A BOSTON terrier's unexpected success at the country's top dog show thrilled her stunned North-East owner.

Trish Donnelly was delighted when her six-month-old Boston bitch, Katie, qualified for Cruft's by winning her first dog show class last May.

Ten months on, she was ecstatic when Katie was judged top in the Junior Special Bitch category at Cruft's, at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.

Although she knew Katie was an accomplished performer, Ms Donnelly did not expect her to be selected ahead of the entries of more experienced Cruft's regulars.

"We were up against the top dogs from across the country and Ireland, and you just don't think you have a chance," she said.

"So, when the judge picked Katie I was shocked and dumbfounded. It was a very nice feeling. I suppose it shows it was done fairly.

"But, she deserves it. She's a nice dog, well bred and it's as if she knows now, she's like a little princess."

Ms Donnelly, a media sales representative for The Northern Echo and its sister paper, the Advertiser series, bought Katie from a Merseyside breeder at the age of only eight weeks.

Katie gets on famously with Ms Donnelly and partner, Denny Mitchell's older Boston, Beckham, a former Cruft's entrant.

The dogs are regularly exercised on old railway walks near the couple's home in the Deerness Valley, west of Durham.