The past few days at the NEC in Birmingham has seen some of the most well-cared-for dogs in the world gathered together for Crufts.
The Kennel Club's annual dog show has been running for over a century, and winning the title of Best in Show is the crowning achievement of the career of any dog breeder.
This year, the supreme champion was a Wire-Haired Dachshund named Maisie — the delight on the face of owner Kim McCalmont is plain to see... even if Maisie seems supremely chilled out about the whole thing.
As fascinating as what happens in the arena, however, are all the other things which you often don't see: the nuts and bolts of getting thousands of dogs in and out of the arena, the hours spent waiting backstage and the efforts that go in to grooming and preening to make sure everything is perfect.
Those efforts deserve to go on the record, so we've picked out some of our favourite pictures from the weekend.
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England and the 1966 World Cup — which was stolen and later recovered by a dog called PicklesIn celebration of the footballing talents of Country Life's guest editor Sir David Beckham, we look back at the summer of 1966, when the England national team was on top of the world.
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The English bull terrier is mischief meets muscleFrom the 19th-century show rings to the homes of artists, royals and rock stars, the English bull terrier is one of our most original and loveable dogs.
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