Crufts 2024: Best In Show awarded to Australian Shepherd

Released: 11:48 PM UTC, March 10th, 2024 | Revised: 05:05 AM UTC, March 11th, 2024

The champion who won last year belonged to a different area in Europe. However, the current Best in Show winner at Crufts is from a nearby locality.

Even though a group of demonstrators entered the venue where the competition was taking place, Viking, an Australian Shepherd from Solihull, managed to win the top prize at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

Mel Raymond, who is a co-owner, cried while sharing with Claire Balding, the host, that winning the title of Best in Show is a dream for all of them.

In the blog, Ms. Raymond described the Viking, who is three years old, as a humorous and playful dog. She shared that the Viking likes to act like a mountain goat and makes her laugh by sitting on a chair while wagging its bum.

The victorious dog in the competition was Viking, who bested the beloved Jack Russell Terrier named Zen. The runner-up in the Best in Show category had a particularly noteworthy journey to get to the championship event: flying from all the way in Japan, which took approximately 14 hours or involved covering a distance of 5,900 miles.

The Australian Shepherd named Viking won a prize at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. The owner, Mel Raymond, and Viking had journeyed from Solihull which is only six miles away.

Australian Shepherd named 'Viking' emerged as the champion of Crufts on Sunday and proudly posed with the coveted trophy.

Viking stood out on the Crufts stage and was awarded the title of Best in Show.

Australian Shepherds are a breed of herding dogs that are incredibly smart and full of energy. These dogs require both physical and mental stimulation to stay healthy and happy. That could be one reason why Viking performed so well at Crufts, as he is only the second Australian Shepherd to ever attain the top dog position at this prestigious event.

Viking has achieved victory as a gun dog, replacing Orca who won the championship last year. This is significant because Orca was the first lagotto romagnolo to win the prize at the distinguished event. Viking, who is four years old, endured a long journey of 25 hours from Rijeka in Western Croatia to attend the globally recognized dog show.

At the exhibition, there was a total of 220 dog breeds. One of them was an Afghan hound, whose identical-looking owner was primping it before it was to be evaluated.

It wasn't only the canines who were competing at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham.

There was a competition between the beloved pets of singer-songwriters Chris Amoo and Sting. The lead vocalist of the band Police, and his wife Trudie Styler, entered one of their nine Irish Wolfhounds, named Creena Atticus Finch at Dukesarum, into the contest. However, they were not able to win the Irish Wolfhound Limit Dog class. That honor went to Amoo's Sade Melchior, who came in first place.

Last year, Amoo, who is 71 years old, made it to the final round with popular Irish Wolfhound, Paris.

In 1987, a senior citizen who was 70 years old got the title of Best in Show with an Afghan hound as a winning dog.

Before the last day of the Crufts dog show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, central England, a person groomed an Afghan hound in preparation for judging. This took place on March 10, 2024.