AFTER winning the ‘Good Buddy Award’ last year, Liam Landymore from Shebbear is on track to pick himself up another prestigious Crufts award.

Liam, 18, has been nominated for this year’s ‘Shaun McAlphine Outstanding Young Person Award’ and is among only five Young Kennel Club members to be nominated for the award.

The award is given to those members of the Young Kennel Club who have shown great courage, dedication and selflessness in the act of their work with dogs.

At the age of ten Liam experienced a traumatic event and as a result battled his post-traumatic stress disorder and depression through his love of dogs. His Labrador cross Springer spaniel Charlie, was instrumental in helping Liam find the courage to carry on.

Liam said: “I was nominated for the young person award because I previously won an award at Crufts. You are automatically put up for the young persons award.

“The Good Buddy Award, which I won last year, is awarded to people for showing amazing courage through difficult times and turning those experiences into a positive for others.”

He added: “It is always an amazing feeling to be nominated for any award; I feel really honoured. I am really looking forward to finding out the results.”

Liam was nominated for the award in part due to his work setting up his own dog training business, The Haven Dog Centre.

Alongside running his own business Liam is the Young Ambassador for Dogs Helping Kids and is also their Teenage Adviser.

In 2014, Liam set up his own initiative, a charity called Liam’s MOB — Men on Board.

Liam said: “Business is going really well, we have been getting a bit busier recently with more people attending training sessions.

“We hold a number of dog training sessions, one-to-one sessions and puppy classes. We are currently running about 12 classes a week to keep up with demand.

“We will take in any dog and help the owner connect and train them. We provide a number of different age groups as well to ensure it is fair — wouldn’t be fair to train a puppy with an older dog.”

Liam is looking forward to the next Crufts event where the winners of the outstanding young person award will be announced.

He said: “I will find out the result on the Sunday of Crufts. It will be an interesting day but good fun as well as I will get to see all the friends I have made up there.”

Liam and Charlie won’t be competing in this year’s Crufts, as he explained: “No, I don’t like showing my dogs at Crufts, I prefer to be able to walk around and have a look at all the stalls and spend time with other dog trainers, learning from them.”

The award winner of the Shaun McAlphine Outstanding Young Person Award will be announced on Sunday, March 12, at the Birmingham NEC arena.

To vote for Liam visit the Young Kennel Clubs Facebook page www.facebook.com/YoungKennelClub