From the 21,000 dogs who traveled to the NEC in Birmingham it was a foreign visitor, Dylan the Papillon, otherwise known as Multi Champion Planet Waves Forever Young Daydream Believers, who won Best in Show. The Papillon breed is know as the Butterfly dog due to their spectacular ear carriage.
The judge of the final was Dan Ericsson who thought Dylan epitomized the breed and created history as he was the first Papillon to win Best in Show at Crufts.
Dylan’s owner Kathleen Roosens was overwhelmed by her day: “We’ve been up since 5am this morning, but he just keeps going. I cannot grasp that we have won Best in Show just yet – I think I will be on cloud nine all week!”
The other six finalists were Gundog group winner Luther the Irish Water Spaniel, Dave the Boxer from the Working group, Pastoral winner Charleen the Samoyed, Mike the Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen (PBGV) won the Hound group with Eva the Scottish Terrier topping the Terriers, and the Utility group winner was Bearly the Shih Tzu.
From the other six finalists it was the son of another Crufts Best in Show winner, Mike the PBGV, Ch Soletrader Magic Mike. His mother Jilly won Best in Show at Crufts in 2013.