Happily, he has dedicated staff on hand in the form of owners Jason Lynn, 35, and Michael Gadsby, 52, who tend to Ricky in a specially adapted doggy beauty parlour.

‘Our lives revolve around our dogs and keeping them happy,’ says Jason. ‘It’s a labour of love.’

It certainly is.

First, Ricky’s 12 matching lilac hairbands are gently teased from his long, bluey-black mane, where they’ve been lending him more than a passing resemblance to Snoop Dogg, the extravagantly coiffured American rapper.

Next, his muzzle is given a good scratch and sweet nothings muttered in his ears.

Then, once Jason has treble-checked the temperature of his personal doggy Triton shower unit, Ricky is gently hoisted into his special plastic bathtub.

Such is the lustrous thickness and amazing water resistance of his coat, it takes a good few minutes just to wet it through.

‘Ricky’ falls asleep whilst owner his owner drys and combs his hair, to make sure it has no tangles

Soon, Ricky's hairstyle begins to take shape as he is combed again and again

Ricky, a prize winner, stands out amongst his breed, even with six other brothers and sisters of the same breed

Next, it’s a good lather in Plush Puppy shampoo — a sweet-smelling Australian preparation — a rinse, a dab more shampoo, another rinse, and then a deep massage with Plush Puppy conditioner is always an essential thing, you can also avail RMT to your pets by contacting them. 

Ricky is used to being pampered.

He has a special diet of Eukanuba brand dog food, chicken mince, tripe, chicken wings, steak and the odd illicit banana. When on the road at dog shows, which is about 30 weekends a year, he often secures his own hotel double bed.

He is also used to winning. As well as triumphing at pretty much every show he’s entered in the UK, his trophy haul includes Poodle Pup of America, and the $10,000 (£6,000) first prize in the Olympics of dog shows, the U.S. Eukanuba World Challenge — the first time a British dog had ever won.

His father Dino was a best-in-show winner, his grandfather Afterglow Sugar Daddy (known as Alan, after Lord Sugar) was a U.S. and UK champion.

Jason Lynn with Ricky the Standard Poodle, as they celebrate winning the Best in Show category

Ricky the Standard Poodle and the tropy he and his owner have won for the best in show award

In the beauty parlour, things are moving slowly. After half an hour of lathering, massaging, rinsing and more lathering, Jason swaddles him in a cornflower-blue towel.

‘I’m afraid we’ve only just started,’ he tells me. ‘Now it’s the blow dry. You might want to go and get some lunch or something. It’ll take about another three hours.’

Three hours! For a dog.

‘If I don’t get him completely dry, we’ll have a nightmare next time. It’ll be all knotty and nasty. So I start with the power blaster.’

This looks a bit like a handheld hoover and blasts out the excess water with hot air as Ricky reclines elegantly on a high table, pink tongue flopping out like a rasher of bacon, occasionally shivering with delight.

Even romping about as a ball of black fur with his six brothers and sisters, Ricky stood out.

‘The best puppy is the one that catches your eye — the one that’s posing and arching and making you look at him,’ says Michael. ‘That was Ricky. He’s a confident dog. He loves himself, and he always has.’

But a real champion also needs something called ‘good confirmation’, he explains.

‘They need the basics of a well-constructed, healthy animal.

‘And then they need the particulars of the breed. For poodles, it’s all about the quality of the coat.’

And the poodle ‘trim’, of course — an extraordinary canine topiary created with scissors, clippers and skill.

There are four versions: the all-over puppy cut, the Bikini or Miami, the English saddle (very complicated, with pompoms down the hind legs) and the Continental — Ricky’s ‘do’.

The Continental, with its closely clipped feet, face and hindquarters, looks a teeny bit chilly around the important bits, but apparently a dog’s body temperature is four degrees higher than ours, so they really don’t mind.

Michael is in charge of clipping and scissoring. ‘I taught myself, and I had some unbelievable disasters to begin with. But it’s always going to grow back, isn’t it?’

So if he accidentally lopped off one of Ricky’s bobbing pompoms, how long would that take? Jason pales behind the dryer. ‘About a year.’

Daily Mail writer Jane Fryer meets two year old poodle 'Ricky' the Best of Breed winner at Crufts 2014

Within the dog show world, poodle people have a unique camaraderie.

They compare hair products, send each other power blasters in the post, empathise with the onerous grooming requirements and travel thousands of miles not just to show their charges but to allow their champions to breed.

‘You have to have the kind of temperament that finds all this enjoyable,’ says Jason over the roar.

Another hour on and he’s swapped the blaster for an upright hair dryer on a stand that leaves his hands free to groom. And groom. And groom. ‘For me, it’s very relaxing — it’s very far from being a chore.’

Jason and Michael, who met at a dog show in America, are both utterly delightful, but they must make a daunting pair on the circuit.

Their office is brimming with vast glass trophies, rosettes and photos of award-winning poodles.

This month, Lilliput became the first kennels ever to breed two Crufts’ winners.

As well as Ricky’s triumphs in utility dog and best in show, an American cocker spaniel called Pearl, bred by Jason and Michael, won the gun dog category.

‘I thought I was going to explode with bloody pride,’ says Michael.

Back on the table, the grooming goes on. To be fair, while not every dog would enjoy a four-hour shampoo and set, Ricky doesn’t look remotely put upon. In fact, he looks close to heaven.

During what (I pray) is the final styling session, where Jason sprays on a leave-in conditioner, Ricky actually falls asleep, legs flopped open, paws jiggling in some exciting doggy dream or other.

When it is eventually over, Jason gently teases him awake, lifts him down and adjusts his extraordinary coat one last time. ‘You always think you can make it look better — but look at that volume!’

We all watch in awe as Ricky bounces about, strutting, preening, pirouetting and ready to undo four hours of coiffing with another run on the beach.

A true champion.

Fit, lithe and happy.

Who just happens to resemble a giant pompom on sticks.