Sawt Falasteen - UK's Crufts dog show opens with growing global appeal

More than 20,000 pooches of varying size, shape and personality will descend on Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre for the four-day showcase, with one claiming the coveted "Best in Show" crown late Sunday.

Widely regarded as the pinnacle for any canine and its owner, both have travelled in unprecedented numbers from around the world this year to come to heel on Crufts' famous green carpets.

"People dream every year to have this piece of paper and the rosetta... it's something very special," Italian breeder and handler Mattia Fasso, 29, told AFP.

"The atmosphere, the air that you breathe here, is different -- there is something magic about it," he added, comparing the annual competition to the quintessentially British tennis championships at Wimbledon.

Although this year sees entrants from as far away as New Zealand, Peru and Argentina, Britain's closest European neighbours make up the biggest slice of foreign competitors.

From a family that has bred Bernese Mountain dogs near Bologna in northern Italy for decades, Fasso has been coming to Crufts since the mid-2010s, witnessing its popularity grow internationally.

This year he has brought two Bernese, a Border Collie, a Pomeranian and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

"There are so many breeds... here in Crufts and generally in the UK, with a very high quality, so people (who) want to improve the quality of their breeds, their dogs, they have to come here."

- 'Big deal' -

Crufts, first organised by dog lover Charles Cruft in 1891 and now run by The Royal Kennel Club, is billed as "a celebration of everything we love about dogs and the people who care for them".

Last year for the first time, a dog from Italy won best in show, perhaps encouraging European entrants to try to repeat the feat at the 2026 edition.

It has attracted 4,299 overseas entries -- the highest in the event's history -- with France leading the international contingent with 538 dogs, according to The Kennel Club.

That is followed by Italy (436), Germany (425) and the Netherlands (353).

Handler Karin Schijff, 61, is among the Dutch contingent.

She made the ferry journey over to England with a fellow Dutch breeder friend and seven pooches between them -- three of them Swedish Vallhunds and four other hounds.

"It's a really big deal on the (European) mainland, if your dog is a Crufts qualifier," Schijff told AFP as she waited to show Ivy, a 22-month-old Swedish Vallhund, which were originally bred as cow herders in Sweden.

Schijff recently attended the Westminster Dog Show in New York but was left disappointed by its relatively smaller scale.

"I imagined it much bigger. It was a wonderful show... but you just can't compare them," she said.

Schijff puts Crufts growing international appeal down to easier travel with pets in the modern era, as well as "great" Kennel Club marketing and the many qualifiers it stages in many countries.

"Crufts presents itself really good. The green (carpets) and the facility is perfect."

L.Hussein--SF-PST