Cariad, above, owned by Siobhan Louise Power, triumphed as the overall winner of an online dog competition organised by the Lost Dogs Dumfries and Galloway group.
The 15-week-old initially won the Best Pup class before going on to scoop the overall title, much to the delight of owner Siobhan, from Eastriggs, who said: “There was so many beautiful dogs entered and I was pleased for all the winners. When I noticed Cariad had won overall I didn’t know what to do or say as I was just in total shock. I would like to say thank you so much to all the judges and to Lee for all her hard work and to the prize sponsors.”
Highly commended was rough collie Orca, owned by Lynne Dickson, who was also second Best Boy; and there was a special prize for Luna, a rescue dog who won the Best Transformation category, and missed out on the top prize by just a point.
The competition comprised 14 categories and attracted 823 entries. Organiser Lee Herron was thrilled at the response from the region’s dog owners. She said: “I genuinely hoped we’d get a couple of entries in each category and if I was lucky maybe 100 entries – and I fully intended giving every entry a treat – how naive was I? The support blows me away all of the time, I’m genuinely speechless at all of this. To have 823 entries is incredible!”
Lee recruited an army of judges to help select the winners and the results were finally announced on social media on Sunday night. Thanking those who donated prizes and everyone involved, she said: “I, for one, am incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved together, and equally as sad that this is over. This has been one of the most uplifting things I’ve ever had the pleasure of organising and bringing together and for that I would like to say a personal thank you to each and every one of you who took the time to enter.
“Each and every single dog is beautiful and a worthy winner of a class and overall prize. They are all winners.
“We all have our favourites, there always something about a dog that gets us, and that is why we have such a great mix of winners.”
The competition also raised over £900 for the work of the group and Lee says every penny will go towards helping dogs in need.
