The five-year-old is the star of the picture that won the Western Advocate’s Bathurst’s Best Buddies competition – but the photo almost wasn’t in the running.

That’s because it was entered with only minutes remaining before the competition cut-off.

Adam Ryan, whose nan owns the dog and who features in the winning picture with Shelby, said he was having a drink with co-workers on a Friday afternoon when he heard about the competition and impulsively entered his photo “10 to 15 minutes” before the cut-off.

“To begin with, I thought I had no chance. I thought I have got nothing here,” he said.

But the next thing he knew, his photo was in the top 40 and he was relying on public votes to be successful. “I tagged it and said to family and friends, ‘just go nuts’,” he said.

Mr Ryan said Shelby is comfortable around people, has a great temperament and enjoys the occasional indulgence.

“She loves eating ice-cream. She’ll eat it out of the bowl,” he said. “It’s unreal.”

The Western Advocate ran the competition with Century 21 Bathurst Region.

First prize was a $500 shopping voucher at Harvey Norman.​