No self-respecting dog would dream of missing Crufts. And so it was that 7,877 of them, with their owners, came together at Olympia last month for the 78th show -and ' Burtonswood Bossy Boots,' the St Bernard, beat them all. JOHN PITMAN was there, too, with a Man Alive film crew following the trail of owners and their dogs in the week leading up to the big show. The ' doggy people ' - as they call themselves - are a mixed bag. There's a retired company director and his wife who live in a big house with Great Danes; two bachelors who breed Cavalier King Charles spaniels; a little lady with a big poodle; and a pretty teenager who, for the moment, prefers Afghans to boy-friends. But they all have one thing in common: an incredible love of dogs and dog shows. ' Other people think we must be mad,' says one. ' And I suppose we are.'