Lulu is Offaly's Puppy of the Year 2021

Petmania Tullamore and competition partner’s BETA, have named Lulu the 2021 Offaly Puppy of the Year.

Beating off ruff competition Lulu came out top dog ahead of a talented pack of local pooches including a golden retriever named Thor; Ruger, an English springer spaniel; Toby, a Cairn terrier; Luna the cocker spaniel; and Brody, the labrador.

Lulu was nominated by the public vote to represent the county but was pipped at the post for the national title which went to Orca Gurney, a male 21 week old Great Dane from Sligo.

The 2021 Puppy of the year competition received a massive 26,500 votes, of which, 1,309 votes came from Offaly for Lulu Kearns. Each of the top six puppies in the county received a qualifier’s rosette and a gift from the competition partner, BETA.

Pet parent, Laura Kearns said: "For the past two years, I saved all of my spare lunch money and babysitting money to buy the puppy of my dreams! Lulu is just a bundle of joy who loves to have some mischievous fun."

Shane McLoughlin, manager with Petmania Tullamore said: “We are delighted to have Lulu Kearns represent the store and county this year. Although they missed out on the overall title, we couldn’t be more proud to have them as our county finalist. Congratulations!”

The overall winner Orca Gurney was chosen by a panel of experts and received prizes worth over €1,500.

Petmania is Ireland’s largest pet retailer with 13 stores nationwide. The Irish owned pet experts have launched the Pet Care Advice Centre a free resource for pet parents and a special Puppy Club for new puppy owners to get timely information on all of puppy’s milestones in its first year. For more information see: www.petmania.ie / @PetmaniaIreland