Crufts 2024: Batley dog training group sees over 30 dogs placed at prestigious competition

The dogs who trained at Soothill Ringcraft club, on Soothill Lane in Batley, included several first places and a reserved Best Dog at the show last weekend.

Ruth Copping, dog trainer at the club, said: “We train the dogs for showing, helping them improve their standing, letting the judge examine them and to be able to go to Crufts in the first place.

"All breeds are different – we try and get them to be able to show their dog at the best of its ability.

"Most dogs we trained got a place at Crufts.”

Ruth said the best part about being a dog trainer was “watching puppies that you’ve bred go on to win at Crufts or be somebody’s loved family pet”.

Valley, an Estrela Mountain Dog whose owners Keil Winder and Phoebe Daly attend Soothill Ringcraft Club, won reserved Best Dog. This is judged on criteria related to the breed standard, set by the Kennel Club.

Other participants from the Batley club were Dean Hobson’s Parson Russell Terriers – Ziggy and Nettle – and Louise Gregson’s Lhasa Apso, Lexi.

Crufts was set up by Charles Cruft in 1891. The competition is organised by the Kennel Club and runs across four days at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, where dog owners compete in a range of competitions and show off their dogs’ skills to thousands of spectators.