Writes Ciaran Dineen
Carrigaline’s Chloe Smith and her pet pooch Ralph are gearing up for Ireland’s animal version of the famous, Rose Of Tralee. Ralph, who is a 6 month old Miniature Schnauzer, is representing the ‘Rebel’ county this year for the competition and her loving owner Chloe is hoping that the people of Cork can get behind her furry friend.
The Nose of Tralee is Ireland’s largest pet competition that is open to all types of pets. 2019 is the 6th year of the competition and each year more and more people from all over Ireland take part in a bid to win the title.
It is a fun competition to celebrate the love that people have for their animals. The competition is run by Pet Sitters Ireland, and this year’s sponsors are Tesco, Pet Connection and David McAuley Photography.
Selfie time: Chloe pictured with Ralph
People enter with a photo of their pet, along with a written entry about why they think they deserve to win the competition! There’s then a public vote which narrows the pets down to the semi-finalists (three from each county). The judges then deliberate and choose one pet from each county to go through to the finals, where the end vote is down to the public on who’s crowned.
Speaking to The Carrigdhoun Newspaper and looking forward to the competition Chloe said, “I am a big animal lover and have become very compassionate from studying animal care for 2 years, and entered my pup into this competition for some fun, to show the country how adorable he is! We got Ralph in April, and he’s been an amazing addition to our family since we recently lost our other dog Prince, a Yorkshire Terrier after 14 years. We are always stopped while out walking by people admiring Ralph, and when he sees people walking towards us he automatically sits down waiting for the attention!”
Public voting runs until the 21stof August and you can vote every 24 hours, with the winner being announced on August 27th. Chloe would love for Ralph to be crowned the Nose of Tralee 2019, as she said it “would be great to bring the title home to Carrigaline!”
You can vote for the Cork entry by going to www.noseoftralee.com. Good luck Chloe and Ralph.
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