The world's largest
dog show - Crufts

By Nicole Mackie

Buster, a springer spaniel, won this year's canine Hero award. Owner Danny Morgan is justly proud. Endal, seen here with owner Allen Parton, was also a nominee.

I left my home at 7:30am and drove down to the NEC, arriving at 8:30am, parking my car and catching the jam-packed bus over to the arena. As I walked around I almost thought I was in another country as English was only one of the languages heard as thousands of people came from many different countries, including our beautiful New Zealand.

The size of the place takes your breath away and knowing where to start and which hall to choose first is overwhelming. The NEC was packed with thousands of exhibitors, visitors and trades people. There were hundreds of trade stands selling just about everything for dogs that you could think of from books, accessories, dog food companies to kennels, runs and fencing. Many charities were represented such as assistance dogs, rescue centres and breed specific rescue centres - all looking for support from the public.

Discover Dogs took up part of one large hall and displayed hundreds of dog breeds. Many of the breeds were exotic and rare. There is a current trend towards these exotic breeds, while the once common British breeds are now declining at a rapid rate, placing them in danger of becoming extinct. These British breeds are dogs such as the Otter Hound, Welsh Cardigan Corgi, Sussex Spaniel, Manchester Terrier, Curly Coat Retriever and Bloodhounds to name just a few.

Best Hero dog of the year went to Buster, a Springer Spaniel owned by Danny Morgan. Buster is a sniffer dog and has sniffed out weapons in many war-torn countries including Iraq. He has won the PDSA Dickens medal award for Bravery.

Representing New Zealand in the junior handler competition was Betty Hanson's daughter. I did not get a chance to see any of our New Zealand visitors as the crowd was so big it was almost impossible to find people and very easy to get lost. At one stage I was lost in the crowd and it took about an hour to find my way back to the Labrador ring.

There were 576 entries in the Labrador breed, 264 dog entries and 312 bitch entries. Judging the dogs was Mr A G Taylor and judging the bitches was Mr R A Floyd. As usual it took most of the day for two judges to get through them all.

The dog challenge and best of breed again went to Sh.Ch.Tullochmohr Final Edition JW (Ace) and the bitch challenge went to a black bitch, Rewari Executive of Clanross. Both winning Labradors come from Scotland. As we all know Ace was Crufts' 2004 best of group winner which placed him in the best in show line up. He is a fantastic dog and very deserving of his winnings.

Best in Show went to a lovely little Norfolk Terrier bitch Am. Ch/Ch. Cracknor Cause Celebre and reserve best in show went to a very nice English setter dog Sh. Ch. Bournehouse Royal Colours.

Once the Labradors had finished I bought my own dogs some fleecy bedding and went on my way back home, very exhausted after the day's events and walking miles around all the exhibit halls.