The most high-maintenance blonde in Britain: Crufts' biggest diva eats sirloin steak, has twice-weekly blow-drys and pedicures... and is FAR too posh

By JULIA LAWRENCE

Just champion: Owner Margaret Anderson with Elizabeth the Lhasa Apso as she won Crufts last week

There is no unseemly yapping when you ring the doorbell at the Anderson family home. No scuffling or snarling, either.
No harshly snapped orders to ‘get down!’, and, most delightfully, no smelly hound launching itself, wet nose first, at the cowering visitor when the door is opened.
Such behaviour would be unbecoming to a dog such as Champion Zentarr Elizabeth, queen bee of all she surveys.
Far too posh for fussing and barking, she sits regally in the arms of her owner-cum-courtier Margaret, and haughtily lifts her perfectly-coiffed blonde head to be stroked in greeting.

Pampered pooch: Julia Lawrence styles Elizabeth's fur as she gets up close and personal with the canine diva

This is no ordinary canine. This is Elizabeth, (not Liz, Lizzie, Beth, Betsie or Betty — heaven forbid), the beautiful Lhasa Apso who this week beat stiff competition from more than 21,000 dogs to be crowned Best In Show at Crufts. She is a princess among dogs.
On walking into the pristine semi that she shares with her owners in Coventry, all, at first, seems reassuringly normal. Family pictures adorn every wall. But, look closer, and it’s Elizabeth’s four-legged relatives you will see. Everywhere.
Her pedigree forebears stare out snootily from the photos. Elizabeth’s image is everywhere, too — on oil on canvas, as well as on huge replicas of the covers of dog magazines, on which she has starred.

Here's looking at you! Julia gets to know the diminutive Lhasa Apso

This house is a shrine to Elizabeth. The numerous rosettes and trophies from her seven-year career as a show dog, line every surface.
And now, taking pride of place on the sideboard, is the solid silver Crufts champion’s cup and magnum of Moet champagne that Margaret and her husband Andy brought home from the Birmingham NEC last Sunday night.
‘It still hasn’t sunk in yet,’ says Margaret, taking her excited, glittering eyes off her beloved Elizabeth just briefly to survey the collection. ‘It’s unbelievable.’

Best in Show: Margaret celebrates with Elizabeth after her beloved pet won the top trophy at Crufts last week

After 35 years showing dogs of all breeds, this is the zenith for the Andersons.
Elizabeth is special. In fact, looking at her, it’s easy to forget she’s a real dog at all. The floor-length, gleaming, blow-dried coat streams behind her like a curtain, beneath which her dainty, soft paws trot elegantly.
Up close, she doesn’t even smell like a dog. Salon-fresh, she smells of shampoo and expensive hair oils. Even her breath is sweet, her teeth white and plaque-free.
Margaret is never too far away, bristle brush in hand, to keep the coat that wowed the audience and judges in pristine condition at all times.

Pristine: Elizabeth proudly poses next to her Best in Show trophy

The grandchildren’s bunkbeds will be stripped out, and replaced with a bed for Margaret, midwife elect, so she can support Elizabeth through her first birth. ‘It will be a very anxious time for me,’ she says with a shudder.
But as with all celebrities, there will be no slackening of the beauty routine post childbirth. Anyone calling in unannounced is unlikely to find Elizabeth with tangled hair and less-than-perfect nails.
‘She’s far too beautiful to allow that to happen,’ says Margaret.

Fine pedigree: Elizabeth surrounded by the many awards she has won over the years

source: dailymail