By ALESHA CAPONE
YOUNG Ally knows dogs are not just a man’s best friend – they are also a girl’s best friend.
The 11-year-old Werribee resident posed for Star with her border-collie Rocky last week to promote the DOGS Victoria annual open day in December.
Ally, who runs a dog-walking business, said Rocky waited by the window for her to get home from school every day.
“My dog’s like my baby. I walk him nearly every day,” she said.
“Rocky is really active. He can swim, roll over, play tug-of-war and at the moment I’m teaching him to fetch the mail.”
Rocky joined Ally’s family when she was in Grade Prep and asked her parents for a pet.
“I said, ’Mum I want a dog or a dolphin’,” Ally said.
The young businesswoman started her dog-walking business last summer.
“I’m a bit of an entrepreneur and I love animals,” she said.
Ally said she wanted to be a vet, marine biologist, actor or teacher in the future.
For the past two years, she has studied with ATA Acting Classes in Hoppers Crossing.
“I love that although we get a turn on stage, we also get to sit down and watch other people and learn from them and see ways to improve acting,” Ally said.
The multi-talented youngster recently auditioned for a short film being made next month, by third-year graduates from the Holmesglen University.
“The girl I have to play acts like a mother to her eight-year-old brother, which was really easy for me because I have an eight-year-old brother and I mother him all the time,” Ally said.
The DOGS Victoria Open Day will be on 15 December, 10.30am-4pm at the State Dog Centre, KCC Park, 655 Westernport Highway, Skye. Entry and parking is free and leashed dogs are welcome.
See www.dogsvictoria.org.au for more information.
