A cute chihuahua recently dazzled the crowd by dancing to the classic Pokémon theme song during the Freestyle Heelwork to Music Competition at Crufts – and even took down a Charizard in the process. Every year, The Kennel Club hosts the Crufts competition in the UK as a celebration of dogs and their owners. The competition is held over four days and consists of a variety of events – including agility championships, flyball games, and even freestyle dancing challenges.         

Some video game fans might notice a few similarities between dog shows like Crufts and the contests held in the Pokémon franchise, which has trainers collect and raise various monsters and compete with each other to see which one deserves the title of Pokémon Master. The main difference is that real-life dog shows don’t involve the showcased pups battling each other with elemental powers or transforming into larger, stronger forms like the titular Pokémon do throughout Nintendo’s long-running RPG franchise.  However, every so often the fictional world of Pokémon and the real-life realm of professional dog trainers do meet each other with adorable results.                  

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Such was the case during the third day of the Crufts competition last Saturday, which highlighted talented the smaller dogs in the Utility and Toy categories. As reported by Eurogamer, a chihuahua handler named Jenny and her cute seven-year-old pup Sophie took to the stage to perform in the Freestyle Heelwork to Music Competition with a Pokémon-themed twist. As the original theme song to the classic Pokémon anime started playing, Jenny donned the signature red hat and blue coat of series protagonist Ash Ketchum and started to coach Sophie through a charming dance routine as Pikachu. Together, the pair showed off some impressive footwork as Sophie found a plush Bulbasaur hidden behind some bushes and “battled” a cardboard Charizard. With a final score of 22.63, Jenny and Sophie ultimately fell short of winning the day’s competition, but their cute Pokémon-inspired performance left an impression on viewers all the same.

Jenny and Sophie’s performance at Crufts comes during an exciting year for the Pokémon franchise. January saw the release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, a prequel title for the Nintendo Switch that took the series in a new direction by putting players in the role of a Pokémon researcher in the ancient past. Meanwhile, fans recently caught a glimpse of the future with the surprise announcement of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Not much is yet known about this upcoming ninth generation of mainline Pokémon games, aside from the new starter trio and a look at the player characters. Additionally, spin-off titles like Pokémon Unite and Pokémon Go remain popular with players, and the long-running Pokémon trading card game continues to see new packs and cards being released regularly.        

With all this in mind, seeing a dog and its owner reenact the core tenants of the Pokémon franchise at a major event like Crufts is a cute and appropriate moment for fans of the series. Sophie’s electrifying moves might not have scored her first place, but at least Jenny can rest assured that her cute little “Pikachu” can hold her own in a Pokémon battle against the mighty Charizard.

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Source: Crufts/YouTube (via Eurogamer)

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J. Brodie Shirey
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J. Brodie Shirey is just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe, but aren’t we all? He currently lives in York, Pennsylvania. He is a big comic book, video game, and science fiction fan, and likes writing articles for ScreenRant or scripts for some of his crazy TV show ideas.

A graduate from York County School of Technology, he’s self-published several books on Amazon, and once won 1st place at a regional computer fair for a CGI animated short. He might post it on Youtube someday. He hopes that working for this site will be his first step into the larger universe of online writing, since Megazord technology hasn’t been invented yet and he doesn’t seem to have any Force powers. You can check out his work at The Uncanny Fox, purchase his books on Amazon.com, see his posted scripts on Script Revolution, or see his portfolio here or here. He can also be followed on Twitter @FoxUncanny.

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