The important issue of preparing for emergencies and disruptions isn’t the kind of subject that tends to gather much interest from the public until something actually happens to disrupt their local communities.

Despite regular exercising, training and warning the public, most tend to ignore messages put out by Falkirk Council to be ready in case the worst happens.

Two graduates based in Development Services (Miranda Wilson and Samantha McLaughlin) had the bright idea to use their own dogs to help highlight the importance of thinking ahead by capturing the public’s imagination with their adorable animals.

Miranda explained: “We were trying to prepare the public for any emergencies by using the Council’s social media channels to point them to relevant information. Unfortunately, it can be quite dry so to try and get the public to engage with what we were saying, it occurred to us to use pictures of cute dogs to grab their attention.”

Miranda’s black Labrador Suki (7 years) and Samantha’s Poochon Beau (2 years) were both willing to take part (after a little bribery with some treats) to be models alongside a few more dogs who volunteered for the task.

The dogs have been a hit already on Twitter with hundreds of followers liking and sharing their images.

Samantha said: “Getting people to click through and understand how they can be better prepared for an emergency ultimately makes our jobs easier.”

Keep an eye out for Beau, Suki and a few others later this year as the campaign continues.