Express & Star

Date for Crufts return to the West Midlands is revealed

The date has been set for the country's biggest and most popular dog show to return to the region.

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Gundog winner Baxer was named Best in Show in 2022 at Crufts

The Kennel Club has announced that Crufts will be taking place between March 9 and 12, 2023 at the NEC in Birmingham, with a range of events and exhibitions on display for people to enjoy.

There will be competitions such as The Kennel Club Hero Dog award and the Best in Show and, for the first time since 2020, the Junior Warrant final on Thursday, March 9 and the Joe Cartledge Memorial International Junior Handling competition on Friday, March 10.

Other competitions taking place at Resorts World Arena include competitions for agility and breeding, with novices, large and vulnerable breeds all competing.

The event will help to mark the 150th anniversary of the Kennel Club and mark a full return for the show after two years of cancellation and a scaled-back show in 2022.

Vanessa McAlpine, education and events executive, said: “We are very excited to be bringing Crufts back in its entirety this year, something we haven’t been able to do since pre-Covid.

"With many of the popular events back on the programme and the new one-off competition celebrating The Kennel Club’s 150th anniversary, we look forward to it being one of the best shows yet, celebrating our dog heroes and what they have meant to us over the last few years.”

New also for 2023, the Bavarian Mountain Hound will have their own class, and as has taken place over the last few years, special permission has been given to Crufts for the award of Reserve Best in Show to be given out immediately prior to the award of Best in Show.

Crufts schedules and entries will be open online from November 14 with admission tickets going on sale on the same day.

Entry fees and admission tickets prices will remain unchanged from the 2022 show.

To view an online version of the schedule or to enter a dog (which must have qualified) in the show, go to crufts.org.uk/entries after November 14.