Bill Lambert, Health, of The Kennel Club, said: ‘This new tool, funded in part by The Kennel Club Charitable Trust VetCompass grant, helps us understand and determine more accurately a dog’s life expectancy given different factors throughout their lives, instead of just based on historic breed estimates.

As well as best in show, competitions include agility, heelwork and flyball, with Crufts anticipating record UK interest – although international numbers are down.“Working from home has opened up dog ownership for a lot more people and there was obviously huge demand for dogs during lockdown, but I think that has extended now and people are looking at other activities to do with their dog, beyond normal pet ownership,” said Lambert.

According to data from the the Kennel Club, incidents of canine chocolate poisoning more than double over the Easter period when compared with other months.“Obviously there is chocolate around at Christmas, but let’s be honest, Easter is the time for chocolate, and where everybody seems to have chocolate Easter eggs,” said Bill Lambert, the head of health and welfare at the Kennel Club.

Lambert wrote a sweet tribute to the late dog, named Waylon, on her social media accounts on Thursday night.He did that nearly his whole life," Lambert wrote.

Bill Lambert, spokesperson for the Kennel Club, said: ‘People simply forget there are so many different dog breeds, with different personalities and characteristics, and it’s not just the popular, well-known ones that make a great match for our varying lifestyles.