Crufts 2023: Meet two of the Suffolk residents entering their dogs in this year's competition

Crufts, the world's largest dog show, will return this week with events taking place at The NEC in Birmingham from Thursday onwards.

Dozens of canines from across Suffolk are entered in the competitions, which include everything from obedience to agility and heelwork to music, with each owner crossing their fingers that they may come home with a rosette.

Here are two of the Suffolk residents and their dogs that are entering in this year's competition...

Melanie Davies, 55 of Pentlow near Sudbury, will be showing her family of three dogs in the contest.

Bernard, eight and a half, Florence, five, and their pup Burrito, who turned one in January, are Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers, and they're no strangers to competitions.

In fact, Bernard, who will be showing in the Veteran Dog Breed Class and will be part of the rally obedience display team which has two displays in the Kennel Club arena, has performed particularly well in a recent set of competitions.

"Bernard was a little star this year and he made breed history," said Melanie.

"Last summer there was a championship show in Paignton in Devon and he won Best Veteran in the Breed. Because he won Best Veteran in Breed he was allowed to go and compete alongside all the other gun dog veterans, and he won in the group.

"He is the first toller in the UK to have a win in the gun dog group which was really exciting," she added.

To train for the competitions, Melanie said she practices showing for around five to ten minutes a day where possible, alongside other training methods.

"They are gun dogs and they are very intelligent. They need lots of mental stimulation as well as exercise. They get bored quite easily if you do the same thing over and over again, so I tend to mix up their training a lot," she said.

"As well as showing I do agility with them and also a lot of core exercises. When I go out for a walk with them I've started to jog while on road or in long grass. It all helps keep them in shape."

Of their chances of winning in one of the competitions, Melanie said: "If you go to a show you always hope to win but if you go there thinking it it all about the rosettes you will end up having a bad day. It is about the experience of it all."

Yvette Dumont, 56 from Stanton, between Bury St Edmunds and Diss, is another handler showing two dogs in this year's event.

She has qualified with her miniature poodle Bianca, whom she bought from Sweden and is competing in the minor puppy category, as well as with her best friend Angela Gadenne's miniature poodle Chucky, who is 18 months.

It will be both dog's first time entering the competition, but Yvette has been several times before to show dogs in both agility and showing categories.

Yvette, who met her friend Angela through their canines, said: "We are best friends and we met through agility and our mutual interest in dogs.

"Then we lived next door to each other for a while in Colchester, before we decided to sell up both of our places and purchase a place between us in Stanton. Here we have space for all of our dogs."

Yvette said she is looking forward to the day, and added: "I will be really pleased if they do well."

Crufts begins on Thursday and runs until Sunday. You can watch Crufts on Channel 4 and More4 at different times throughout the day and you can check out main arena competitions on the Crufts Youtube channel.