Foreign dogs, dirty tricks mar Britain's top canine show Crufts

Growing competition from foreign-owned dogs, including dogs from parts of Asia, has sparked concern that not everyone may be playing fair at Britain's Crufts - the world's biggest and oldest canine show.

First held in 1891, the competition this year runs until today in the central English city of Birmingham and involves almost 22,000 dogs. Almost 3,000 of them are from abroad - three times more than six years ago.

The lifting of the six-month quarantine in 2001 imposed on dogs and cats coming into Britain opened the doors to more foreign contenders. France leads the pack this year with 377 dogs.

But just as human immigration is a concern for voters ahead of Britain's general election in May, the mix of foreign dogs - from places as far afield as South Korea, Malaysia, Argentina and Bermuda - has not been universally welcomed at Crufts.

Disgruntled breeders have complained that judges are encouraged to hand awards to foreign entrants to keep up the lucrative international interest in the competition.

"A lot of people are unhappy about the way in which foreign dogs are judged," one breeder told The Daily Telegraph last week.

The show's organisers, the Kennel Club, are "interested in making money, not in pedigree dogs," the critic who wished to remain anonymous said.