South Scotland SNP MSP Emma Harper and her border collie Maya have triumphed in the first Holyrood dog of the year contest.

The four-year-old female rescue dog beat tough competition from 14 other contenders to be named Scotland's top political pooch.

Second place went to Conservative MSP Bill Bowman and Dogs Trust rescue dog Astra while the SNP's Richard Lochhead and his dog Cinder picked up third prize.

Green MSP Mark Ruskell and his greyhound Bert came top of the pack in the public vote.

Winner Maya's top personality traits were listed as "happy", "friendly" and "good at fetching balls".

Maya had pledged to liberate "all dogs from shelters and let them paddle in the water in front of parliament" if she became First Minister.

Harper said the competition was "a lot of fun" but also had a serious point in highlighting dog welfare issues.

She said: "I didn't really expect it because there are so many other great dogs that have been entered.

"We just decided to bring Maya along and enter her into the competition because I wanted to highlight a lot of the work I've been doing around animal welfare and best practice for getting a puppy.

"We had a parliament debate last December, we had puppies in parliament to highlight the puppy trafficking business that seems to be prevalent across not only Scotland but the UK, industrial-sized farms where animal welfare might be questionable.

"My idea was to highlight that so that we can educate people about the best way to get a dog. We want people to make sure that they're going to get a dog in the best way possible from a reputable breeder."

The event at the Scottish Parliament, organised by the Kennel Club and the Dogs Trust, follows a long-running annual competition at Westminster and is designed to raise awareness of pet charities and issues such as puppy trafficking and responsible ownership.

Scottish politicians took a break from the general election campaign trail to put their pets through their paces on a dog agility course, complete with tunnel and jumps.

They also faced a grilling from a panel of judges including Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, Dogs Trust chief executive Adrian Burder and Bill Lambert from the Kennel Club.

Mr Lambert said: "We had a lot of members here with their dogs and what was fantastic was to see the vast range of dogs and the different relationships those people have with their dogs.

"We were looking for two things: enthusiasm for dogs and for the relationship between the dogs and the owner, but also their enthusiasm for dog-related issues, and I think that's where our winner came from.

"She has such enthusiasm, she's very aware of dog-related issues, she's very aware about responsible breeding, about responsible dog ownership, and she's someone I think will really will push these issues ahead in Scotland."

Contestants included SNP MSP Tom Arthur's pug Mi-Mi, who he said had "successfully negotiated designated doggy space in the middle of the bed"; Tory MSP Douglas Ross and his Dalmatian Murphy, who is "living every doggy moment to the full" despite having a terminal disease, and Green MSP Andy Wightman's border collie Coire, who has climbed 54 Munros with the politician.