Will Curraghboy's Faith be Ireland's best loved dog?

A dog who was adopted from the Athlone Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) could become Ireland's best loved dog after being named as one of the eight finalists in the nationwide competition. Geraldine Doran, who lives just outside Curraghboy, told the Westmeath Independent this week she adopted collie Faith from the ASPCA last year and entered the competition in a bid to raise awareness about rescue dogs. Geraldine explained that Faith had a skin infection and was missing her front teeth when they adopted her and as well as having scars, she was afraid of noises and the sight of sticks scared her. Faith has vastly improved since then and now has a glossy coat and is extremely content. Geraldine said: "The best thing we ever did was rescuing her. She's fantastic, she's a placid and happy dog." In fact Faith has such a good temperament that she has managed to calm down Geraldine's other dog, Harry. In a message to the ASPCA, Geraldine said: "Thank you all for the great work you do and thank you for giving us Faith, she is a joy to us and we love her to bits." Geraldine entered the competition, which is being run to coincide with World Animal Week, running from October 4 to 10, after hearing about it on the radio. She said the competition gave her the opportunity to tell everyone what Faith means to them, but also it gave her the chance to highlight that Faith is a rescue dog and hopefully encourage other people to adopt rescue dogs. "The main reason we did it was to encourage people to adopt rescue dogs like Faith, just have a look at the websites and see the dogs," she said. "She's a fantastic pet, we couldn't be without her." Voting remains open until tomorrow and you can vote for Faith at www.worldanimalweek/rte.ie. The winner will be announced on Friday.