An image of a goofy looking guard dog has been crowned the winner of the Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photography Awards.
The picture, which shows a dog named Noodles with his tongue hanging out in front of a sign reading “Guard dog on duty”, was selected by judges as the winner of the competition which aims to celebrate the positive impact pets can have on their owners’ lives.
Noodles’ owner Elke Vogelsang, who wins a £3,000 prize for taking the picture, said: “It’s wonderful to be associated with something that makes people happy.
Ms Vogelsang, from Hildesheim in Germany, rescued Noodles from a kill shelter in Spain and said she would donate part of her prize to an animal rescue cause.
“The diagnosis was a severe brain haemorrhage due to a ruptured aneurysm,” she said. “If it hadn’t been for the dogs, I would have found him too late.
Among the other winners were Edinburgh’s Malgorzata Russell, who triumphed in the Cat category with her photo of Basil peeking under a fence, and Magdalena Strakova, whose picture of three horses, called Gossip Girls, won the Mighty Horse category.
The competition, now in its second year, raises money for the Blue Cross Pet Charity and also aims to raise awareness of homeless pets in the UK.
