He rose to the position of general manager, and whilst working for Spratt's in France he was invited to run his first dog show at the 1878 Exposition Universelle.

[2] Cruft first followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a manufacturing jeweller but he ultimately decided that the career was not for him and left the business in 1865.

[4] As part of this new role, he was expected to have attended the "Grand National Exhibitions of Sporting and other Dogs" at The Crystal Palace, London, annually between 1870 and 1872.

[5] Whilst at Spratt's, Cruft gradually rose to the role of general manager, after being head of their Show Department for several years.

[3] At the age of 26, some twelve years after leaving the jewellery business, Cruft was made office manager.

[8] In 1878, whilst still working for Spratt's, Cruft travelled across Europe to expand the biscuit business.

Under Crufts guidance, the company diversified its product base and expanded into game bird and poultry food markets, as well as producing a range of accessories for cats and dogs.

In 1893, Tsar Alexander III of Russia sent eighteen Borzois to compete, and from 1916 King George V entered his Labrador Retrievers regularly.

Crufts however wasn't so sure as the initial show had lost over a hundred pounds, and entries in some of the classes were restricted to only a handful of cats.

[17] In 1896, Cruft designed special train carriages to carry competition dogs for his shows from around the country.

[1] After running his 45th Crufts show in 1938, he fell ill. By the late summer he was recovering, but he died due to a heart attack at around 5:30 am on 10 September.

[21] The London Borough of Islington placed a plaque commemorating Charles Cruft at Ashurst Lodge, Highbury Grove, N5.

[23] His wife Emma stated in her book, Mrs Charles Cruft's Famous Dog Book, published in 1949 that there was an unwritten rule that both herself and her husband couldn't own any dogs for fear of making others believe that they favoured one breed over another, even going as far to say "we were determined to own a pet, so we took the least line of resistance and kept a – CAT!

He went on to make particular reference to the fact that he and his wife Emma had owned at least one Saint Bernard;[25] the same breed of dog he had used in his creation of the Crufts logo.

Additionally, he owned a country home called Windmill Farm, in Coulsdon, Surrey.