A Ross-on-Wye dog owner experienced a full-circle moment when she won Best of Breed with Siberian Husky Nellie at Crufts.

Herefordshire’s Helen Taylor-Morris, 38, showed her husky’s grandmother Solar in 2012 at the prestigious dog show and scaled new heights more than a decade later.

Nellie wowed the judges at the NEC Birmingham to hold off stiff competition and qualify for the Best in Group showpiece on the famous green carpet.

She said: “We’ve brought three dogs with us so it’s a tiring day but Nellie loves to show, she’s very calm and loves her job.

“At home she’s also a working sled dog so she runs in my sled dog team and we do quite a lot together.

“It’s been amazing here this week, we did this in 2012 with her great-grandmother so we’ve been through it before and we knew what was coming.

“It’s the big entry, you’re coming up against different dogs from other countries.

“I’ve always loved dogs since I was a child and have been showing Siberian Huskies and German Pointers for 25 years now.”

Taylor-Morris and Nellie were unable to go all the way and book their place in Sunday night’s Best in Show finale but still enjoyed a day to remember at the world’s biggest dog show.

Solihull local hero and dog-showing star Melanie Raymond grabbed glory – and admitted the nerves ‘melted away’ when she stepped onto the green carpet with Australian Shepherd Viking.

The 46-year-old, who lives fewer than five miles away from the NEC in Birmingham, trumped more than 18,000 showing dogs who competed across four spectacular days in the Midlands.

Three-year-old Viking was awarded the dog show’s top honour by judge Ann Ingram after prevailing over every canine in the Pastoral Group on Saturday.

Pressure was mounting on one of the pre-event favourites, co-owned by Raymond, John Shaw and Kerry Kirtley, but the winning handler insisted he kept his cool to come out on top.

She said: “It’s amazing, pinch me, it’s one of those things as a handler, breeder, owner, that we all want to win and so many people don’t get to win it – it’s fabulous.

“This has been the toughest Crufts ever, everyone was backing him and rooting for him so it was tough.

“I’ve got bags under my eyes, I’ve had very many sleepless nights.

“Once you get in the ring, it goes, it’s the build-up that’s the scary bit but once you’re in there, everything melts away and I love showing. You have that energy between you and you can’t describe it.

Crufts is named after its founder Charles Cruft. In 1876, a he left college with no desire to join the family jewellery business. Instead he took employment with James Spratt who had set up a new venture in Holborn, London selling 'dog cakes'.

Charles Cruft was ambitious and a relatively short apprenticeship as an office boy led to a promotion to travelling salesman and travelling to Europe where he helped organisethe canine section of the Paris Exhibition.

Back in England in 1886 he took up the management of the Allied Terrier Club Show at the Royal Aquarium, Westminster. It was in 1891 that the first Cruft's show was booked into the Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington and it has evolved and grown ever since.

Crufts, run by The Kennel Club, is a unique celebration of happy, healthy dogs and of the loving relationship that they enjoy with their owners. Crufts was held from 7-10 March 2024 at the NEC Birmingham. Viewers can catch up with highlights on Channel 4, and for further information visit: http://crufts.org.uk