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How to enterSend your story, plus a selection of good quality pictures to ‘Best Friends’ at the address on page 4, or email caroline.d@dogsmonthly.co.uk putting ‘HiLife Best Friends’ in the subject line. Please provide a daytime phone number, and your full name and address. Emailed pictures should be attached as jpegs (minimum 300dpi resolution). If you send photos (prints only, not photocopies), please enclose an SAE if you would like them returned. Nominations will be accepted until 30 June 2013.

rules of entry From the entries received, 12 will be chosen by the editor of Dogs Monthly. Contenders will be featured each issue from October 2012 to September 2013. The overall winner receives the HiLife Trophy and can choose from the range of HiLife dog food to the prize value of £300. They can make their choice of dog food from the HiLife website, or speak to a HiLife manager about the various options. Employees of ABM Publishing Ltd and Town & Country Petfoods Ltd are not eligible for entry.

About HilifeThe HiLife brand of high quality dog foods is owned by family-run Town & Country Petfoods Ltd, which is based in Leicestershire.

Discover more about the tasty and nutritious range of HiLife dog food by visiting their website at www.hilifepet.co.uk

Trophy

The

too keen on him and as soon as Coco spots him she disappears, fast. Mylo just wants to sniff her and say hello, and doesn’t run after her – although he couldn’t resist doing so if he got the chance when he was younger – but it seems that Coco has a long memory and an unforgiving nature!

Since being lucky enough to get him, Mylo has changed my life in so many different and positive ways. I have met so many new people when we are out and about walking or exploring the woods. He loves meeting new people as much as (if not more than) he likes playing with other dogs.

Thanks to Mylo, my confidence in talking to new people has grown so much. This is because I am dragged to everyone who is out walking by him, so I talk to them while he meets and greets their dogs.

Mylo enjoys meeting up with our friends and walking together. All my friends from school have dogs and they all get along, so we go walking, and sometimes do some training together.

I have also become more active since getting Mylo.

Before I had him, I didn’t do much walking or sports outside school – but he has made these activities fun for me to do as well as him.

Agility fun I took Mylo to puppy training classes soon after I got him and completed the three levels in two months – which is above average – and after we’d finished our trainer said that she had never thought much of Schnauzers before meeting Mylo!

Attending these classes didn’t stop him thinking that he is a landscape gardener, though! He loved to pull up flowers and move them to the other side of the garden, but he’s almost stopped doing this since we started agility.

Since March this year, Mylo and I have been going to an agility club, called Fun 4 All Dog Club, and the classes have helped Mylo and I develop an even stronger bond than we had before.

Mylo loves negotiating the large equipment – the A-frame, dog walk and see-saw – and can be really fast when he puts his mind to it; when he does he is very proud of himself and gets lots of cuddles (but he gets those anyway!). At the start of 2013 we will compete at East Midlands Dog Agility Club (EMDAC), which has fun and laid-back agility competitions.

Not only does Mylo look forward to agility sessions, he loves to continually learn new things and he’s mastered a number of tricks too, like high-five, spin and speak.

There are only two things Mylo isn’t keen on. One is having his monthly clip; when Mum and I are clipping him, he jumps up and hugs me hoping I will play with him instead. The other thing he dislikes is having a bath; he’ll happily wallow in the most sticky mud and filthy

Tell us how much your four-legged friend means to you – and you could win the HiLife Trophy!

Maybe your dog has helped you in some way – encouraging you to make new friends, leading you to take up new hobbies or explore new horizons. Perhaps they’ve helped you through life’s challenges and just been there when you’ve needed them?

Tell us about the stuff you do together – whether that’s just sharing your daily lives and walks, or competing, no matter on how big or small a scale. Maybe you and your dog get pleasure from helping others, or just from the companionship you give each other.

Now in its third year, the HiLife Trophy, sponsored by Town & Country Petfoods Ltd, will be awarded at the end of 2013 to the partnership featured in our ‘Best Friends’ series that receives the most votes from readers. This handsome trophy will be engraved with the names of the winning owner and their dog(s).

The HiLife Trophy honours a dog and owner whose perfect partnership deserves recognition for an outstanding bond and teamwork.

Monthly December 2012 57

Pets win prizes!Each month, those pets featured in ‘Best Friends’ will receive four 1.5kg bags of HiLife Complete Moist dog food.

