Over 21,000 dogs compete for top Crufts prize

London: More than 21,000 dogs converged on Birmingham, Britain's second biggest city on Thursday, at the start of the Crufts dog show.

They will all be competing for the coveted top prize, the Best in Show, which will be decided on Sunday. 

Meanwhile, other rosettes will be awarded for winning dogs in various groups and more than 200 separate breeds, Xinhua reported.

With more dogs than ever from overseas descending on the NEC at Birmingham, the world's greatest dog show Crufts will be even more international this year.

A total of 3,623 dogs from 48 countries will be competing at Crufts this year, an increase of over four percent over 2017. The overseas including entries for the first time from Bahrain, Kazakstan and Peru.

Leading the canine friendly 'foreign invasion' with more entries than any other overseas country is France with 462 dogs, followed closely by Italy (411), the Netherlands (334), Germany (319) and Russia (297).

Last year, a record attendance of over 162,000 people attended the event, and this year there will be dogs from 200 breeds seeking top honours.

The breed with the highest number of entries are the 519 golden retrievers, followed by 414 whippets, 390 border collies, 341 Staffordshire bull terriers and 304 Cavalier King Charles spaniels.

Crufts chairman Gerald King said: "The fact that people travel far and wide to enter this prestigious event proves that it really is the world's greatest dog show."