LOCAL dancing dog Magic was runner-up for the third time at Crufts – although she nearly didn't compete at all.
Mel Ely, owner of Klever K9s dog trainers in Grimsby, got back from Crufts and told how friend Lydia Urquhart-Smith snatched a second place from the jaws of defeat.
Magic, who was once a runner-up in Britain's Got Talent, took the prize in the Young Kennel Club's Heelwork to Music Freestyle category – for the third time.
However, barely an hour before, a strange noise spooked her so much that teenager Lydia, 17, of Immingham, thought she wouldn't even be able to compete. Mel said: "She was crawling around on her belly trying to get out of the place – we thought she wouldn't be going on at all.
"Magic wasn't looking happy but Lydia calmed her down and played games with her for about an hour and was able to come on.
"To get second in those circumstances was a real achievement – particularly if you had seen her an hour before.
"It goes to show, you work hard all year for this but they're not robots so things can still go wrong – and we wouldn't want them to be."
Keep checking your Telegraph and here on www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk for more Crufts news.
Telegraph reporter Laura Stuart-Cook is judging at Crufts this year - read her first blog here - http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/Jodie-Kidd-Victoria-Pendleton-celebs-flocking/story-18346813-detail/story.html
A second will appear tonight after she has finished her judging duties.
Mel Ely, owner of Klever K9s dog trainers in Grimsby, got back from Crufts and told how friend Lydia Urquhart-Smith snatched a second place from the jaws of defeat.
Magic, who was once a runner-up in Britain's Got Talent, took the prize in the Young Kennel Club's Heelwork to Music Freestyle category – for the third time.
However, barely an hour before, a strange noise spooked her so much that teenager Lydia, 17, of Immingham, thought she wouldn't even be able to compete. Mel said: "She was crawling around on her belly trying to get out of the place – we thought she wouldn't be going on at all.
"Magic wasn't looking happy but Lydia calmed her down and played games with her for about an hour and was able to come on.
"To get second in those circumstances was a real achievement – particularly if you had seen her an hour before.
"It goes to show, you work hard all year for this but they're not robots so things can still go wrong – and we wouldn't want them to be."
Keep checking your Telegraph and here on www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk for more Crufts news.
Telegraph reporter Laura Stuart-Cook is judging at Crufts this year - read her first blog here - http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/Jodie-Kidd-Victoria-Pendleton-celebs-flocking/story-18346813-detail/story.html
A second will appear tonight after she has finished her judging duties.
