Meet the ‘pawlitician’ crowned Westminster’s Dog of the Year

Labour MP Sarah Edwards' dog crowned Westminster Dog of the YearSource: The Independent

Transcript

00:00I'm Sarah Edwards. I am a member of the Labour Party and I'm here with my dog, Poiki.

00:04And what does Poiki bring to your life?

00:07He makes my life complete. He's a wonderful little creature. He's very cheeky.

00:11I think everyone has seen his personality shine through today. He's quite willful.

00:16He's 13 now, so he's also quite an old boy. So he thinks he's still two.

00:21But as you can see, he's got a little bit tired now at the end of the competition.

00:25And obviously you've won. Just tell me how you feel.

00:27I'm quite surprised, but also delighted because I'd really wanted to enter since I got elected in 2023

00:35because someone told me about this lovely, charming event that's really about raising the profile of obviously dogs

00:40and also what you can do in Parliament, but also celebrating your own pet.

00:43I'm absolutely delighted. It's a real honour.

00:46And what about Poiki do you think when the judge is over?

00:48That is really hard. I'd love for them to tell me what it was.

00:51I think he has got a lot of personality. He's got the energy and the sort of give it a go.

00:57But he's only going to do it if it makes sense to him.

01:00He's a little bit frustrated about things. Why am I jumping over this?

01:03So we gave all of the agility a go multiple times, see if he could get it.

01:07And he did get there and he loved it.

01:08So I think it was just he's really attentive.

01:11We have a really close bond, so he's always looking to me.

01:14He'd rather be with me than go through a tunnel, which is ever so sweet.

01:17So I think it was probably just how his personality was shining through as he was just being himself.