IN the second part of our series of special reports from the world’s most famous dog show, correspondent Marisa Spurgeon follows the fortunes of a North-East team who have achieved great success before.

“Friday at Crufts is Inter Regional Obedience competition day.

“Seven teams from around the UK select handlers from their area to compete in the five obedience classes from beginners up to ‘test C’.

“This year’s Northern team included Maureen Conlin and Vino (a black GSD) from Haswell, Rachael Young and Guess (Red tri merle Working Sheepdog) from Shotton Colliery and Donna Surtees with Nora (Beardie) from Roker.

“So how did our handlers do?

“First into the ring to work was Vino. Such is the bond he has with Maureen that although he didn’t look completely settled, he gamely stuck to the task and completed all the exercises – showing how well he has been taught – finishing with a lovely game of tug on his lead as a reward afterwards.

“Donna and Nora worked beautifully, Nora got stronger as the round went on and looked very happy and stylish. There were lots of smiley faces looking on in the audience, you can’t help but love her enthusiasm.

“Unfortunately, in the scent exercise, a rather exuberant Nora galloped up and down the row of cloths twice before returning with the wrong one.

“Such a pity as the rest of her work was lovely and Donna will undoubtedly take a lot of consolation from that.

“Guess and Rachael had lovely heelwork and an accurate sendaway, although Guess needed two commands to go down at the back marker. Sadly he didn’t like the judge’s retrieve article, being hesitant to pick it up, holding it gingerly by the edge and then dropping it in front of Rachael.

“This proved expensive as the rest of the round was pretty competitive up until then.

“However, once all the dogs had worked such had been the strength across the whole team that the Northern Team sailed through to take first place.

"A well-deserved win with lots of positives for the future too.”   

l See The Northern Echo on Monday for the final part of our Crufts special and a round-up from the weekend.