Okehampton dog whisperer Lauren Langman and her dog have retained their title as reigning champion in the Crufts singles — small category for a second year.

Lauren and working cocker spaniel, Blink, stunned crowds at the world-famous dog show to win the singles agility competition, repeating their 2020 success.

Lauren said: ‘[Blink] did really well. She had steak that evening. She’s eight-years-old now so every time I run with her is a privilege because it does take its toll. She was not wanted as a gun dog and I rescued her. She’s not had the easiest start [in life] and she has had some knee operations.

‘[The show] is a big deal. There were 20,000 plus dogs there this year and Crufts isn’t just a show anyone can just rock up at. There’s a whole qualification process and it’s always a big event.

‘It’s a little nerve-wracking but at the same time it’s quite exciting. It is a lot of stress for a dog though and a bit of a difference from being on a farm in Okehampton.’

This is just the latest achievement in the partnership’s long history of success. Alongside the pair’s singles agility award, they won the Crufts championship agility in 2020 and have also represented Great Britain at world championship level on numerous occasions.

They have also competed at Olympia, the Kennel Club’s agility dog show.

Yet, the pair have experienced some disappointment. They were unable to defend their 2020 agility championship title this year coming fifth instead.

‘The hardest thing is finding motivation when you’ve lost,’ said Lauren.

In fact, Lauren admitted finding time and motivation to start training for competitions since the covid lockdowns had been particularly hard.

‘In some ways, [the lockdown] was really nice as it gave everyone a bit of a breather.

‘It’s actually quite hard to fit it back in again to compete at the top level. You have to put in a lot of effort and our energies have been really split,’ she said.

Lauren is also a highly experienced dog trainer in her own right. Together with her partner, she runs Devon Dogs, a dog training business, based in Okehampton, and helped develop Absolute Dogs, a dog training programme that focuses on training poorly-behhaved dogs through play and positive reinforcemen. It has been especially successful since the pandemic as it is all done online.

‘I’ve never had a dog I couldn’t train yet,’ she said. ‘The most difficult thing is to train a lonng-standing habit out of a dog and encourage an owner that it will work. When they have lost all hope.’

Lauren’s love of dogs started as a little girl when, she said, she would round up the neighbourhood’s dogs and encourage them to complete makeshift agility courses.

She said that she originally wished to compete in horse riding competitions but found as she got older that she preferred dogs.

Crufts is an annual dog show, organised by the Kennel Club, which also includes competitions in agility, flyball, and dance.

There are also categories for rescue dogs and dogs which have done heroic deeds.

The show was first set up in 1891 by Charles Cruft.