Service dogs can be life-changing for people with disabilities. These special dogs offer companionship and help their owners lead fulfilling lives and do incredible things.
Just like a loyal golden retriever, who helped her owner clinch the crown during the Miss Dallas Teen competition earlier this year.
Alison Appleby, a 17-year-old from Sherman, Texas (USA), has epilepsy and autism, but that didn’t stop her from participating in this year’s Miss Dallas Teen competition, even though she had never done it before.
One of her goals was to represent people with disabilities on the competition stage, proving the naysayers wrong.
“A bystander who just stood there and listened to our conversation said ‘you can’t do that, because you have a disability, and misses don’t have a handicap’,” Alison remembers at KTEN.
Participating in a competition was a scary new experience for the teenager: she told Fox News Digital that she bought her dresses three days before the competition and ‘had no idea what [she] was getting into,’ unlike many other beauty queens who spend years preparing.
But luckily, Alison wasn’t alone in her nervousness – she had a very special companion by her side at every step.
That companion was Brady, her golden retriever and service dog in training. Since Alison was diagnosed with epilepsy two years ago and received Brady as her assigned service dog in 2021.
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Brady is set to be invaluable to Alison: he has learned to alert others when Alison has a seizure, and get medication and snacks when Allison’s blood sugar is low. But more than that, he has proven to be a loyal and loving companion.
“He has hardly left my side since I got him,” Alison told Fox News Digital. “He is my best friend, and we are inseparable.”
“I was still scared the whole time,” Alison said about the experience of the competition, “but having Brady by my side made it so much easier.”
“He is my rock.”
Alison’s mother Beth Appleby said she was relieved that her daughter had her service dog by her side: “I wasn’t nervous because she has Brady, who takes good care of her,” she told KTEN.
And despite being a newcomer to the pageant circuit, Alison flourished and won the hearts of the judges with her interview responses.
“Alison really won the whole competition in a specific interview,” pageant director Jennifer Ortiz told Fox News. “She was just absolutely amazing – the way she spoke, she was very intelligent, very communicative with our judges.”
“She’s just a phenomenal woman.”
And ultimately, Alison was stunned after being crowned the winner of the competition. And not only did the teenager receive a crown, but the competition even awarded a special crown to Brady!
Sharing the moment with her loyal dog made Alison’s victory even sweeter: “When they crowned Brady, it warmed my heart – my heart absolutely melted,” she told Fox News.
Following her victory, Alison will compete in the Miss Texas Teen competition in May. When she’s not competing in beauty pageants, Alison gives back through philanthropic work: as an archer for the Junior Olympic Archery Development Program, Alison competes on a team raising money for cancer patients. She is also a volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Association.
By winning the Miss Dallas Teen competition, Alison became a role model for teens with disabilities, proving that anything is possible.
“Don’t let your setbacks make you give up on your dreams,” she said. “You don’t have to give up on life just because you have a disease.”
What an inspiring story – congratulations to Alison and her faithful dog Brady on this incredible victory.
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