"Splash" the pup finds a forever home!

There's a chance that a female Collie dog found wandering in Ferbane may be the mother of eight collie pubs dumped in the Brosna River last week.

Michael Malone, litter warden with Offaly County Council, found a bag containing seven Collie pubs floating in 18 inches of water at Lismoyney Bridge on the Kilbeggan to Clara

Road last week, and rescued the one surviving pup that had managed to make its way to the river bank.

Michael has been taking care of the pup since and says the matter is now being investigated by the Dog Warden.

'The Dog Warden and Clara Pet Rescue are looking into it. They have to do DNA testing to see if it is the pup's mum, but the himself is doing great,' Michael told the Offaly Independent, adding that he and his wife Carol now intend to adopt the pup and give him a forever home.

'After you carried it in the paper, the story went to the Star, the Sun, TV3 and RTE. I understand that the local radio station had 300 calls from people willing to adopt the pup, but they've more chance of winning the lotto as I couldn't let him go after all that.

'We've had plenty of sleepless nights,' Michael admits. 'I thought when I had my children reared that I'd seen the last of bottle feeds,' he laughs.

And the pup has had a series of names, from Lucky, to Buster, and even Splash - because of the manner in which Michael found him.

'He was known as Lucky in the beginning, but one of my work colleagues suggested that he really should have been called Splash as he was dumped in the river, but my wife has settled on Buster. He's doing great, he's already getting cheeky and demanding his feeds, and in a couple of weeks we'll have him vaccinated and chipped. So it has all turned out well.'