Meet the incredible woman whose SEVEN dogs are already heroes but are now hoping to win big at Crufts

When Karen Jones heard the terrible news of the Manchester Arena bombing she knew she had to do something to - and she knew just who would help her.

The dog lover recruited her team of seven (yes seven) Shiba Inus to visit Manchester Children’s Hospital to support victims, as well as officers, nurses and staff at the hospital.

She added: “Everyone felt helpless, but I wanted to do something, and so I got in touch and went through all the clearance and we visited the patients and the staff.

“They just relax people, you can see the police officers straightaway, they relax. Petting an animal releases oxytocin in the brain and calms you down, and the people we visit often say ‘it's just what we needed’.

"When people have a visit from the dogs they leave with a smile on there face. Their whole persona changes and they’ll often tell me they feel like a different person."

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And Karen knows herself the effect her dogs have on other people, after they helped her through heartbreak. She said: "The dogs are my fur babies and got me through a very messy breakup with my ex partner. I don’t know what I would have done without them."

Karen, from Ashton-in-Makerfield, and her pack of hounds now work alongside Merseyside Police, having assisted call handlers and officers following a number of critical, high profile cases. She also takes her dogs to several public events in addition to visiting a special needs school.

But alongside providing wellbeing and support to NHS and emergency service staff, Karen has twice trained her dogs to be UK champions in their class at Crufts and she hopes to bring homes some more rosettes this week.

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