'She was a total star': Daventry mum watches on as daughter, five, wows Crufts crowd

Five-year-old Izzy Taylor and team-mate Milo, a Labrador Staffordshire Bull Terrier crossbreed, wowed fans as part of the East Anglia Staffordshire bull terrier display team.

And with proud mum Avril watching on, it was worth the day off school.

"She was a total star," said Mrs Taylor.

"Everyone was recognising her as she was walking around afterwards and telling her ‘well done’, I think she was really proud of herself."

Bull terriers haven’t always had the best reputation but they are the perfect family dog for Izzy and mum.

They own three in the family pack - puppy Hattie, just six months old, four-year-old Jersey and Crufts veteran Dakota, now 12.

"Izzy is a natural, a total star and the crowd favourite, she’s always liked the big dogs," said club treasurer Lesley McFadyen.

"I remember that Avril was coming to compete with agility, weeks before Izzy was born and then weeks after Izzy started coming in a pushchair.

"Hopefully everyone wants to know how a little girl stunned the crowd at Crufts.

"We’ve had nice calls after the performance, lovely emails a good response on our social media too.

"We’re very pleased that we were asked to appear on Channel 4, it’s good publicity for us and for the breed, Izzy was a natural in front of camera with Clare Balding too."

Mrs McFadyen now hopes Izzy’s performance will help educate people about the breed, which is one of the most popular in the UK.

"If one bull breed type dog has an incident with a member of the public all our hard work is wasted," she said.

"Part of our mantra is responsible breeding and ownership, so we took all the puppies into Izzy’s school.

"It’s so important to have puppies that have been reared well and given all the health checks and opportunities, instead of being bought from an irresponsible breeder."