12:50pm Thursday 11th March 2010
By Emily Roberts
IT’S the canine competition of the year, and two pooches from north Hampshire have been thoroughly pampered and prepared for the big event.
Crufts – the dog show Olympics – starts today, and for Rachael Meakin, the day will be a completely new experience.
The 41-year-old accountant, from Overton, will parade her Pyrenean Mountain dog for the first time at the NEC in Birmingham, having never taken part in the competition before.
Having always owned dogs, Mrs Meakin and her husband Paul have only recently entered their pets into shows, but this year decided 21-month-old Noah was a winning breed.
She said: “We have done really well because it’s unusual to get through as quickly as we did.
“We hade never shown dogs in our lives but we put him in a show last year and he did really well and it encouraged us to carry on.”
The couple, who live in Papermakers, had a call from Noah’s breeder last year to tell them that three out of five of the puppies in the litter had qualified for Crufts, so they decided to enter their own dog.
He will now have to impress the judging panel for the Kennel Club Good Citizen award and the Yearling category, which is based on age and experience of the animal.
The event will be a nervous day for the couple, but less so for Frances Adams and her winning dog Honeybeech The Welshman.
The 58-year-old from Handel Close, Brighton Hill, Basingstoke, has been showing dogs in the competition for 40 years, and is hoping that her Italian Greyhound will come away with another rosette.
He is in the Limit Dog category and needs one more certificate to become a champion, having won awards from two separate judges in previous years. Miss Adams said: “It’s nice to be in competition and if I’m breeding a litter I go to dog shows to make sure I keep the standards high and breed the best.”
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