MSPs collie takes the lead in Holyrood dog show
A SNP politician’s border collie Maya has been crowned the winner of the first-ever Holyrood dog of the year contest.
Emma Harper's collie was named Scotland's top political pooch
MSP Emma Harper’s four-year-old rescue dog beat tough competition from 14 other contenders to be named Scotland’s top political pooch.
Second place went to Conservative MSP Bill Bowman’s pet Astra, also a rescue dog, while the SNP’s Richard Lochhead’s dog Cinder picked up third prize.
Maya is a four-year-old rescue dog
Green MSP Mark Ruskell and his greyhound Bert came top of the pack in the public vote.
Ms Harper said the competition was “a lot of fun” but also had a serious point in highlighting dog welfare issues.
Tory MSP Douglas Ross's Dalmatian Murphy
She said: “We just decided to bring Maya along and enter her into the competition because I wanted to highlight a lot of the work I’ve been doing around animal welfare and best practice for getting a puppy.”
The politicians put their pets through their paces on a dog agility course, complete with tunnel and jumps.
Ruth Davidson's dog, Wilson
They also faced a grilling from a panel of judges including Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, Dogs Trust chief executive Adrian Burder and Bill Lambert from the Kennel Club.