Me & My Pet | Clodagh McKenna

We chat exclusively to the lovely Irish TV Chef, Clodagh McKenna, author of cookbooks, columnist and presenter on This Morning. She tells us all about life with her adorable new Cockapoo puppy, Teddy, and how he brings so much love and happiness into their home and onto the farm.

What exciting projects are you working on at the moment? Anything involving Teddy?

I am writing my new cookbook, which is very exciting. Testing recipes every spare moment I have! Teddy has been the best laptop companion when I have to write up the recipes after testing, unfortunately I can’t test the recipes on him…

Tell us about your lovely puppy Teddy, what breed is he, when did you get him and what made you fall in love with him?

Teddy is a cockapoo, with beautiful long golden caramel hair, and the sweetest chocolate brown eyes. I fell in love with him because he was so shy…

What is a typical day for you and Teddy?
Teddy sleeps on our bed, so he wakes us up quite early ready to play, he has a lot of energy! Then, he and Alfie (our other doggie) come with me while I feed the animals on our farm – chickens, ducks and pigs. We then go on a big walk around the farm, through the woods and down by the lake.

Does he prefer London or the countryside?

Most definitely the countryside, as he runs non-stop around our farm chasing smells. It’s an animal paradise at our farm.

Do you cook any special food for Teddy? Does he have a favourite dish?
No I don’t cook food for our doggies. But they do have a raw egg mixed into their dry food every day, which he loves.

What difference has he made to your life and what life lessons he has taught you?

He brings so much love and happiness to our home and our other animals. They both teach me life lessons every day, the one that comes to mind is to stop and listen to the beautiful sounds in the woods.

Any funny incidents involving Teddy?
On his first night at our farm, we woke up in the morning and he had taken all our shoes from the dressing room and put them on our bed. He must have spent the whole night busily back and forth, the poor little thing. It was chaos when we finally woke but so funny… but Teddy was very happy with himself!

Anything you feel particularly strongly about with regard to animal welfare?
Yes, I feel that cages should be banned. It’s so barbaric that we feel that we have the right to put animals in cages.