Congratulations to the following award winners:

• People’s Choice winner – Bosto. English Staffordshire terrier, 8 years
• People’s Choice runner-up – Pablo. Whippet, 22 months
• Panel’s Choice joint-winner – Olive. Domestic short hair, 2 years
• Panel’s Choice joint-winner – Henry. Groodle, 7 years

Entrants were made up of dogs, cats, ferrets, guinea pigs, turtles, rabbits, fish and birds, (including chickens). However it was the dogs that made up 74% of total entries.

Bosto’s proud carer, Tony Geveux, was excited to receive the news,

“He deserves it. The joy he gives to people, young and elderly. He is very loyal. Dogs can teach people a lot of things, I’ve learnt so much,” said Mr Geveux.

Apart from dazzling the voters in the competition, Bosto has been acting as a ‘therapy’ dog, providing comfort to Mr Geveux’s mother who has dementia.

Tony used social media and networking at local dog parks to strategically accumulate 433 votes for Bosto.

Whilst he made a late run at the title, three-legged Pablo couldn’t quite catch Bosto with 269 votes.

The 22-month-old whippet’s proud carer, Hannah Smith, very delighted to receive the news that he was awarded runner-up in the People’s Choice category.

“He is just divine,” said Ms Smith.

Pablo, a rescue dog, now lives in an apartment – and enjoys lots of beach getaways!

He also has his own social media account which helped him garner support in the competition.

Olive the cat and Henry the groodle took out the Panel’s Choice as joint winners. Awarded the exact same amount of points by our judging panel, this year it was decided to award two joint winners and forgo a runner-up in this category.

Olive’s proud carer, Cynthia Louis, was very delighted to receive the news that her two-year-old feline was a winner.

“Olive is adorable, cuddly, friendly, and amazing to be with,” said Ms Louis, “she has converted me to team cat.”

Olive, a rescue cat, now lives in an apartment in Docklands that she rules like a Queen.

“She loves the windows and looking at the views”, added Ms Louis.

Henry is already used to fame. As an InstaDog with over 5,000 Instagram followers on his account. His carer Fraser Davies, who also runs Field Black Café in Northcote, was thrilled to hear the news.

“I entered Henry because he is so unique and I love to share him”.

Lort Smith CEO, Fiona Webster was very excited to hear the news of all the winners.

“Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s competition,” said Ms Webster, “the Backyard Hero search shows how much we love to share our furry friends with the world.”

“As a not-for-profit organisation, our annual calendar plays an important part in raising awareness of the world-class, affordable animal health care we provide for the community.”

The calendar will be available for pre-sale from September at www.lortsmith.com, with all profits going directly to supporting Lort Smith’s work caring for sick, injured and vulnerable animals, and the people who care for them.

An enormous thank you to everyone that entered their beloved pets (they are all winners!) and to those that took the time to cast a vote – the choice wasn’t easy!