Couple are ‘Walking to Save Dogs’ with their eight pooches

Robert Donkers and his dogs are undertaking the walk, which begins on October 2, to highlight the plight of millions of dogs being sent to the dog meat trade and to raise funds to distribute to organisations that rescue them through his website Walking to Save Dogs.

Robert’s eight dogs - Jake, Ronan, Pippa, Hannah, Olive, Madeleine, Violet and Wilbur - are doing this challenge with him, along with his partner Mervyn Espie.

The five-day walk around different locations in Northern Ireland will also be a remarkable feat for Mervyn who, as a child had two broken hips and spine and was told he would never walk again.

He proved the doctors wrong and went on to become a personal trainer, while coping with undergoing two hip replacements when he was 55 years old.

The fundraising walks will begin on October 2 when the group will walk from Ballintoy to the Giant’s Causeway and Bushmills. Next day they will walk around Banagher forest and glen before tackling beach walks in Portrush and Portstewart the following day.

This will be followed by a walk around Rathlin Island – a place which has a special meaning for Robert and Mervyn, as it was the venue for their wedding last year, an historic event as it was the first humanist, same gender wedding on the Island.

The final day of the challenge will see them walk from Rostrevor to Hilltown. For more information check out walkingtosavedogs.com