A remarkable team of 39 rescue dogs will be showing their upper-class canine chums a move or two when they join together to present an agility display at Crufts.

The rescue dogs are being run around the agility ring by their owners and were rehomed from five of the UK’s largest animal welfare charities – Battersea Dogs’ Home, The Blue Cross, Dogs Trust, RSPCA and Wood Green Animal Shelters.

This is the fifth year that the charities have joined together to present an agility team at the world famous Crufts dog show, taking place at the Birmingham NEC from 4 – 7 March 2004.

Shauna Lowry, celebrity dog lover and star of animal TV programmes such as Animal Hospital comments:

“It’s incredible that so many of these dogs should display such enthusiasm and confidence considering that so many of them have had such an unfortunate start in life. Thanks to the charities’ care and the love of their new owners they are really able to start living and what better way to show how happy they are than a spin around the agility course?”

As in previous years, the rescue dog agility line-up features dogs who have triumphed over the most difficult of circumstances to become stars in their own right. These dogs include:
Pip, who came into Battersea Dogs’ Home as a badly beaten puppy
Oscar, taken into The Blue Cross after he was found in an abandoned car with no food and water and he’d lost most of his fur
Womble, abandoned as a puppy as he was deaf and taken into Dogs Trust
Sadie, dumped at the RSPCA as an unwanted puppy with her Mum and two littermates
Ben, brought into Wood Green Animal Shelters as he was left alone for most of the day
The rescue dog agility display is not competitive and aims to promote rescue dogs and show that they can rival any pedigree pet when it comes to enthusiasm and personality in the ring.

The display takes place in the Special Events Ring, Hall 3 at 10:35am, Saturday 6 March and 1:30pm, Sunday 7 March.