What a Difference a Day Makes: 'A dog is the reason I'm here today'

Counsellor and author Tony Walsh tells Helen O’Callaghan about a series of events that took place – and particularly one standout day – when he was about nine years old, and how from that he learned the value of empathy and compassion, attitudes that became central to how he lives his life.

Pictured is Tony Walsh, Wexford Town, Tony is pictured with his dog Ivan, and his book. Photograph: Patrick Browne

There was a day I decided there was no point anymore. I wanted to end all the pain. I was nine. My dad had died less than a year earlier.

He’d had a run-in with our primary school sometime previously. He took my sisters out of the school, I was left. The teacher took all his anger out on me — beating me regularly in an empty classroom.