THE Advertiser’s 2017 Pet Idol has been crowned – and she has no shortage of friends in Helensburgh keen to join in celebrating her success.

Coco, a 20-month-old Lhasa Apso, was nominated by staff and residents at the town’s Morar Lodge private nursing home – where Coco has been a regular happy visitor as a ‘therapy pet’ for almost all her short life.

Owner Lynn Moores, who picked up the competition’s £300 prize last week, said Coco loved her visits to the home.

Lynn told the Advertiser: “Coco was 10 weeks old when I got her and she’s been coming up to the home since then.

“She loves getting cuddles and kisses and visiting bed-bound patients who give her a wee stroke.

“We have some residents who don’t speak or move around very much, and their eyes just light up when Coco visits them. They love getting visits from animals and babies and Coco definitely helps them.

“She’ll be two years old in March. I usually try taking her up once a week but she comes up to the home for events as well.

“I’ve had a couple of dogs in the past, and cats too, but Coco is the first pet I’ve taken to the home.

“She loves coming to work with me. When I tell her she’s coming to work with me she gets really excited.

“She loves all the attention she gets.”

The idea of making Coco a regular visitor to Morar Lodge came from the home’s care services manager, Sandra Sallie, who picked up the idea after watching a TV programme featuring a "therapy dog" at a hospital for dementia patients in the USA.

And though experts are divided over whether the use of animals has a measurable benefit in such circumstances, Sandra is in no doubt about what Coco has brought to Morar Lodge.

She said: “Lynn had just got Coco and we thought it would be a good idea to bring her along to the home – and she’s been an absolute star.

“People confined to bed completely adore her, and people who don’t even speak will speak to Coco.

“She just lies on top of their bed and lets them stroke her and talk to her.

“A lot of our bed-bound residents have dementia, and Coco has helped bring out their personalities more. They’ll even talk about her. “People are definitely more active with Coco. She’s been a great asset to the home on the activity side as well.

"She isn’t on a leash. She has the freedom of the home when she’s here to visit the residents and just wander around.

“She’s a wee diva sometimes, but she’s been an absolute star.”

Studies carried out at residential homes in the United States found that having a dog present can distract patients from aggressive or agitated behaviour, reduce their feelings of loneliness and boost happiness by releasing serotonin, prolactin and oxytocin - so-callsed ‘happy hormones’.

And it isn’t just older people who are said to benefit: another American study found that the children of military staff coped better with having a parent away on overseas deployment when they were close to a family pet, while a number of universities use ‘therapy dogs’ to relieve students’ pre-exam nerves and first-term homesickness.

But earlier this year a doctoral student at Yale University found that while there was a “small to medium” reduction in patients’ distress from practices such as taking dogs on to hospital wards, studies carried out on the subject were unclear whether humans’ behavioural changes were the result of ‘therapy pets’ or other possible factors.

However, 82 per cent of nursing staff who took part in a recent survey by the Royal College of Nursing said that having a pet encouraged patients to be more physically active, while 60 per cent believed animals improved physical recovery.

Congratulations to Lynn – and Coco – and a big thanks to everyone who entered the Advertiser’s 2017 Pet Idol competition and cast their votes for the 59 pets in this year’s contest.

Look out for the 2018 competition in the pages of the Advertiser next year!