Doggies vie for Brandy portrait!

A border collie from County Galway, a cockapoo from Belfast and cross breeds from Dublin and Killarney are all ‘in the picture’ to have their portrait on thousands of dog food packs across Ireland as part of a competition run by Brandy, the country’s biggest home grown dog food brand.

The four dogs have been chosen from hundreds of entries to represent Connaught, Ulster, Leinster and Munster in the overall final in a bid to be named Face of Brandy 2016.

The overall winner will star on selected packs of Brandy Dog Food for three months with all four finalists winning a dedicated photoshoot with their prize pet, a printed photo in presentation box and, of course, a supply of Brandy Dog Food. The four finalists are as follows:

Connaught
‘Super friendly’ Daisy lives with owner Sarah Adams and her partner Christopher in the town of Gort in south Galway. Sarah received Daisy as a pup when her next door neighbour’s dog had a litter. Now she is an invaluable member of the family, along with the couple’s other dogs – two staffordshire bull terriers called Honey and Trigger. She loves playing with her ball and her favourite game is fetch. Her best trick is ‘paw’ for which she is always rewarded with a special treat or two. She travels to work with Sarah every day and loves sitting in the front seat of the car. She takes pride in her appearance too as she loves being groomed and is very partial to a neck scarf.

Leinster
Lurcher Nutmeg was rescued by owner Hannah Ridgeway from the Dogs Trust in March this year and now lives in Drumcondra, Dublin, with Hannah and her partner John. She is loveable, friendly and loves people and kids. She’s gentle, mischievous and funny and as soon as the doorbell rings she runs to grab her Frisbee and greet the guest at the front door. She’s a typical pup who wants to play all the time and loves to go exploring before returning home to crash out together. Running and cuddles are the top things that she enjoys and the only time she ever barks is when she’s hungry. She absolutely loves her food, especially chicken and fish… and Brandy of course!

Ulster
‘Dream’ dog Jess, a cockapoo from north Belfast, was a Christmas present for seven year old Zac Gibson last December and since her arrival has become a very important member of the family. So much so that when the Zac’s parents Joanne and Darren read about the on-pack Brandy competition, they had no hesitation entering Jess. She loves cuddles, hates the rain and her favourite toy is an elephant that she’s had since the first day she arrived. She also loves the bath and would stay in there all day if she could – but she goes crazy at the hairdryer and it usually takes two people to get her dried afterwards. Unlike most puppies, Jess hasn’t chewed everything in the house but she’s still very mischievous and loves to steal underwear and socks off the radiator.

Munster
Family dog Buddy from Killarney in County Kerry is a Jack Russell cross breed and the only male in the final four. Owner Jackie Toner says that Buddy is now a bone-a-fido member of the family which also consists of daughters Margaret, Fiona, Shannon and Grainne, and two more dogs Sam and Lucy. He loves the kids, even if they can be a little rough with him sometimes. When he was just six weeks old, they were playing with him in their arms and dropped him, and he twisted his paw – but he hasn’t let that get the better of him and he does everything that an able bodied dog would do. Buddy is a very placid, friendly dog and loves getting loads of kisses and cuddles.

Gwen Rafferty, Sales and Marketing Manager for Brandy owner Mackle Petfoods, congratulated all dogs on reaching the final.

“It was a very difficult process for our judging panel to pick winners from the hundreds of entries we received but we’re delighted with the four provincial finalists that we’ve chosen and we wish them lots of luck in the all-Ireland final,” said Gwen.

“Now more than ever, owners view their dogs as key members of the family and this really came across in our competition entries. With this in mind, they obviously want to feed their dogs the best food that they can which is where Brandy comes in, offering high quality, 100 per cent Irish meat at a great value price,” she added.

Which canine champion will fetch the all-Ireland Face of Brandy 2016 title is due to be announced in November.

Brandy is uniquely made by Mackle Petfoods using only 100 per cent Irish meat sourced from across the Island of Ireland, all traceable from farm to bowl.

Mackle Petfoods, an independent family-owned and managed business in County Armagh, was formed in 1971 and now has over 40 years’ experience working within the pet food industry. Brandy has grown from strength to strength during this time and remains the number one Irish-made dog food brand on the island of Ireland.

Brandy is available in a range of pack sizes and varieties as well as in a dry dog food option. More information is available on www.facebook.com/brandydogfood or www.macklepetfoods.com/brandy/.