The Crufts Dog Show 2010 will be held from March 11 – March 14, 2010 at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham, England. http://www.crufts.org.uk/ The show is staged annually and was first staged in 1891 in the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, London.

Crufts has an estimated 28,000 dogs competing each year, of these 22,000 are from the pedigree varieties and eligible to win best of breed. http://www.crufts.org.uk/news/healthy-entries-dfs-crufts-2010 The 2010 show is estimating 160,000 human visitors will be in attendance, similar to 2009’s attendance. The show exhibits dogs from across the world. According to the Guinness World Records, the Crufts Dog Show is the largest Dog show in the world.

On Day 1 Thursday March 11 the working and pastoral dogs are exhibited and judged. http://www.crufts.org.uk/whats-on/day1 On Day 2, Friday March 12 the Terrier and Hound categories will be exhibited and judged. http://www.crufts.org.uk/whats-on/day2 On Day 3, Saturday March 13 it is the turn of the Toy Dogs and utility breeds to be exhibited and judged. http://www.crufts.org.uk/whats-on/day3 On the final day of the show, Day 4 Sunday March 14 the Gundogs and eventual best of show dog will be exhibited and judged. http://www.crufts.org.uk/whats-on/day4

This page will continue to be updated as the Crufts Dog Show proceeds. Additional information is available on the following web links – 1) Official website, http://www.crufts.org.uk/ 2) Facebook site, http://www.facebook.com/Crufts 3) Twitter stream, http://twitter.com/KCLovesDogs 4) Flickr Photography Gallery http://www.crufts.org.uk/interact/gallery

The inaugural Crufts Dog show was held at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, London in 1891. http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2006/03/cruft-man-that-never-owned-dog.html The show was named after Charles Cruft, who worked as the general manager for a leading dog biscuit manufacturer and traveled extensively around Europe in his work. Charles Cruft organized smaller show such as the “Great Terrier Show" but decided to go big with the first Crufts Dog Show in 1891. This first Crufts had between 2,000 and 2,500 entries.

The Crufts Dog Show remained in London until 1991 when it moved its home to the North and to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. That year just short of 23,000 dogs were exhibited. This has risen again since and in 2009 a total of 28,000 dogs were exhibited. A similar number are anticipated in 2010.

The breed winners of the last 12 years are:

• 2009 – Sealyham Terrier, Efbe's Hidalgo At Goodspice, Terrier
• 2008 – Giant Schnauzer, Jafrak Philippe Olivier, Working Dogs
• 2007 – Tibetan Terrier, Araki Fabulous Willy, Utility
• 2006 – Australian Shepherd, Caitland Isle Take A Chance, Pastoral
• 2005 – Norfolk Terrier, Cracknor Cause Celebre, Terrier
• 2004 – Whippet, Cobyco Call The Tune, Hound
• 2003 – Pekingese, Yankee A Dangerous Liaison, Toy Dogs
• 2002 – Poodle (Standard), Topscore Contradiction, Utility
• 2001 – Basenji, Jethard Cidevant, Hound
• 2000 – Kerry Blue Terrier, Torum's Scarf Michael, Terrier
• 1999 – Irish Setter, Caspians Intrepid, Gundog
• 1998 – Welsh Terrier, Saredon Forever Young, Terrier