She's no ordinary slimming sensation. Dropping a dress size wasn't an option for this slimmer - because she doesn't wear clothes.

Sally the border terrier was over-sized and used to be paunchier than she looks now, but within months she has been able to walk back to a healthy weight - thanks to Bev Holmes, pictured left with Sally.

Bev was going through her regular roll call when we spoke on the phone. Sally was among the pampered pooches Bev was rounding up into the back of her van which doubles as mobile pet shop selling and delivering supplies to the pet owners whose dogs she walks daily.

Most of the dogs are pets whose owners are at work, but Sally the slimmer is a different story. Bev was recommended to take her out to help walk off the weight that she had piled on.

Sally weighed 12 kilos, a hefty weight for a terrier, when she was first brought to Bev's attention. "Her tummy was nearly touching the floor," recalls Bev.

But Sally's weighty issue wasn't to do with cruelty. Bev says she had become the size she was out of love and kindness. Her owner, Betty Fritchley, thinks the world of the little dog. She recalls seeing her beloved canine for the first time with a pink bow round her neck - she was a 62nd birthday present from Betty's son.

"I love animals. My son bought her for me as a surprise present and I'm very attached to her. She's such a friend," says Betty, now 74.

The problem was that Betty couldn't resist giving her four-legged friend tit-bits. Biscuits, chew sticks, Sally lapped up the lot. "I did used to give her tit-bits and I knew I shouldn't but I couldn't resist because she'd sit up looking appealing," says Betty.

Eventually her vet at Gatehouse Veterinary Clinic, Bingley, put Betty in touch with Bev.

Betty says the vet raised concerns about Sally's weight when her son took her in for a check-up. The vet recommended Bev.

The two women met up and since Bev started walking Sally last August the once-portly terrier has lost nearly four kilos.

"Bev takes her out twice a week and it makes all the difference," says a very appreciative Betty. "She's now a different dog. People can't believe how much she's changed. They say, Sally's gone slim!' " she laughs.

"But she's a lot better now and she looks younger. Obviously she's gone greyer, as we all do."

The dog is more lively than she was too. "Bev is very good and she loves animals but she takes so many dogs out, I don't know where she gets the energy!" says Betty.

But will Betty be tempted to feed Sally those tit-bits again? "It's a case of you have to be cruel to be kind - but it's not easy because I'm soft," she says.

Bev has also given Betty meal ideas for Sally and she's encouraging her to throw the odd tit-bit up the stairs for the dog so she has to exercise to get it, an initiative to help keep the weight off. She also takes Sally for weekly weigh-ins at the vets and keeps a log of the pooch's progress.

"Sally is a lovely dog and she is a credit to her mum," says Bev.

Her love of dogs stems from the rescue pup, a Yorkshire terrier, that her mum bought her when she was seven.

Throughout her life Bev has shared her family home with her four-legged friends. Working for her family's waste paper firm, she soon became a rescue and retirement home for the company's elderly guard dogs.

She is never without her doggy pals and has acquired many others over the years. Tilly, the Welsh collie, was bought from a breeder; Foxy, the Welsh collie cross, came via what was formerly the National Canine Defence League, and Winnie, the white boxer, was another rescue pet.

The idea to walk other people's dogs, when she has enough of her own to handle, came through Bev's own experience of juggling pet care while working. She relied on family to help out but she says others aren't so fortunate.

Competing in countrywide agility shows with her own collies, Bev was amazed by the amount of pet owners in the same predicament. It gave her the impetus to set up her own mobile dog walking service.

"Everybody was telling me to get on with it so last May I got a van. I thought I've got nothing to lose'," says Bev.

Recommendations and driving around in a van emblazoned with her company livery have led to many more pet-owners contacting her to walk their dogs. Not all of them are chunky canines. Bev says the majority belong to working owners who can't get back home to let them out.

The 47-year-old from Shelf travels around the Bradford district and as far as Halifax to pick up the dogs in her care, but she admits she has some help. "I do have friends who help me out. I meet my chief stick chucker' in Judy Woods, I have a young girl called Holly who helps out in the holidays and my friend Jean who says it keeps her fit!" says Bev.

What is evident is all that the dogs appreciate her presence. "Sally loves to go to Bev's," says Betty.

And Bev loves walking them. "Dogs are my world," she says.

  • For more information about Bev's services call 07951164325.