THE owner of a championship-winning show dog is waiting to see whether her pet's career is in tatters after she was injured at a competition.

Carol Parry, of Cranberry Lane, Darwen, is due to take her dog, Chandlimore Heaven Can Wait, for a operation to repair torn ligaments in her back leg following an accident at this year's Blackpool Championship show two weeks ago, when she became trapped under a dog cage that had toppled over.

The 20-month-old St Bernard, whose pet name is Lunar, was knocked to the ground and has not been able to walk properly since.

She recently beat off competition from 112 other dogs in the working and pastoral section of this year's Crufts international dog show in May and was awarded the best junior female dog.

Carol, who has five of the giant breed dogs, now faces a vet bill of up to £400 for an operation. She said: "I'm very disappointed. Lunar was in with a good chance of winning but it was an accident and nothing we could do anything about. It just happened so quickly. One minute we were walking and the next she was on the floor.

"A lady was walking in front of us with a cage on wheels and it just toppled over and hit Lunar on the back leg. She fell down but tried to get up before we had moved the cage and her leg caught in the wheel and wrenched it backwards which has damaged her ligaments. It was just one of those unfortunate accidents, I don't really blame anybody.

"It's quite a big operation for a dog. The vet has said she will be out for about six months until she recovers and with giant breeds like this there's always a chance that they won't fully recover and could end up with a permanent limp or get arthritis. I'm sure the vet will do all he can. There's no reason why she shouldn't make a full recovery but there could always be complicationsr.

"We will have to wrap her up in cotton wool for a while. I'm really upset because she's such a good little thing. She's been so good about it all and she's been really good for the vet. I think she's feeling a bit sorry for herself.

"Let's hope she makes a full recovery and wins Crufts again next year."