Birkie the dog's best friend is certainly not the man, or woman, who threw him beaten and starving out of a moving car when he was three months old.

But the cross greyhound's faith in humans has been restored by the PDSA and a North-east couple who have nursed him back to health.

That care, combined with his own will to live, helped him win the title of Scotland's Pet Survivor of the Year yesterday.

Birkie was found with multiple injuries. He was also starving and vets held out little hope for him.

He was taken to the PDSA's hospital in Aberdeen, where staff lavished care on him. One nurse, Cathy Pucknell, even took him home to give him the extra care he required and to help him adjust to normal contact with humans.

After his plight was reported in a newspaper, Val and Harry Kinghorn offered him a home with them in Aberdeenshire.

Now Birkie - the word for lively or spirited in Scots - has been transformed into a boisterous happy dog for whom the highlight of each day is a visit to Newburgh beach to chase the waves.

''He is a dog with attitude,'' said Mrs Kinghorn, a retired teacher, ''and I think that is what helped him survive. But he is also a very sensitve dog and that must have made what he has gone through even worse.''

The PDSA-Frontline award is run by the charity and Frontline, makers of flea and tick protection.

Birkie now goes forward to the UK final in September when he will compete against two dogs, two cats, a rabbit, a tortoise and a goat.