A North East dog lover is celebrating an “out of this world” feat after she won 'Best Groomer in Show' at Crufts.
Hannah Rooney, 35, from Middlesbrough, earned the accolade with her Wire Fox Terrier Frank, making her the first winner of the award in Cruft's history.
On winning the prize, she said: “They called reserve 'Best Groomer in Show' out first, who is a very good friend to mine. Then they called my name out, I just couldn’t believe it.
“I think I’ve cried for two days for it.”
She also won the 'Handstrip Champions' class she was competing in.
Hand stripping, which Hannah called a “dying art”, is the process of manually removing the dead outer coat of wire-haired dogs rather than cutting it with scissors or clippers.
She said: “I was over the moon to make the top three. Then to be called the winner in the main arena was so emotional.”
Alongside grooming, Hannah also breeds and shows Boston Terriers and Wire Fox Terriers.
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She started commercial grooming four years ago but has only been grooming competitively for 16 months.
“Some people have been doing it for decades,” she explained.
“I am currently England's leading competitive hand stripper in competitive grooming and am on course to be on Groom Team England at the next World Championships.”
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