Crufts 2023: Meet the North Kirklees dog owners and their adorable pooches taking part in the prestigious Kennel Club competition

The national contest organised by The Kennel Club is running at the NEC in Birmingham until Sunday March 12.

And among the many entrants, three pooches from North Kirklees are bidding to be the pick of the litter in their specific show sections.

Haley Reynolds, from Batley, is a seasoned Crufts competitor and is return to the 2023 competition with her Pharaoh Hounds, Chase, aged two, and Sienna, four.

The three will compete in their breed category as well as feature on the Discover Dogs Stand today and tomorrow (Friday March 10) showcasing their breed.

Haley has been competing in Crufts for seven years with Pharaoh Hounds, after adopting her first Wilson, in 2015.

She said: “My very first time showing at Crufts was in 2016 with Wilson and he won a first in his class.

"I eventually made him into a champion in 2019 being my first show dog – a massive achievement in itself,” she said.

Sadly Wison passed away in 2020.

Haley, who works at Tesco in Batley, was appointed chairperson of the Pharaoh Hound Club in 2019, a longstanding organization that had been active since 1968.

Speaking about her current dogs, Haley said: “Sienna came to me from a breeder in Norway in 2019. My husband and I went to meet her at four weeks old and fell in love.

"Then Chase came to me from the same breeder in October 2020 and both are doing well at showing.”

Another seasoned competitor heading back to the prestigious competition is Sharon Mckinnon, from Cleckheaton, and her five-year-old Australian Shepard, Chance, who will compete in his breed category tomorrow.

Chance will also take part in the Good Citizens scheme, a dog training programme by The Kennel Club, that will take place throughout this weekend.

Sharon, who works in a sweet shop in Cleckheaton, started showing Chance when he was six months old, where he qualified for his first Crufts.

Unfortunately, Sharon was diagnosed with arthritis in her hips just before the pandemic lockdown in 2019, making it difficult to train Chance.

Sharon said: “Lockdown hit the world so training him was hard as there wasn't anywhere to go and of course I still had to work through it all.”

Despite the pain, the dog-lover persisted and continued to train Chance at Wakefield Dog Training Club.

"Chance would bark for attention in the ring and try jumping up when I tried to move him but after a lot of hard work and liver training paste he finally started to listen to me and behave himself.

"I’m proud as we got through it all.”

Sharon added: “I'm not expecting to win anything but if he behaves and does as he is told I will be very happy as we have a big entry of 183 Aussies this year and a lot of nice dogs from here and abroad.”

Crufts 2023 is available to watch online via Crufts’ Youtube channel.