A SMALL County Durham dog training club will be mixing with the big boys at Crufts next year.

Barnard Castle dog training club has qualified for the national finals of the flyball championships.

The game involves a relay team of four dogs leaping over hurdles before collecting a ball and returning over the obstacles to the start.

The Barney Bullets, as the club's team call themselves, lined up in one of four heats throughout the country and were delighted to reach the final at Crufts next March.

They will compete against 15 teams in the televised finals.

Mandy Bainbridge, whose sheepdog Pip is in the team, said: "The teams down south can have 40 or 50 dogs doing flyball and they can pick their fastest four. But at Barnard Castle, we have only got five that will do it, and a few that are learning, so it is a pretty good achievement."

The Barney Bullets will be training under the watchful eye of Aileen Clarke and have a few ideas on how to prepare for the Crufts atmosphere.

"Somebody suggested we take the dogs to Darlington railway station in the rush hour, because that's the nearest we can get to the atmosphere," said Mandy.