Congratulations Bella - Scruffts 2016 Best in Show Winner - enjoy your new bed!

A huge congratulations to Bella the Lurcher and her owner Helen Lewis on becoming Scruffts 2016 Champions! 

Helen Lewis (left) with Christine (right) and Bella the Lurcher - Scruffts 2016 Best in Show winner - enjoying her new Charley Chau Raised Wooden Dog Bed just after the final on Saturday night at the NEC! 

Helen and Bella arrived on the Charley Chau stand at Crufts on Saturday, Channel 4 film crew in tow, and Helen explained that she was a Scruffts finalist and had promised to buy Bella her own Charley Chau if she won! We felt so humbled! When Bella came on the stand she showed no hesitation and chose the Charley Chau Raised Wooden Dog Bed!

Bella came onto the Charley Chau stand and promptly settled down on our Raised Wooden Dog Bed - a lovely little rest just before she headed off to compete in the Scruffts final!

Helen and Bella brought their own entourage - a Channel 4 film crew, filming for 'Scruffts: Britain's Favourite Dog' of which Bella and Helen are of course the stars following their Best in Show award by dog lover and author, Jilly Cooper!

As we chatted Helen and Bella were whizzed off to compete in the final so we wished them well and had our fingers crossed for them. 

An hour or so later we received a phone call - it was Channel 4 calling to let us know that Helen and Bella had won - they were the Scruffts 2016 Champions! As you can imagine we were absolutely delighted for both of them - two very deserving winners. What an achievement!

And apparently Bella was on the benches at Crufts, very tired and without a bed to rest on - so with the help of some of the Channel 4 team we took Bella's new bed down to the benches so she would have somewhere comfy to snooze after such a busy day! 

The press interviews after her Best in Show win had left Bella a little tired so when we arrived with her new Charley Chau Wooden Dog Bed she needed no encouragement to settle down for a quick snooze!

 ... and relax ... a quick nap after all the excitement in the big arena. Beautiful :-)

We have a very big soft spot for skinny pointy dogs so on top of the fact that Bella and Helen have a truly inspirational story, we were doubly delighted that Bella was awarded Scruffts Best in Show as we hope it will highlight the plight of rescue Sighthounds in the UK. Bella was rescued by the Dogs Trust (www.dogstrust.co.uk) who do amazing work rescuing dogs all over the UK who need homes. If you have ever considered life with a sighthound do take a look also at Greyhound Rescue West of England (www.grwe.com), our official charity, who rescue Greyhounds and Lurchers all over England.

Helen - you are a beautiful person, inside and out, and we feel very privileged to have met you. And Bella - what a beautiful, beautiful hound! It has been a real honour to meet both of you and we wish Bella many happy hours of snoozing in her very own Charley Chau bed!

'Scruffts: Britain's Favourite Dog' was broadcast on 16 March 2016 and is available to watch on catch-up until 14 April 2016 at the Channel 4 website: Scruffts: Britain's Favourite Dog