Crufts 2020: Can you name these unusual dog breeds?
Dog lovers rejoice! Crufts, the world’s biggest celebration of man’s best friend, returns this weekend.
But do you know your bearded collie from your border collie? How about your Norwich terrier from your Norfolk terrier, or the difference between fox terrier and fox hound?
Crufts showcases all 222 of the country’s dog breeds, and four-legged fans can meet them all at the Discover Dogs area of the show; but how many of the more unusual breeds would you recognise?
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Test your pooch knowledge and see if you can identify these unusual breeds:
Can you name this breed, which will be competing at Crufts for the first time this year?
A: It’s the Barbet. This French waterdog is competing for the silver Best in Show trophy for the first time in 2020.
Do you recognise this breed, cousins to one of the second most successful at the prestigious Best in Show?
A: Meet the Irish red and white setter, a vulnerable native breed in the UK with less than 300 pups registered a year. Its more famous and popular cousin, the Irish setter, has along with the standard poodle and Welsh terrier, won Best in Show the most times after the number one Cocker Spaniel.
Can you name this breed? While cute and fluffy, this breed is one of the most closely related to the wolf.
A: Shih tzu. The Mandarin phrase 'shih tzu' translates to ‘little lion’ and the breed was officially recognised in the 1940s.
Which breed is this – now considered rarer than the giant panda?
A: Meet the dandie dinmont terrier, another vulnerable native breed named after a character created by Sir Walter Scott in his novel Guy Mannering.
Do you recognise this breed, famously owned by the founder of Crufts, Charles Cruft himself?
A: This is a Saint Bernard. There was no favourability though from the eponymous showman who founded Crufts in 1891 - no Saint Bernard won best in Show until Burtonswood Bossy Boots triumphed in 1974.
Can you name this breed – one of the rarest in the UK and showing at Crufts?
A: It’s an otterhound, a breed which are at risk of dying out in the UK. They can still be seen at Crufts, though, so keep an eye out.
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This is the Crufts Best in Show Champion from 2012. But what breed is she?
A: This is Lhasa Apso, Zentarr Elizabeth. Unusual names are a thing of tradition at Crufts.
Do you recognise this breed, a star of the show in 1948?
A: This is a Leonberger. In the first year the show ran after the Second World War, a Leonberger which had been spotted in Austria during the war by an English soldier passing by in a tank exhibited at Crufts.
Rumour has it the soldier bought the dog for 10 bars of soap from its owner, a farmer, who couldn’t feed it anymore.
Name this breed – of Welsh heritage, it won Best in Show at Crufts for the first time in 2009?
A: It’s a Sealyham Terrier. This is another vulnerable native breed, with less than 300 registrations per year of these pups.
Can you name this breed, which will be at Crufts for the first time this year?
A: It’s the black and tan coonhound. Crufts showed this newly recognised breed for the first time in 2019.
Around 27,000 dogs will head to the NEC in Birmingham from March 5 to 8. For further information and tickets, click here.
