Kate and Gin have got talent!

Dog lover Kate Nicholas was often reduced to tears by school bullies who teased her and made her life a misery.

But now the 16-year-old is tipped to win a hit television talent contest thanks to her dog Gin who has proved she really is a girl's best friend.

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For Kate, of Norbury, near Whitchurch, has been tipped as the favourite to win ITV show Britain's Got Talent by judge Simon Cowell after she performed with Gin on Saturday night's programme.

The teenager's performance has won words of praise from the same people who bullied her and she will appear on the show again in May, when it will be announced whether she and Gin are still in with a chance of scooping the £100,000 prize money in the live semi-finals.

Kate said she has grown up around dogs, with parents Nigel and Tina both having shown Welsh Terriers at Crufts, and sister Laura, 19, who is training to be a vet.

But for Kate, success has come at a price. She said: "The bullies called me Pedigree and every time I walked past, they would shout 'woof'. I would be in tears but I knew that I had Gin to come home to.

"Everything I have given to her, she has given back to me. School was hard but I always had this dream of becoming a dog handler and opening my own dog school to train animals for film and television."

And the people who taunted Kate at school heaped praise on her after her moment of fame on prime-time TV.

She said: "I had texts from the same people who shouted 'woof' saying 'Wow, I didn't realise how good Gin was. I didn't realise you were going to be on the show. You were amazing'."

Kate, an animal management student at Reaseheath College, near Nantwich, said she put in two hours every day training Gin, and more when there's a show coming up, on top of walking Gin for six miles daily.

She even takes Gin to college with her once a week to use the sports hall to cram in some extra training.

Kate said she will unveil some new tricks when she next appears on the show but is keeping them under wraps until its airing in May.

Saturday's show was watched by 10.6 million people and more than 150,000 have watched it on YouTube and other websites.

Kate Nicholas, 16 practising tricks with her performing dog Gin. Now the pair have been tipped for success on Britain's Got Talent.

Kate and Gin performing their act together on the ITV talent show.

The show's judging panel Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell.

nextpageKate and Gin in action on Britain's Got Talent.

Acrobatics from Gin as she practises with Kate.