MORE than 7,000 pedigrees made an appearance at one of the UK’s largest dog shows today.

The three day Darlington Dog Show opened at Ripon Racecourse in North Yorkshire, where hundreds of animals were judged. The show is one of the qualifying shows for Crufts and usually attracts 190 different breeds of dogs.

Today hounds, terriers and utility groups were judged, which included dogs from pharaoh hounds to miniature schnauzers and dalmatians. This year one new breed was added to the contest, with Jack Russells making a first appearance at the show.

Christine Dawson, from Colne, near Skipton, the owner of a pharaoh hound, whose pet name is Olly, said: “We come every year here and join people from all over the country for this show.”

John Jones brought his whippets to the show, including one, Gracie, he brought with him for a friend.

John, from North Wales, said: “It’s quite a busy day if you’re into this, which a lot of people are.”

Jason Dobson, from Sedgefield, near Durham and his daughter, Rebecca, were showing three miniature schnauzers in the contest. Rebecca recently won North-East Handler of the Year for utility dogs and two weeks ago they won Best Champion Miniature Schnauzer. One of their dogs, whose pet name is Ellie, has already qualified for Crufts.

The family have been keeping schnauzers for over 20 years.

Tomorrow working and pastoral dogs will be judged and on Sunday gun dogs and toy dog groups will be judged. Each of the seven groups will generate one winner, from which best in show will be chosen on Sunday.

Chairwoman Sarah Allsopp said they had 7,200 dogs in this year’s show, which is 200 more than last year.

She said Friday’s rain hadn’t affected the show.

“The weather hasn’t put a dampener on it at all,” she said.

“We have people from all over the country for the show and we’re very resilient people – we have everything from a pair of wellingtons to a pair of sunglasses packed. If we get nice weather it’s an added extra bonus.”

The show was formerly held in Darlington, but in 2005 moved to the grounds of Newby Hall, near Ripon, when renovation work took place in Darlington’s South Park. To accommodate its growing size, in 2013 it was relocated again to Ripon Racecourse to celebrate its 45th year.