Beagle Spike beats our Buddy to Emmerdale role

Buddy the Labrador has had his 15 seconds of fame – but he missed out in a competition on national daytime TV to land a role in hit soap Emmerdale.

Buddy, owned by Julie Hill, from Church Stretton, made the final three of the national Dog for the Dale competition and appeared with his owner yesterday on ITV's This Morning show.

The competition was launched in January to find a dog that would star in an upcoming episode of the long running soap.

Almost 600 dogs entered the race for Emmerdale and This Morning host Holly Willoughby called the three finalists 'magic mutts' for getting so far.

Unfortunately victory was snatched from Buddy's jaws as the public voted for Spike the Beagle. Mrs Hill thanked everyone for their support during the various rounds of voting and said Buddy would take the disappointment in his stride.

She said: "We had a brilliant day so I'm very happy. We got to meet Paddy from Emmerdale and I had my makeup done.

"I and the other owners had such a good time on set. We got to meet Holly and Phil (Schofield) who put his arm around me. Buddy was in seventh heaven.

"He got a bone from the show and munched through it on the way back to Shropshire from London."

Emmerdale chiefs say Spike the Beagle will now appear in an upcoming episode.

Mrs Hill added Buddy would soon be back in the limelight at this year's Crufts.

See also:

• Buddy to discover Emmerdale fate