ONE OF THE UGLIEST DOGS IN THE WORLD?
...BUT HIS OWNER LOVES HIM
THIS is Chase, who is officially the third ugliest dog in the world.
But to his owner, Storm Shayler, the hairless, toothless pooch is beautiful – because he’s helped her overcome post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety after losing her mother in a horrifying road accident when she was 18. Now Chase is her assistance dog. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” says Storm, 49, who works at Morriston Hospital. “Having a dog with me gives me that little bit more confidence.”
The pair, who live together in Cimla, are so devoted that when Storm goes to her best friend’s wedding later this month, cheeky Chase – who’s now 14 – will come along as her plus-one.
Storm’s problems began on the night her beloved mum died.
Then just a teenager, she was travelling home from work on her motorbike with her mother when the accident happened.
“We worked in a nightclub – she was in the cloakroom and I was glass collecting,” she said.
“We couldn’t afford a car back then. Motorbikes were a lot cheaper than they are now. We were both on one bike and we were coming home at 2am or 3am and two horses ran out into the road.
“When I came around, the first thing I saw was her having CPR. So my insecurity and anxiety went through the roof as it was just me and mum and I was legally an adult so there was no assistance in any way.
“I was released from hospital at 5am back to a house where I had a glass-collecting job one night a week, I was at college and I had rent to pay. It was a struggle.”
“This happened on a Saturday night/Sunday morning and I was back at college on the Monday and I remember walking in and everyone saying ‘what are you doing here?’ and all I could think of is ‘where else can I be?’”
Since then, Chase, who has a cataract in one eye and has lost most of his teeth, has helped Storm to gain confidence in her day-to-day life, with simple tasks such as going to the supermarket proving exhausting to her.
The Chinese crested pooch offers her a bit of comfort and support in times of need.
“He’s got his own little harness and everything and I take him everywhere,” she said.
“He takes absolutely everything in his stride. You just can’t get a better dog because absolutely nothing fazes him.
“I have suffered PTSD, social anxiety and incredible insecurity, where you’re always second-guessing yourself.
“I always come across as confident but I find it incredibly difficult, as the minute I open my mouth to talk to somebody I sound like I’m fine and then two seconds later I’ll be questioning myself.
“But having a dog with me always gave me that little bit more confidence.”
Storm explains that years ago, service dogs were mainly associated with guide dogs and hearing dogs, but after relying so much on Chase she realised that he was technically her service dog.
“Most people don’t invite me anywhere without the dog,” she said. “I’m going to my best friend’s wedding at the end of the month and he’s my plus one – in the church and everything.
“Although I’m lucky I can do a lot of things without a dog, it’s exhausting, so just going to Tesco or popping to the shops is incredibly exhausting because you’re always putting on a front of being happy and inside you’re kind of tearing up.
“If a sound, sight or smell brings back one of the traumas I’ve experienced and I’m out and I’ve got a dog, I can stop and I can cuddle a dog, talk to a dog and focus.”
Storm was astonished when Chase won third place in the World’s Ugliest Dog competition in 2017.
“I was gobsmacked when they were calling out the winners,” his owner said.
“There’s some amazing animals out there that people don’t like but other people think are gorgeous.
“It’s just a title and most people absolutely loved them. It’s more about the uniqueness of them.
“It promotes the animals that get overlooked because of their appearance and to show that they have more to them than just what they look like.
“There’s a lot of people who say ‘how can you call a dog ugly?’ but it’s just a word and to everybody ‘ugly’ means a different thing.”