Portly pooch Barmy piled on so many pounds her hair fell out and she looked more like a pig than a beagle when she was spotted at a rescue centre.

The greedy couch potato was the subject of sniggers when Jo Watkins and her partner Owen visited the Battersea Dogs Home in London seeking the perfect pet.

The couple travelled to the home where a computer tries to pinpoint the perfect match for the dog and human family.

A first trawl among the centre's inmates for the perfect pooch proved a failure until Barmy came up on the register and the couple asked to meet the bulging beagle.

Jo, of Albion Hill, Brighton, said: "We weren't really sure what sort of dog we wanted but they have this computer matching system.

"We didn't see her the first time round and we looked at some dogs but we weren't sure. We went through the computer again and a beagle came up.

"They were sniggering and we didn't know why. We asked to see her and this little monster waddled in. She could hardly walk. She looked more like a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig."

To make matters worse, Barmy's coat was thin and her speckled skin showed through, adding to her porcine appearance.

But Jo, who has a three-month-old baby called Fred, said: "I saw her and thought 'oh dear'. It's not really fair to keep a dog like that and she needed to get into shape."

The couple took her home and then to the Coastway vet in Kemp Town, Brighton, for a check-up.

A weigh-in revealed Barmy, named after a comic character in a PG Wodehouse book, tipped the scales at 3.5st, almost double the weight the five-year-old should be.

She also had a thyroid problem, which exacerbated her weight complications.

Vet Guy Liebenberg advised Jo to switch Barmy to a low-fat, high-fibre diet food and to adopt a gentle exercise programme in a weight-shedding regime.

Jo, 30, who is taking time out from her work with a charity to spend time with baby and dog, said: "When we first got her she would eat anything.

"Now when she is fed she will have carrot, banana and a diet food. She is also walked three times a day."

At the start of her slimming regime, a short walk would take Barmy half an hour but since April last year, she has regained her fitness and shed 2st to bring her down to a target weight of 1.5st.

Jo said: "She is so much happier. She can jump up on the sofa now on her own. She has built up some muscle. She is such a lovely dog and Fred loves her."

Barmy's success at beating the bulge has earned her a position as a finalist in the annual Hills Pet Slimmer of the Year 2002 competition, being held at a hotel in Maidstone today.

She will take to the catwalk with dozens of other pets to bid for the title of slimmer of the year.

Barmy will be entering the South-East regional finals of the pet slimming contest tonight, where she could win £200 of holiday vouchers for her owners and a free supply of Hills pet food for six months.

She would then go forward to the national finals with a first prize of £2,000 of holiday vouchers and free pet food for a year.