There were celebrations in the Manx canine world after success at Crufts for a number of the island’s entrants.

Voirrey Horne, along with a contingent from Ramsey Dog Club, found success at the world’s largest dog show held at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre earlier this month.

In addition, a proud owner from Ballasalla added to her dog’s already impressive best of breed trophy tally.

And Busy Bee dog training entered a number of dogs into the new ’Rally’ discipline at the show.

Voirrey and her one-year-old border collie Isla stepped up to the mark, taking the Graduate Obedience award at the event which was attended by 22,000 dogs.

The Kennel Club organised event was the 126th, running for four days and attracting entrants from across the world as well as thousands of visitors.

Voirrey, who is 24 and lives in Peel, said she was delighted with Isla’s performance.

’It’s absolutely amazing to win. I wasn’t expecting that today,’ she said.

’Since qualifiying in August, we have pretty much trained every day.

’Isla is a little dream. She just wants to work all day, every day and she just wants to please.’

She added her whole Crufts experience had been one that will live long in the memory and a celebration is planned to mark the success.

Debbie Martin, of Busy Bee, said: ’We had a tremendously successful trip with all three dogs being placed in the first ever inter-regional rally competition.’

Rally uses a pre-set course with exercise stations and instructions for what the dog has to do at each. As they progress, the tasks get more complex and test how well and owner and dog work as a team.

At Crufts, Debbie with her terrier/Austrian shepherd dog cross breed, Fred scored a third place at level five; Karen Westcott and border collie Maddie, from Port St Mary scored a third place at level six; and Carol Lewin and border collie Ash, from Colby scored a second place at level four.

The Isle of Man, as part of the Northern Ireland team, scored joint fifth overall in the competition. Virginia Dowty’s Bolognese dog, Otti, also added to his winning track record. She said: ’He went on to have a fantastic Crufts winning Best of Breed out of an entry of 60 dogs in the breed, and then on to St Patrick’s Day two-day International show where he was best of breed and also won the Champion Stakes.’