30th August 2006

Cast Your Vote For The UK's Top Dog

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The regional final of this year's RSPCA Dog of the Year competition is upon us - the UK's largest national show exclusively for rescue dogs, both crossbreeds and pedigrees, of all ages, shapes and sizes.

For the first time ever, you can vote online for your favourite four-legged heat winner in each of the RSPCA's five geographical regions - North, East, South East, South and South West, and Wales and West - by simply logging onto www.rspca.org.uk/doty from Wednesday 6 September until Sunday 15 October.

You can view photos of all the heat winners in each region, read their heartbreaking stories about how they came to be rescued and rehomed with new loving owners, and decide which dogs you think most deserve to go through to the final. You can vote for one dog in each region.

The five dogs with the most votes will then battle it out in the grand final which will run exclusively in the Sunday Express newspaper in October, with readers voting for the dog they most want to be crowned the UK's RSPCA Dog of the Year.

As well as starring in the Sunday Express the overall winning dog will get to star on the front cover of leading, glossy canine magazine Dogs Today.

And if this isn't enough of a reward for the top dog, the lucky mutt will also receive a trophy, rosette, lots of doggies treats and have a new RSPCA Perfect Pet character designed after him or her. RSPCA Perfect Pets are a group of irresistible rescue animals designed to educate children about the responsibility of pet ownership, without having the responsibility of owning a real animal. The animals are available in all good toy stores as soft toys and also feature on a wider range of merchandise including storybooks, clothes, stationery, sticker albums, badges and inflatables. The design of the winning dog may even be selected to become one of the new toys in the range, or feature on the merchandise.

RSPCA director general, Jackie Ballard, said, "With over 19,000 dogs rehomed from the Society's rescue centres each year, RSPCA Dog of the Year is a great opportunity for dogs who were once unwanted to steel the limelight and show just what fun and loving pets rescue dogs can make."