One of the owners of a prizewinning dog allegedly poisoned while at the world-famous Crufts show said they have lost “our love, family member and best friend to our son”.

Three-year-old Irish setter Thendara Satisfaction, known as Jagger, collapsed and died after returning to Belgium from the show at Birmingham’s NEC.

Jagger, who came second in his class at the show, is co-owned by Belgian Aleksandra Lauwers and Leicester-based breeder Dee Milligan-Bott.

Milligan-Bott described the dog’s death as a “heinous crime”. In a post on her Facebook page, she said beef cubes containing up to three different poisons – which led to a painful death for the animal – were discovered after an examination.

She claimed the postmortem tests also showed that the dog must have been given the meat “while on his bench at Crufts”.

A spokeswoman for the Kennel Club, which runs Crufts, said they were awaiting a toxicology report to shed some light on Jagger’s death.