Teen delighted to win Crufts trophy

An Ashford teenager swapped the classroom for the show arena with great success at the weekend.

Lauren Atkinson, 14, from Kingsnorth, and her 20-monthold Italian greyhound bitch Myla recorded an unexpected victory at Crufts, one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious dog shows.

Last Friday, during their first year competing at the show at the NEC in Birmingham, Lauren and Myla came first in the Good Citizen Dog (GCD) class and were also reserve in the yearling class in tough competitions that included top breeders from the UK and abroad.

Lauren – a year 10 pupil at Ashford’s Highworth Grammar School – and Myla qualified for Crufts 2017 from the Three Counties Championship Show held last June in Malvern, Worcestershire, where they came second in both the puppy-bitch and juniorbitch classes.

Lauren said of her Crufts victory: “I was really pleased, especially with the GCD result as we were up against a champion dog. Myla was a bit confused at first but seemed very proud afterwards.”

It was back to Highworth on Monday for Lauren, who added: “My friends and the staff seemed very pleased for me, especially as they didn’t know much about Crufts before this.”

Proud mum Vera said: “Myla was bought as a family pet when she was just a puppy.

“We’d been looking at this particular breed and Myla has a good bloodline and the breeder said she was of show quality.

“Myla and Lauren showed last Friday in the toy group.

“What happened was quite an achievement and we are really proud.”

Dad Roy said: “You need a good bonding between the owner and the dog, and Lauren and Myla had put a lot of training into this and it has certainly paid off. They’ve have been going to Ringcraft classes in Mersham regularly. We’re really delighted for both of them.”

Lauren Atkinson and her dog Myla celebrate success at Crufts after being closely appraised by the competition judges