17-year-old Luca Gombos captured the adorable picture above of his pup, Lia, while on holiday with his family, landing him a prize in this year’s Dog Photographer of the Year competition.

Every year the Kennel Club honours dog photographers from all over the globe by awarding prizes in 10 categories, from ‘Mans Best Friend’, to ‘I Love Dogs Because…’

Business Insider put together 20 of the winning pictures, and we chose our favourite 13 for you, because every Monday needs a puppy to make it more bearable.

Enjoy.

The overall winner of this year’s competition was taken by Denise Czichocki of Switzerland. It’s titled ‘Dreaming Merlin’:

I can’t help feeling like the above pic would have been even better if that Jack Russel was wearing a cap. I mean, look at this:

That’s not a picture from the competition but it might as well be. The cuteness is off the charts.

Just between you and me, you can get one of these doggy baseball caps (or one in every colour) by visiting the Pet Culture website. Puppers need protection from the sun, too.

Right, back to the winning photos:

Like any good fur parent, you probably looked at some of the above pics and quickly came to the conclusion that your pooch outshines the competition, which is why we’re giving you the chance to prove it.

2oceansvibe and Pet Culture are giving you the chance to win some incredible prizes and, more importantly, bragging rights as the owner of the coolest pet in South Africa.

Each week, we will select ONE CAT and ONE DOG as a finalist from your entries, to be announced at midday on Fridays. The overall winners will be announced on December 13, 2019.

You can head on over to the 2oceansvibe Instagram account to see who is in the running so far.

Follow this link, then follow the instructions, and you could win a R1 500 voucher to spend at Pet Culture.

That’s a lot of adorable doggy hats to up your puppy’s fashion game.

You already know that your pet is a winner. It’s time to let the rest of the country in on that fact as well.

[source:businessinsider]