gets too fast and when she might be on the verge of fainting.

Faith said Ember would then get her to sit down or grab her hand and take her over to a quiet space, adding: "She is everything."

She said she was "shocked" to have won the Kennel Club's awareness category, which automatically shortlisted her for young person of the year award, for which five people are nominated.

The pair often attend dog shows and events as well as go out to speak to people about the work of autism assistance dogs.

"Ember knows she's popular," Faith said, "at training and dog shows she gets a lot of fuss and a lot of attention. She loves attention."

The young person of the year award will be presented to the winner at the final day of Crufts 2025 in Birmingham on 9 March.

The winner will be decided by a public vote, which is currently running on The Kennel Club's website.

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