Scottish terrier Knopa has been crowned the winner of Crufts’ Best In Show award.

Knopa, and her American handler, Rebecca Cross, were awarded the prestigious Crufts Best in Show title in front of thousands of dog lovers at the Genting Arena in Birmingham.

Cross said of her win: “On my goodness, there are 21,000 other dogs here, so this is completely unreal.

Dogs deserve better than to suffer and die for a ‘beauty’ pageant

“I was convinced that the judge wasn’t going to pick her. She was wonderful tonight. She is probably going to retire after this show – that makes this even more special.” Seven dogs took part in the final stage of the Best In Show competition, whittled down from the 21,000 who took part in the four-day event.

The award was disrupted after a Peta supporter ran on to the stage. The protester carried a sign bearing the message: Mutts Against Crufts.

Peta director Mimi Bekhechi said after the incident: “Dogs deserve better than to suffer and die for a ‘beauty’ pageant.

“Crufts’ shameless promotion of ‘breedism’ is the dog or cat equivalent to racism, and the consequences are pedigrees born to suffer from abnormally high rates of disease from being bred for unnatural physical traits.”