A four-year-old cocker spaniel is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his namesake and aim skyward with his success in Crufts.

Brian Cox, named after the well known scientist, is in his fourth year of the national competition, having been attending with his owner Sue Cox, from Hersham, since he was one.

Competing is in his blood as his great-great-grandmother is still going at the age of 15.

Ms Cox, in her 60s, said the preparation to get Brian, whose show name is Suvern Softly Spoken, is quite time consuming.

She said: "Grooming takes a lot of time and washing all before the show."

The "fairly high maintenance dog" has a lot of patience and enjoys the attention he gets before and during the show.

Brian will be in the gundog class limit at Crufts from Thursday, hoping to come away with a prize.