Paul O'Grady: For The Love Of Dogs

Finally a reason to look forward to Mondays!

I was blown away by the first episode of Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs shown last night at 8pm on ITV 1.  Much loved comedian, television presenter, actor, writer, radio DJ and passionate dog lover Paul was absolutely fantastic as he investigated just what it takes to look after the thousands of dogs travelling through Battersea Dogs and Cats Home every year.

ITV are finally showing a responsible prime time animal programme in this seven part series showing Paul O’Grady getting to know both the dogs and the staff at Battersea.  Each episode is 30 minutes long and the series promises to be humorous, emotional and inspiring as Paul gets involved with everything from cleaning kennels to rehoming dogs.  Last night’s episode hilariously saw him grilling Radio DJ Neil Fox who wanted to adopt a puppy even going so far as to ask him if there was any chance the family could be expecting a baby!

Heartbreaking scenes in last nights episode featured a young Staffordshire Bull Terrier, christened “Sparkles” by staff, who was thankfully rescued after being deliberately starved and abandoned in a London park.  Paul quite rightly exclaimed “And they call us a nation of animal lovers!”  After miraculously surviving her first night at Battersea and being fed little and often, Sparkles was on the road to recovery.  I am sure that the little beauty won many hearts last night, her beautiful eyes glistened with love, trust and hope despite the horrific treatment she had received.  Her tail didn’t stop wagging and she soon transformed from an emasculated downtrodden pup to a happy, healthy and boisterous Staffie who was swiftly rehomed as soon as she was given a clean bill of health.

Paul spent just over two months at our London centre and got to know everyone here at Battersea. He says: “This has been one of the nicest jobs I've ever had. Everybody knows Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, it’s one of the jewels in London’s crown and it’s a joy to be there; I feel so at home. I’m hoping that people will watch this programme and see what a happy, professional environment it is. There is humour, sadness, pathos, genuine concern – it’s going to be different to everything else that’s on the telly.”

(Source)

Catch up with this weeks show on ITV Player and catch all subsequent episodes each Monday at 8pm on ITV 1.

Follow Battersea Dogs and Cats Home on Twitter @BDCH and become a fan on Facebook.

What did you think of the show?