SADDLEWORTH is home to a champion from Crufts – and Ronnie is the star.
For the Delph dog is officially an award winner from the world’s biggest event after showing his ability and obedience.
The six-year-old cross breed walked away with the level three award after making the Northern Rally Team at the Inter-Regional Championship.
And owner Samantha Bentley could not hide her pride at her beloved pet, who defeated competitors from around the country.
It also shows how far he has come in five years.
Samatha told Saddleworth Independent: “We’re set a series of obstacles we have to complete – the highest mark you can get is 210 and we got 203. I was chuffed.
“In obedience rally, we’re together and the dog has to follow the owner’s commands and stay with them through a series of manoeuvres.
“I also walk away from him and get him to come to me, there are all sorts of different obstacles too.
“We’ve worked our way through levels one and two, now we compete at three or four but the highest level is six, that’s what we’re aiming for.
“We rescued Ronnie in 2019 and my daughter Gemma Woolley suggested we started doing training with him.
“He had a bad start in life and could not trust anyone and was afraid of everything.
“But my daughter has a club in Shaw and said, ‘Why not start coming to do some training with him?’ We started and he’s not looked back.
“We also did mindful walking with him in groups. We’d go to the pub once a month for socialisation and to get him used to other people and animals.
“But he was pretty damn good when he was walking around Crufts.”
Ronnie actually scored same points as the South East and East Anglia competitor, Sidney.
But because he completed the course quicker, in one minute 35.87 seconds compared to one minute 36 seconds, he came out on top.
Now he is basking in glory – well actually, he is back to being a normal pet and competing the latest of Ronnie’s Rambles, which sees him walk 80 miles over the course of March to raise money for armed forces charity Help For Heroes.
His owner, however, is still getting over the experience after being part of the team that came third in the overall competition.
Samantha, whose daughter owns Simply Animals Dog training and Sports Club, added: “It was an unimaginable dream. We were absolutely over the moon that we were picked and we did a lot of training ahead of arriving at Crufts.
“It was quite overwhelming for me. He took it in his stride!
“We were in one of the biggest halls, so I took him for a walk around it so he could get used to the atmosphere.
“He was fine, I was like, ‘Wow, all this noise.’ But when you’re in action, you don’t hear it. It’s there but because you’re concentrating, it disappears.
“Now Ronnie’s asking for a massage every night!
“But he’s just a normal, everyday dog – he has, however, been given a new Tuggie after Crufts and the award is on the wall at home so everyone can see it.”
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