The world’s most famous dog show is to welcome a Colchester crossbreed to its semi-finals next spring.

Louise Jacobs, who takes her ten-year-old Lhasa Apso Bichon Frise crossbreed to competitions across the country, will be taking her dog to Crufts, the world-renowned dog competition, in March 2022.

Crufts is a dog competition steeped in history, having first been held at the Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington in 1891.

Louise Jacobs’ dog, Teddy Bear, qualified for Crufts after a successful outing to a competition called Scruffts, which is exclusively for crossbreed dogs.

The competition took place on Saturday and Sunday at the ExCeL exhibition and convention centre in London.

After being named the Golden Oldie at the weekend, Teddy Bear has now qualified for the semi-finals of Crufts in four months’ time, which will be open to dogs of all breeds.

Owner Louise Jacobs was understandably thrilled about the achievement.

She said: “It was actually Teddy Bear’s birthday weekend, so it was a great way to celebrate.

“We attend Crufts yearly to fundraise for German Shepherd Rescue Elite (GSRE), but we can’t wait to be there to take part in the Crufts semi-final.”

Judging at the competition was the dog enthusiast Fifi Robertson Geldof (daughter of Bob Geldof) as well as the esteemed dog judge Gerald King, the chairman of Crufts Dog Show.

Both Geldof and King judged the dogs on their character, health, personality, as well as their temperament with people and other dogs.

The three other categories where dogs were awarded prizes were the most handsome crossbreed dog, the prettiest crossbreed bitch, and the good citizen dog scheme.

Each winner received various freebies from the official Scruffts sponsor and dog food supplier James Wellbeloved.

Lucy Williams, marketing manager for James Wellbeloved said: “Congratulations to our four brilliant semi-finalists who have all qualified to Crufts next year.

“It was a fantastic weekend at Discover Dogs at ExCeL London and we were impressed by all the entrants who took part.

“James Wellbeloved is very proud to exclusively support Scruffts and we’re looking forward to seeing how our semi-finalists progress.”