Reporter's notebook: At the Olympics for dogs, there's nothing but 'applaws'

The silver and black fluff balls with curled-up feathery tails, almond-shaped eyes and narrow, fox-like pointed muzzles were named Bumblebee and Aurora after the robot characters in the Transformers franchise.

The two Keeshonds, a German breed believed to be descended from ancient Arctic dogs, sat side-by-side on a small table inviting admiring glances as dogs of every shape and size wandered past.

Some were in leg warmers, colorful coats or being pushed in buggies.

Nearby, Maverick, a six-year-old German shepherd, burst into a short run, realized he was not in a park, spun in a circle, stuck out his tongue, then carried on with his "heel work to music" routine, which involved high-fiving his trainer's abdomen to the tune of "Still Loving You," a power ballad by the German hard rock band Scorpions.

Bumblebee, Aurora, and Maverick were among 25,000 dogs from 50 countries who, though Sunday, will take part in the Cruft's dog show, billed by the organizers as the world's largest event of its kind. It sees dogs from miniature Schnauzers to Chow Chows, take part in a variety of challenges including agility and jumping.

The event culminates in the Best in Show 2024 trophy, awarded on Sunday night.

"She's won quite a lot already as a young puppy," said Liam Day, the trainer of April, a long-coated Chihuahua who exuded focus and unteachable big-dog attitude as she waited to compete in a "toy" dog event Thursday.

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Dogs.

They're weird and funny and diverting. They play wonderful and serious and even political roles in our lives. They act as salves. They can sniff out medical problems. They can be gross and heroic − often at the same time.

Sometimes they have jobs. Serious ones, such as guide dogs for the visually impaired or as therapy pets to help people reduce their anxieties. They help fight crime and terrorism.

They have silly ones, too, as mascots or as the butt of social media memes and jokes.

They appear in movies.

Messi, a 7-year-old blue-eyed Border Collie, for example, has impressed critics and audiences with his performance as Snoop in the Oscar-nominated film "Anatomy of a Fall."

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Of the past 46 U.S. presidents, 31 have had at least one dog at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave − The White House − according to a book by Andrew Hager, All-American Dogs: A History of Presidential Pets from Every Era.

Commander, President Joe Biden's German shepherd, was recently removed from the White House for repeatedly biting secret service agents. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had his dog, a Jack Russell-cross named Dilyn, neutered because of what Johnson described as the dog-cad's "romantic urges."

Dilyn, Johnson revealed, kept trying to hump visiting officials and diplomats to No. 10 Downing Street.

Crufts: The largest but not oldest dog show

Still, while Cruft's may be our planet's largest dog show, it's not the oldest.

That title belongs to an event that took place in 1859 in Newcastle, England, when about 50 gun dogs, mostly Setters and Pointers, featured in a side event at an annual cattle show.

Charles Cruft, a traveling salesman who later worked as general manager for a manufacturing company that made dog toys and biscuits, did not put on his first dog show, in Islington, England, before 1891.

The event started with 2,437 entries and 36 breeds, according to the U.K.'s Kennel Club. It now has over 200.

The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, which takes place annually in New York City, was established in 1877.

About 3,500 dogs compete at Westminster, which hold its 148th event in May.

More than a dog show

Today, Crufts isn't just a dog show, according to Bill Lambert, a veteran dog breeder and spokesman for the U.K.'s Kennel Club, which organizes the event that takes place each year in Birmingham, England, at the National Exhibition Center, a vast cavernous space where many of the U.K.'s biggest shows and conventions are held.

"At the center of Crufts, there is a dog show," he said.

It's an event, in other words, where pedigree dogs are scrutinized against exacting breed standards.

"But it's also about everything that goes along with owning a dog. Everything that you could see you or want to buy for a dog. There's advice on training and behavior. It's much more of an educational event than a dog show. The dog show drives it, but it's really about this relationship that people have with their dogs," he said.

In fact, Crufts is more like an Olympics for dogs crossed with a shopping opportunity.

Lambert said Crufts was the largest consumer event in the British Isles.

It's not hard to see why.

In this year's official program, 158 exhibitors are listed.

Perhaps to be expected, there's plenty of stalls selling bouji organic dog food and "green" poo bags.

However, there's also more arcane and mysterious offerings such as pet-hair-dissolving products, fur-boosting gels, specialist "grippy" leashes, dog life jackets, dog jewelry, bones that even the most "aggressive" chewers won't ever break (goes the sales pitch). There's also plush-textured spa towels for dogs, companies that can turn your dog photos into dog oil paintings, a firm that can capture your dog's profile and make it into a metal wall ornament. There's dog therapy services, AI-powered dog insurance plans, even an accountancy service aimed at dog owners. For the dapper dog walker there's plenty of tweed caps and country-style rain slickers.

Yannic Oberer, a Crufts first-timer from Bern, Switzerland, where he works as a refrigeration engineer when he's not training the Transformer-inspired Bumblebee and Aurora, said the whole show was well, "wow."

"It's really well organized, but really it's the shopping that's so very impressive," he said.

Charlie Pissavy traveled to Crufts from his home in the south of France with his dog Teddy, a Cavalier King Charles, who placed third in an event Thursday. "Teddy likes coming to this show," said Pissavy, a nurse.

"He gets to sleep on the bed in the hotel."

Russian dogs banned

In the past, Crufts has been a kind of gauge for what's happening in the world.

It's pitted traditionalists versus modernists, the former a little uneasy initially with the idea of the "heel work to music" category that Maverick competed in, and which Lambert described as "dancing with dogs."

For the last few years Crufts has banned Russian dogs and their owners because of the war in Ukraine. If Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas has registered this year, there were no obvious signs of that on Thursday.

In one hall, Irene Sheyko, a Ukrainian-born fashioner designer, had set up a replica Ukrainian apartment as part of an initiative she called Forever Lida, named after her grandmother who died in a Russian missile strike in Mariupol, a once-vibrant city in Ukraine's southeast that has been decimated by the war.

The apartment, Sheyko said, was meant to show a "peaceful house" in Ukraine to illustrate for those who have never been to Ukraine or are not overly familiar with the country how the war has impacted everyday life.

She also collects pet food for homeless pets in Ukraine, which was why she was at Crufts.

"Last year I was here with just two tables and a flag. This year, I wanted to bring attention to Ukrainian crafts and products," she said, further explaining her idea for the apartment, which featured a variety of handicrafts: small, hand-painted plates, bracelets, scarves and screen prints with animal faces on them.

When a reporter mentioned that over the course of multiple trips to Ukraine over the last few years he noticed that Ukrainians, at least in the capital Kyiv, appeared to have a soft spot for Corgis, a herding dog from Wales that was a favorite of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Sheyko said Dobermans were also quite popular in Ukraine.

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Sheyko said she grew up with dogs but now has three cats.

According to some reports, despite being a salesman-turned-showman who created the world's biggest dog-related exhibition, Charles Cruft never owned a dog. He had a cat, a tabby named Tiddley.

He even tried to launch, in 1984, the "Cruft’s Great International Cat Show." It didn't work out.

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