I love watching the pedigrees at Crufts - but this year made me realise I'd rather have a mongrel

For me, watching Crufts is how the Motor Show must be for a car enthusiast

Footage of Cruaghaire Catoria which shows the dog with a slanting back seeming to impede the movements of her rear legs (Crufts/Channel 4)

Ever since my dog, an impossibly handsome long-haired dachshund, died last May, something has been missing from my life. The companionship, the mutual joy of our reunions – which sometimes took place after only an hour or so apart – and the feeling that you’d always have someone beside you on the sofa to watch Antiques Roadshow.

Anyway, I now feel that a suitably respectful amount of time has elapsed, and I am ready to give my heart to another. So it was with special interest that I watched Crufts over the weekend. Would my next best friend be a Portuguese Podengo? He looks like a cheeky chap, and quite exotic, too. A Lancashire Heeler? A nice, compact animal who would remind me of home. Or a whippet, maybe? Popular with everyone these days, and an elegant presence on the sofa. But what about a Westie? The nation’s new favourite after Devon, with her perfectly coiffured shock of bright white fur, took Best in Show on Sunday evening.

So many dogs. So much choice. For me, watching Crufts is how the Motor Show must be for a car enthusiast: I get overwhelmed by the possibilities, and in the end I’m left none the wiser. Perhaps I should just get another dachshund. Then, at least I’ll know what to expect: good jokes and a bad attitude when it comes to doing something he doesn’t fancy (like walking, for instance).

In contrast, the dogs at Crufts are so well-behaved – and unfailingly polite, even when interviewed under the arc lights by Clare Balding. A victorious border terrier even turned down the repeated invitation to join Clare on the sofa, and who would do that?

Once again, the ubiquitous presenter was one of the true stars of Crufts, and indeed if it was loyalty, fun, intelligence and good nature that you were after, better to take a Clare Balding home than any of the dogs. I know she became a little over-exposed – presenting everything from rugby league to a spiritual radio show on Sunday mornings – but this is Clare at her best. She has an intuitive understanding of her subject, and conveys a genuine enthusiasm that’s infectious. Not only that, she doesn’t shy away from tackling the murkier side of dog shows.

The arcane world of dog shows is something of a closed shop, and it’s to Channel 4’s credit that they were prepared to have a little nibble of the hand that feeds it. The climax to their coverage on Sunday was opened with a discussion about the previous day’s controversy when a German Shepherd dog appeared to be in such distress, with an unbalanced gait, but because it was an extreme example of what is regarded as the ideal conformation of the breed, it won first prize. Any dog lover would find it highly upsetting to watch, and Clare didn’t mince her words. The Kennel Club, who run Crufts, were left with serious questions to answer.

This made me recall the medical issues I had with my dog in the latter period of his life. Many highly-bred dogs are susceptible to genetic problems, and while it is better to have loved and lost, I couldn’t help feeling that the supermodels of Crufts had maybe led me to a mongrel.