This range is nutritionally balanced and contains all the goodness of dry foods, but is softer, meatier and tastier. Its highly popular varieties, ‘with Beef & Fresh Vegetables flavoured with Cheese’ and ‘with Turkey, Chicken & Fresh Vegetables flavoured with Bacon’ contain high-quality meat ingredients and no artificial colours or flavours. The resealable packs also allow portion sizes to be adjusted to suit each dog.

In addition, the featured pet also wins three jars of HiLife Special Care Daily Dental Chews. These help reduce tartar build-up, control plaque and maintain strong white teeth, healthy gums and fresher breath.

Overall winnerAt the end of the series, Dogs Monthly readers will be able to vote for their favourite

The HiLife Trophy‘Best Friends’ story and the partnership they

think most deserves the HiLife Trophy.

Voting will commence following the publication of the last featured entry in the September 2013 issue.

The winning owner will receive not only the magnificent HiLife Trophy to keep for life, but also a six-month supply of the HiLife dog food of their choice (up to a value of £300).

If your story is picked – and don’t forget you can nominate others as well as put yourself forward – then we’ll be in touch.

So what are you waiting for? Send in your entries now!

water he can find on walks, but having a bath is horrible to him.

Helping pAws When I started secondary school, Mylo really helped me through problems with my friends. He was my faithful best buddy and supported me through that tough time.

After a miserable day at school I would return home and, without fail, come rain or shine, he would be by the gate waiting for me and I would get the best greeting ever. He would want to be picked up, cuddled and carried so that he could lick me and be close to me. At one point he got so excited when I got home that he would wee as I walked through the gate.

56 December 2012 Monthly

Luckily he has stopped doing that now!

When Mylo was little he used to walk with me to school, but when I passed his lead to my mum to take him home he would lie on the ground and refuse to move. Mum had to carry him home (he was not light!) until we trained him out of this habit.

Mylo even makes homework fun. When I’m doing it, he sits next to me with a toy so that he is ready to play with me as soon as I’ve finished.

I play the clarinet and, when I practise, Mylo sings along at the top of his voice – and, just to make it more fun, he likes to

run off with my book. And if I’m poorly, Mylo will sit with me and cheer me up.

Mylo is my best friend, life and world;

quite simply, he’s the best birthday present ever.

Dogs & people

Best friends

For teenager Emma Gensmantel, friends don’t come more loyal or loving than her larger-than-life Miniature Schnauzer.

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Up until 16 months ago my family didn’t have a dog, but I love dogs

and had always wanted one to care for, play with and love. We had two cats though, and I love cats dearly too – but, with the best will in the world, you just can’t do things with cats that you can with dogs... like agility and obedience and going out for lovely long walks.

So for two years I walked an English Springer Spaniel, called Buffy, for her elderly owner through the charity The Cinnamon Trust. This not only allowed me to enjoy being

with and walking a dog, and help out his owner as well, but I hoped it would also prove to my parents that I was responsible enough to care for a dog.

It worked, because when my kitten tragically went missing – we suspect he was taken by the foxes that live in the area – they agreed to let me have a dog for my 12th birthday present.

I chose a Miniature Schnauzer for my first dog because I researched the breed and sussed out that they are intelligent, have a huge personality and are very sociable. And so Mylo came into my life.

He was the only black and silver male puppy in the litter we went to see, and when I first met him he came out from under the table to greet us and then started licking my hand. He was 12 weeks old then, and when we brought him home he curled up on the sofa next to me – and since then has never wanted to leave my side.

“He’s cHAngeD My life” Mylo is very intelligent, cheeky, confident, energetic, loveable, fun-loving, loud and is definitely a dog with attitude!

He likes to be with me all the time; he will sit on chairs with me, lie on my feet while I watch TV, and walk around as if glued to my heels. Basically, he’s my shadow, and his tail never stops wagging (sometimes it wags in his sleep!). He even comes on family holidays with us so that he never has to leave us.

Mylo adores our elderly tortoiseshell cat, Coco, and really wants her to be friends with him, but, sadly, she isn’t

“Mylo’smy shadow”

Emma with her canine pal, Mylo.

Having fun in the agility arena.

Mylo takes a snooze.