Smiling Samoyed beats cancer to scoop Crufts prize

A dog that battled back from a rare cancer diagnosis has scooped a top prize at Crufts, months after undergoing life-saving surgery.

Tayto the Samoyed and her 13-year-old handler Diarmuid Sim picked up the “good citizen” prize at the national dog show in Birmingham.

The pair, from Edinburgh, also achieved a fifth-place finish in the yearling class for dogs aged between one and two.

It comes after Tayto underwent a procedure in January, having previously been diagnosed granulosa cell tumour.

Diarmuid, a pupil at James Gillespie’s High School in Edinburgh, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland that getting to the event had been a huge achievement after an “uncertain period”.

Vets found a four-inch tumour in Tayto’s ovarian region in October last year following a CT scan.

She had it surgically removed, but a follow-up screening in January detected a second growth.

That was also taken out, though later proved to be benign.

Diarmuid said: “You never really think that your dog is going to get cancer.

“It really hit us, but we were with really good vets and through a few surgeries, she kind of won the battle.

“She was really brave. Part of me doesn’t really think she knew what she was going through. But she just powered on, she was really inspiring.”

The pair, cheered on by dad Colin, 56, and mum Nuala, 46, were “highly commended” in the yearling category, before beating 109 other pups to also scoop the good citizen award.

The round tested Tayto’s behaviour in front of a crowd of hundreds, requiring her to stay for three minutes and respond to Diarmuid’s commands.

Colin said the pair’s bond had shone through for the judges, despite them only being together for around a year.

He said: “We’re not allowed to be ringside because we distract her too much, but we were watching from the stands and biting our nails.

“It was just amazing to see them do so well. They have a special bond and she really looks up to him.

“It’s our first ever dog. She was Diarmuid’s choice of pet and she is a lovely dog to have.”

Tayto previously appeared at the dog show as a puppy and later secured lifetime qualification for the event at a show in Edinburgh.

Diarmuid said the pair are now targeting a second run at the contest next year.

“I was definitely the more nervous out of the two of us,” he said.

“She’ll be going to Crufts every year now and we are just going to see her get better and better.

“Maybe we’ll have a go at best in show in the future, you never know”.