A cute little canine with star potential who’s made her way from Hawaii to Bream is set to strut her stuff at Crufts 2020, relaunching her owner’s show career after a 25-year break.

Back in the day Lee Connett, owner of Snippets Dog Grooming, was a successful exhibitor and breeder of Lhasa Apsos, boasting breed wins at numerous championship shows and Crufts itself.

In 1990 he was the handler for the top winning Lhasa Apso in the country.

But it was proving a costly and time-consuming business and Lee retired from showing to focus on raising a family.

Fast forward to Crufts 2019 where he decided to visit as a spectator with the hope of catching up with old friends.

“I was immediately asked by an old friend to handle her bitch Lhasa Apso and, to everyone’s shock, won the reserve bitch Challenge Certificate – in other words, second best bitch Lhasa Apso at Crufts,” Lee explained.

“Amazingly, this led to a push by some of the top breeders to get me back in the ring, resulting in me being offered a beautiful puppy from America’s top breeder, Xeralane kennel, who recently won Group Two at Westminster (America’s Crufts) – the highest award ever won by a Lhasa Apso at the show.

“The kennel is based in Hawaii so I drove to Paris then flew to America to meet up with them and bring my girl back home. It sounds simple but in reality it was incredibly complicated getting the paperwork right!

“Dany’ – aka Xeralane’s Born to be Remarc-able at Kutani – who has already won multiple show classes, is now a year old and I have the honour of taking my little Hawaiian Lhasa Apso to Crufts for the first time, marking a return to the Green ring for me after 25 years.

“She’s still young so we don’t expect top honours this year but it’s been wonderful to have had the backing and support of the UK’s top Lhasa Apso breeder, Wendy Cain of Kutani Kennel and Adrian Agard and Earl Takahashi.of America’s amazing Xeralane kennel.

“As a dog groomer in the Forest for nearly 30 years this is an exciting time for me, not just reviving my show career but enabling me to work with such a pretty, fun and truly international Lhasa Apso!”