Dog dons graduation robes for helping owner complete degree

A student and his dog in Edinburgh donned graduation robes today after the pet helped his owner complete his university degree in flying colours.
Jack Proctor, 34, joined forces with cocker spaniel Fudge as he studied for his BDes (Hons) in design and digital arts degree at Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland.
The seven-year-old dog starred in Jack's introductory video and course work, and was in his dissertation, which got an A grade.
Fudge was at the ceremony wearing robes made by Proctor's wife.
Fudge soaked up the attention from fellow graduates while he stopped for pictures outside the venue where he had a university scroll attached to his red collar.

Proctor, from Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, said: "I know it seems eccentric, but Fudge has been part of my journey through uni since day one, so it just feels like a nice way to mark the journey's end.

"He was such a fundamental part of my dissertation that I even mentioned him in the acknowledgement section," Proctor was quoted as saying by the BBC.
Fudge featured in a series of videos for Jack's dissertation on how designers can optimise the shareability of their work, comedy special effects being used to show the dog regularly outsmarting hapless humans.
He also took lead and cameo roles in Proctor's course assignment videos including The Dog Dice (in which Fudge plays Snakes and Ladders) and the Soi Dog Foundation.

Proctor said: "Our Ice Bucket Challenge video was our most successful, with millions of views on Facebook and 250,000 on Youtube, but other videos we had made have had view counts ranging from 30,000 to 300,000, and have appeared on news video sites.
"We are very much a partnership so it just seemed right that Fudge should share my big day with me.