WHEN Darrell Groth’s friend recently passed away, he was left with more than the grief of missing his friend; he had lost his walking chum.

As one of life’s “get on with it” guys, Darrell knew that if he didn’t get out, he’d get depressed, so he thought he’d get a dog…but it was no ordinary dog that he acquired.

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Darrell bought a robot pooch, popped the batteries in and set off down to his local Coffs Jetty walk.

Man-and-robot-dog were not inconspicuous and caught the eye of the local NBN film crew doing the TV Weather Report.

“The producer of the show came up to me and asked me to walk Windy (the dog) for the camera,” Darrell told News Of The Area.

“People started watching and smiling and it seemed Windy made everyone happy.”

With COVID restrictions getting in the way of their spreading fame, Darryl set out on Saturday with Windy in tow and felt the relief of lockdown release, with everyone out and about and ready for some fun.

“Windy walks and barks and wiggles his body…the children love him; and the dogs don’t know what to make of him…their expressions are so funny

“He’s so cute…when I’m talking to people, he will just waggle his tail and wobble his bottom…he doesn’t eat much, and his poo bag stays ‘unused’.”

“Driving away from the Jetty this morning having had so many people make funny comments, take photos and see lots of people laughing, gives me such a good feeling inside.

“We then went up to Red-C restaurant; we had an old fellow in a wheelchair ringing his friends telling them about Windy…and a little child sitting down cuddling Windy while the parents filmed it…it was a lot of fun.”

Darrell, a resident at Coffs’ Royal Freemasons Retirement Village, has been a community volunteer for over 30 years, currently with CEX RSL Sub Branch.

His volunteering is now evolving into entertainment.

“My Retirement Village has asked me to entertain the elderly in the Care Centre and make them happy.”

Darrell and Windy are up for attending events; you can email him at DarrellGroth@outlook.com.

By Andrea FERRARI