A CANCER-beating dog has astounded its owner after winning an agility contest just weeks after major surgery to remove a tumour.

Badger the Langley-based dog shrugged off the tumour-removing operation and subsequent chemotherapy to win the Grade 6 Class at the Orchard Agility Show, in Cambridgeshire.

The triumphant dog now has his eyes set on winning the Grade 7 Class, the highest accolade the Orchard can offer.

Badger’s story began when what vets thought was a simple infection was not clearing up with antibiotics back in April of this year and then became something much more worrying when a CT scan revealed he had a tumour in his abdomen.

This was was a particularly upsetting for concern to his owner Gill Wrightson, a swimming teacher in Hounslow.

Ms Gill said: “I first noticed that he seemed unwell in April this year.

“At first we thought it was simply an infection in his anal glands but it kept reappearing so our vet, Jeremy Stewart, at the Mandeville Veterinary Hospital in Northolt, was concerned something more serious might be afoot.

“I was devastated when I found out he had cancer because I had lost another dog earlier this year to a suspected brain tumour.

“This made me even more determined to do what I could to give Badger a better quality of life for as long as possible.”

Her canine companion, who has been agility training twice a week since he was one-year-old, had specialist surgery to remove the tumour over the summer and, since then, has been on chemotherapy.

Mr Stewart, head vet at Mandeville Veterinary Hospital, said: “Badger is a stoic dog and has been very brave. He has coped well with both the surgery and the chemo and is making a fantastic recovery.

“It was the icing on the cake to hear he’s just won his first agility competition since the operation. We are delighted for him and for Gill, who cares so deeply for all of her dogs.”

Miss Wrightson said: “I am just so thankful that this treatment has given Badger back his life and it’s wonderful to see him playing with my other dogs and enjoying his agility again."

“He must be feeling well to have achieved what he did at the Orchard Agility Show and I am so proud of him.”

The show was held on August 28.