A PETERSFIELD dog trainer and her Labrador have won the best in class at the top UK dog show, Crufts.

Sarah Miles of Steep and her pedigree dog, Sault Samish of Meon Valley, or Teddy for short, were awarded the winners trophy in the Best Field Trial Dog class.

Judging is based, among other criteria, on a dog’s ability to recover dummy birds, how they work with their handler, their looks, build and character.

Sarah, who has worked with dogs all her life, said: “It was a very strong class at Crufts this year, with about 20 entries from the UK, America, and Europe.

“To get to Crufts, Teddy had to win a Field Trial class at show outside Crufts, which made him eligible to enter.

“To win it is huge thing, a really big honour and I’m very proud of him, and there has already been quite a few breeding enquiries from other owners, I think he’s going to be very busy, but have lots of fun.”

Although she trains Teddy, it was Sarah Burnell from Sheet who put him through his paces at Crufts, which is billed as the ‘greatest dog show on earth’ and ran from March 7 to March 10 this year.

Sarah Miles said: “I handle and train Teddy in all aspects of field work, but showing him is a different discipline to working outdoors in the field.

“So he recognises the difference, Sarah puts him through his paces at shows, and she did a fantastic job at Crufts.”

Always passionate about field work with dogs, Teddy’s owner recently started running dog training classes on Petersfield Heath.

She said: “The decision to own a dog can be exciting, and with the correct training a dog can be well-behaved, happy, and confident.

“All dog training is based on positive reinforcement and negative punishment, and an owner and their dog form a team, so not only do we train the dog, we also train the owner.”

For more information visit the website at: www.smilesdogtraining.co.uk or contact Sarah on 07768830937