One of our favourite things about Paul O'Grady was of course his love of dogs! Not only did we love seeing Paul with his own adorable four-legged friends, but we loved watching him in his TV show, For the Love of Dogs, where he visited all the rescue animals at Battersea Dogs and Cats home.
For more on the show and Paul's pooches, we've gathered together everything you need to know.
For the Love of Dogs
Possibly our favourite of Paul’s many projects was For the Love of Dogs. The series first began in 2012, and featured many of the loveable mutts at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home as they strive to find new families. If you're not familiar with the series, For the Love of Dogs was all about the wonderful rescue dogs at Battersea. Each series, Paul went along to meet a handful of the lovely dogs that live there to hear all about their touching stories.
Paul was such a natural with animals – for the first series he stayed as a volunteer at the centre for six months instead of the scheduled six days! He also ended up taking home Jack Russell-Chihuahua cross Eddy.
Special Royal episode
ITV celebrated 160 years of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home with a one-off hour-long special episode of the award-winning series which aired over the festive season 2022.
The episode featured Her Majesty The Queen Consort, a long-term supporter of Battersea and self-confessed dog-lover, in her previous role as The Duchess of Cornwall, hosting a celebratory event at Clarence House and later helping Paul care for some of the abandoned dogs searching for a new forever home.
Battersea is currently incredibly busy due to an overwhelming number of dogs that are more difficult to rehome due to their older age, medical or behavioural issues.
Will there be another series of For the Love of Dogs?
There have been a whopping ten series of the show so far. You can watch series nine and ten of the show on ITVx now.
Series 11 of For the Love of Dogs, Paul's last series, will air as planned on ITV on Thursday 13 April.
While we can't imagine anyone but Paul presenting the show after series 11, it is currently unknown if it will then continue with a new host.
Paul O'Grady's dogs
Over the years, Paul had many lovely dogs in his life and was forever adopting more dogs to add to his pack. Here are just a few of his beloved pets from recent years.
Buster
Paul had a well-documented love for dogs, starting with his beloved shih tzu Buster, who he took on tour with him.
Paul described him as a "smashing dog" who was never happier than in the world of showbiz, being fussed over by staff and public alike. Buster died in 2009 after a struggle with cancer.
Nancy
Arfur
Louis
Poor Paul announced the death of his beloved dog Louis in late 2017 on his BBC Radio 2 show: "I’ve had a bit of bad news myself. I came down the other day and Louis, my 14-year-old Shiz Tsu had had a stroke. I took him to the vets and they said they’d do all they could but he had a bad heart, he was going blind, he was going deaf, he had arthritis and all sorts. So the vet rang me up and said he’s in a terrible state and we think it’s best if we put him to sleep so I’ve lost my Louis.
Olga
We were so upset to hear Paul's beloved dog Olga had to be put to sleep after it was reported she had been ill for a while. The famous 14-year-old dog was a regular on TV and radio with Paul, but, the Cairn terrier cross had suffered with cancer.
Paul reportedly spent £8,000 on Olga's treatment but sadly, there was nothing he could do to help his lovely dog this time.
Cairn Terrier Olga was also famous for her TV roles with Paul. He described her as 'Ma Baker' for the way she rules the roost with his other pets!
Bullseye
Paul also lost Bullseye after he suffered a particularly bad epileptic seizure.
He previously shared: "Now I will tell you my lousy news. You know that I did have an epileptic dog called Bullseye. I've got two dogs that both have epilepsy and I've managed it with medication. However, on Monday night he had a massive seizure, like a really bad one that he didn't come out of and on the way to the vets at two o'clock in the morning he died in the car."
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