This Morning vet defends Alison Hammond's For The Love Of Dogs gig with seven-word verdict

This Morning vet Dr Scott Miller has come out in defence of Alison Hammond following backlash about being appointed host on the beloved ITV show For The Love Of Dogs. The mum of one was announced as the new presenter of the show in January this year, following the sudden death of Paul O'Grady, but immediately faced backlash because she doesn't have a dog of her own.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk Scott endorsed his friend for the role saying: "You can love dogs without having them. Me and Alison are really good mates and as she was leading up to that job we did talk about it."

"All I said was just lead from the heart. She isn't someone who had been lucky enough to have pet dogs because she's a busy single mum and, responsibly, she hasn't brought one into her home and heart for that reason," he explained.

"So I was validated that you can love dogs without having them. And I think that was the thing that maybe some people gave her a bit of stick about," he reflected.

Despite the backlash, Scott was impressed with Alison's work on the show and intimated should her situation change he will be more than happy to help her find her perfect canine companion. "I think it was always going to be tough to follow in Paul's shoes and I think she did a good job.

"I've already told her, if she needs a vet, she knows where I am, or if her circumstances change I've said I will have one [a rescue dog] lined up for her as soon as she's ready."

For her part Alison dismissed her critiques earlier this year saying: "I could understand in the sense that Paul was so loved and people were saying, ‘How can she do Love Of Dogs when she doesn’t have a dog?

"How does she love dogs when she doesn’t have a dog?’ It’s like saying, 'How can you love children when you haven’t got kids?’ If you don't want to help Battersea, don't watch it," she said.

Scott is passionate about helping rescue animals and away from his work on This Morning and his day job as a working vet he has a hugely successful YouTube show highlighting the work of rescue centres.

Entitled simply Rescue Vet the channel boasts 39,400 subscribers at present and features heartwarming stories of rescue pets, as well as pet care tips and amazing animal stories.

His passion for the project is clear as he continued, "I always knew that I wanted to work with animals and now the YouTube channel is for me, my sort of legacy playground where I can do exactly what I want to do, which is just help animals, regardless of whether they're owned.

I can also champion all those amazing people who work in rescues, who work their hearts out, who don't have holidays, that don't have weekends, and who get paid minimum wage, but they do it for the love.

"And most people wouldn't understand why they do that but I do. And therefore, for me, they're my heroes, and that's why Rescue Vet exists," he enthused.

Dr Scott Miller's Rescue Vet series is available to watch on YouTube.