back with a bark
Crufts start date and final revealed as country’s top dogs take to Channel 4
Clare Balding once revealed she thought she was a dog after spending so much time around the animals
THE Crufts start date has been unveiled by Channel 4 with the UK's top dogs set to face off once again.
The annual contest is broadcast by the network with animal lover Clare Balding taking the reigns to cover the event.
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Clare has presented coverage of the event for 20 years, beginning on the BBC in 2004 before it moved to Channel 4 in 2013.
Now, it has been revealed that Crufts will kick off once again on Thursday 7th March.
The annual contest will run for four days before coming to a conclusion on Sunday 10th March.
Clare last co-hosted with Sophie Morgan and Blue Peter star Radzi Chinyanganya.
Over four days, the dogs will compete and be ranked according to seven different categories.
The categories include Gundog, Working dog, Pastoral, Terriers, Hounds, Toy dogs, Utility as well as the overall prize of Best In Show.
The contest will return to Channel 4 despite some calls to axe the competition after some viewers branded it ‘grotesque and unethical’.
Animal charity PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) slammed the 188-year-old competition saying it "is a pageant for unhealthy dogs who are often plagued by agonising hereditary diseases after generations of inbreeding".
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PETA for Channel 4 CEO, Alex Mahon, to follow in the BBC's footsteps and refuse to air the program.
"The RSPCA refuses to attend the show, and no one who cares about dogs should celebrate this grotesque charade – nor should it be given a platform on British TV," the petition read.
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Last year, Orca the Lagotto Romagnolo scooped Best in Show at Crufts 2023, making history as the first of its breed to win the award.
One of Orca's owners, Ante Lucin, said: "This is the first lagotto romagnolo to win at Crufts, so this is so great for the breed."
The Best In Show competition is hugely popular and has been running since 1928.
Host Clare once famously said she spent so much time around dogs as a child she started to believe she was one.
She told the Wine Times podcast: “I did think I was a dog because I was left with the dogs quite a lot.
“I may have genuinely believed that Candy, our boxer, was my mother.
“I used to write letters that were ostensibly to my parents but really were for my dogs.”
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