This Morning’s Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary have introduced another new member to the show’s family after Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard were revealed as new hosts last week.
During Friday’s show the pair introduced a new four-legged member to the team as they cooed over their sweet new puppy.
Dermot told viewers: ‘Time to introduce you to a cute new member of our This Morning family…’ as Alison added, ‘It’s an adorable, eight week old puppy and here he comes!’
As the adorable pooch joined the duo on the sofa, Dermot explained: ‘This is a very important dog – he is an Autism Assistance dog.’
Called Buddy, the puppy is a yellow labrador who will be trained up to help both adults and children with autism.
Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary introduced another new member to the This Morning family on Friday after unveiling Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard as new hosts last week
Eight-week old yellow labrador Buddy joined the duo on the show, as the hosts revealed he will be trained as an Autism Assistance Dog
Explaining more, Jan Kiley, COO for Dogs for Autism charity, said, ‘He was eight weeks old yesterday and today is his first official day as a trainee assistance dog. He’s a yellow labrador. We train them for children and adults with autism.
‘Training is all about manners and teaching them about what is acceptable and what isn’t, but also giving them lots of interaction with lots of different people and going to different places, but being very careful not to push them too far.
‘Then in the future, around 12-18 months, during the training he will learn to do things specifically for autistic people.’
Viewers were then given the chance to name the dog as they sent in their suggestions to producers throughout the show.
Towards the end of the show, Alison announced: ‘Thank you everyone who got in touch with us, we’ve had so many suggestions, thank you so much.
‘But we can now reveal the official name of our new puppy is… Buddy! So many of you suggested Buddy and that’s what we’re going to call him.’
This Morning will keep up with Buddy’s progress during his training and presented the pup with some treats and a new collar before he starts.
Hugging the dog, Dermot later said, ‘It’s lovely to have you here Buddy and whatever family you go to will be very, very lucky.’
Meanwhile This Morning’s resident vet Dr Scott explained that two of his children have autism and having a dog in the house really helps them at home.
Explaining more, Jan Kiley, COO for Dogs for Autism charity, said, ‘Training is all about manners and teaching them about what is acceptable and what isn’t, but also giving them lots of interaction with lots of different people and going to different places, but being very careful not to push them too far’
Viewers were then given the chance to name the dog as they sent in their suggestions to producers throughout the show, with Buddy coming out as the most popular name
The duo then took their newly named pup to see Ant and Dec who were rehearsing for the brand new series of Saturday Night Takeaway in the next studio
Next month Ben Shephard is set to make his debut as the new permenant host of This Morning, and the presenter made his final appearance on Good Morning Britain on Friday
It has been confirmed that Ben’s This Morning debut with Cat Deeley , 47, will be on Monday March 11 – in just two weeks time
He said: ‘I have two children that have autism, Jackson who is nine, and he had a speech disorder which means he didn’t speak for the first four years of his life.
‘He has a bit of difficulty at school, emotionally, and with our dog Ludo we’ve really seen an improvement in his ability to be able to relax – having that big dog to hug make a big difference to him.
‘Our youngest, Riley, is non-verbal, she can speak bits of words but not too much, and again, the companionship of dogs make a big difference, and also, this is the first anniversary of my own personal diagnosis.’
Dr Scott added: ‘I saw things in them that I could relate to, and one thing that has been consistent for me in the companionship of animals.
‘I knew they were there to help and support me, so from the age of seven, I knew I wanted to give back to them.
‘But I didn’t know why… and now, finding a charity [like this] that supports autism is so important to be able to give children to develop that relationship with animals because it makes such a difference to their lives.’
The duo then took their newly named pup to see Ant and Dec who were rehearsing for the brand new series of Saturday Night Takeaway in the next studio.
Wanting to be the first to stroke him, Ant exclaimed: ‘He is gorgeous!’
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 & ITVX
