A 12-year-old girl from Hove wants to raise awareness of how her hearing dog best friend helped her combat severe anxiety.

Elyana Kuhlemeier is profoundly deaf and had her life transformed by black Labrador Gordon who gives her confidence and reassurance in her day-to-day life.

Before Gordon, Kuhlemeier would vomit and tear out clumps of her hair due to anxiety caused by her deafness.

The Child’s Champion pair are one of four duos who have been nominated for The Kennel Club Hero Dog Award 2024, which recognises unsung canine heroes from across the country.

Kuhlemeier said: “We got Gordon and we were really excited, from then on we did a lot of tests, training and Gordon slowly kept coming to us, visiting us.

“He improved my life a lot, I used to have anxiety issues where I would spend a lot of the day vomiting and then I got Gordon and he made me really happy.

“He is always really calm and fun and, practically, he wakes me up in the morning as my alarm clock by pulling my duvet – it’s fun training him and practising.

“I can’t hear anything without my hearing aids so sometimes if I still don’t get up he’ll lick my face.

“He also does the fire alarm, when that goes off he’ll come and nudge me and I’ll say, “What is it?” and he’ll lie down, alerting me to any danger.”

Judges from The Kennel Club, one of the UK’s largest dog welfare organisations, selected the four inspiring finalists to go to the public vote, which went live this week.

Other nominees include a Golden Retriever who helps her 25-year-old para sailor owner live her life to the fullest and a search and rescue dog who locates survivors of humanitarian disasters across the world.

The winner will be announced by double Paralympic champion Libby Clegg at the Birmingham NEC and on Channel 4 on Sunday 10 March to round off a brilliant Crufts 2024 week.

Kuhlemeier added: “Gordon is my best friend, he’s also helped me mentally and he helps me calm down if I’ve had a bad day at school.

“It feels really special and makes me proud to have been nominated, it also raises awareness to all the helpful things that hearing dogs have done for people like me.

“I’m really excited for Crufts, being on TV and seeing all the other dogs across the competition.”

Crufts, which celebrates dogs from all walks of life, takes place from 7-10 March at the NEC in Birmingham and tickets are available at crufts.org.uk