Hungarian Vizsla 'Yogi' wins Crufts (From Times Series)

Hungarian Vizsla 'Yogi' wins Crufts

8:10am Monday 15th March 2010 in National News © Press Association 2011

A Hungarian Vizsla has taken the coveted title of Best in Show at the world famous Crufts dog show.

The seven-year-old, whose pet name is Yogi, beat off competition from six other prize dogs in Sunday night's culmination of the four-day show at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre (NEC).

Taking second place was a Scottish Terrier from Russia, whose pet name is Rico.

As wild applause from thousands of spectators greeted the dog, who is from Carlisle, Cumbria, his handler John Thirlwell said: "He is just such a wonderful dog, I am just pleased that he stood up to it."

Yogi, who won the Gundog group earlier in the evening, is the first Hungarian Vizsla to win Best in Show at Crufts and Mr Thirlwell said he is likely to retire now.

The Kennel Club said almost 22,000 dogs across 187 breeds were entered into this year's Best in Show competition.

They had been whittled down in their individual categories during the four-day contest to just seven competitors - one from each group - who battled it out on Sunday night. The Best in Show prize has been awarded for the past 79 years, with 40 breeds winning the coveted title over the years.

Thousands of dog-lovers packed the arena to cheer on the finalists. They refused to be distracted by a protester, who was escorted from the crowd as she held up a banner and started shouting during the tense moment of judging, and instead masked it with a round of applause.

At the start of this year's event protesters from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) claimed breeders were "creating a Frankenstein's monster of a dog".

The canine showcase was broadcast on More4 this year after the BBC - which began screening Crufts in 1966 - announced it was dropping its coverage in December 2008. The decision followed a BBC documentary claiming Crufts allowed damaging breeding practices that caused disease and deformities.