A GREAT Dane has been crowned this year’s Pet Idol champion.

Owner Dawn Cheeseman, an illustrator from Bix in Oxfordshire, plans to put her £300 prize money towards a trip to Disneyland for her family.

The 46-year-old, who has five children aged 10 to 15, said she was delighted to have won the prize which also consists of £200 to spend on her larger-than-life pooch Blu at The Pet Barn and Woodley Pets.

She said: “I’m absolutely over the moon. We kept telling all our friends and family to vote for Blu and I’m so pleased they did. I think what people don’t understand is that where Great Danes are so big – she actually towers over my children when standing upright – they don’t live that long. So this is a lovely way of being able to remember her when that time comes and she’s no longer with us, although I hate to think of it.”

When asked what she thinks makes gentle giant Blu so special, she said it was her protective nature, which has gone down a treat with the family.

She said: “Sometimes my husband will be playing with the children and tickling the younger ones and Blu will just come in and start barking at him, unaware that they’re just playing.”

Mrs Cheeseman will be awarded her prize next week.