That's a wrap 2025!
- The North East Dog Festival
- Sep 5
- 4 min read
What an incredible weekend! The sun shone, the tails wagged, and thousands of you joined us at Kirkley Hall to celebrate our 10th anniversary North East Dog Festival. The rain held off until the very end for our pack down!
We want to say a huge thank you to:
🙌 Every visitor who came along
🐕 Our amazing exhibitors, activity providers and charities
💛 Our hardworking team who make it all possible
✨ Our generous sponsors who have supported us this year
Plus the VIPs....the dogs. All of the different breeds, the happiest souls and best behaved!
What started as a little idea and has grown into one of the North’s biggest celebrations of dogs – and that’s only because of the wonderful community around us.
Until next year… thank you for being part of something truly special. 💫
— Dawn & Rebecca
Festival Directors
Photo credit; official photographer Ben Heward
a huge thanks to....Our dog show sponsor; Hatton's Hungry Hounds for sponsoring the Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter Dog Show. This support meant we could provide over 150 rosettes for across the weekend.
a huge thanks to....This years charity dog shows; the team from Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter who raised over £1600 whilst we welcomed Northumberland Dog Rescue for the first time, who raised £1486.
As a festival we support charities by providing free dog show space and reduced trade stand pitches. Our charity traders also did well over the weekend, with many raising £100's for their causes. Notably Dog AID raised over £1000, National Foundation for Retired Service Animals who raised £1096 and many more.
a huge thanks to....Our have a go activities, without which the festival just wouldn't be the same! We are very lucky to have such fantastic clubs and trainers here in the North East and many saw hundreds of dogs give their sport a go. Thousands of dogs had a go at lots of different things over the weekend with many raising £100's of pounds for charity and for their clubs. As a festival we support multiple small businesses and don't charge anything for these wonderful clubs to be at the festival.
Rally and Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme - Curlabull Dog Training Club
Agility and Scent Hurdling - Petsercise
Parkour - Paws and Minds
Flyball raised more then £1000 for their community club - Eclipse Flyball Club
Temptation Alley, Agility and Fastest Recall - Canny Canines Dog Training Club
CaniSports and Ultimutt - Trail Dog Events
Mantrailing - Northumberland Dog Sports
Trick Training - Rebecca the Dog Trainer
Yellow Dog Zone - My Anxious Dog
Scruffts - The Kennel Club
Hoopers - Aim Higher Canine Services
Small Paws who raised £328 - Small Paws Pet Services
The Clever K9 Ring - A new addition for 2025. This ring hosted completely free dog training sessions across the weekend, with more than 100 dogs taking part over the two days. Thank to this year's sponsor Doorstep Vet.
Thank you to the instructors in the Clever K9 Ring
Cris Brown - Ruff Diamond Dog Training
Nicole Kenning - Dog Tales
Emma Walker - Nordic Gundog Specialist
Rebecca Edney - Rebecca the Dog Trainer
Our Breed Hang Out had an upgrade thanks to sponsors The Dog Log and the feedback has been amazing for Breeds, Bants and Brains.
The Nordic Gundog Zone; which featured the hunt scurry, hurdle scurry, lure, and water retrieve; thanks to Emma Walker and her team from Nordic Gundogs.
Photo credit; official photographer Ben Heward
Thanks to our 2025 ambassadors
Our Wellness Speakers (alongside those that already feature above as marvellous have a go activity providers) thank you our wellness sponsor this year Pawsitive Relief
Martin Peagam - Hearing Dogs for Deaf People Changing Lives
Sue McClennan - Canine Myotherapy
Sarah Jones - My Anxious Dog
Rona Malessa - National Foundation for Retired Service Animals
Louisa Squires - The Dog Log
Kirsty Spender - Chucktails
Rebecca Edney - Rebecca the Dog Trainer
Chloe Nerina Fuller - https://www.caninechlo.com/about
Nicole Kenning - Dog Tales
Katie Purvis, Dom Salmon and Zoe Freedman Fossey of The NGCO Clinic
Dr Emma Rogers-Smith of Pawsitive Relief Veterinary Rehabilitaion
Kieren Stephenson of The Lost Dog Trapping Team
Kay Whiteley of North East Assistance and Therapy Dogs
Rachael Fraser, Sara Irving and Vicky Sowerby of Canine Massage Guild.
Our main ring displays (alongside those that already feature above as marvellous have a go activity providers)
and our main ring sponsor Northumberland College's Kirkley Hall Campus
Thanks to our medical team Frontline Medical
Thanks to our wonderful venue, Kirkley Hall and the team at Northumberland College
Thanks to our official photographer Ben Heward
Thanks to Daniel of DW Media who spent the weekend making sure all of our traders had wifi.
Thanks to our rosette providers Royale Rosettes
Thanks to our wonderful suppliers, Border Group, Collingwood Marquees, Guerilla PA, WeScanTickets, Print2Gogo, Spotty Dog Signs, Autumn Rosie Makes , Location One, Phoenix FMS, Artifical Grass North East
Thanks to our traders; we've had so many wonderful emails and most of our foodies had sold out by close of festival both days. We strive every year to give our traders the best possible experience and its been fantastic to get such wonderful feedback. Find a full list in our show guide - downloadable here.
and most of all...thank you to our wonderful festival team. This event absolutely wouldn't run without the help of families, friends and those who have spent hours in fields plotting, moving and setting up (and then clearing away). The behind the scenes administration, packing, sorting and generally keeping us all on track. This year was by far the biggest festival. The sun shone and the dogs had a ball, which is all we ever want.
You can still download our 2025 show guide it's ideal for finding any trade stands, clubs, or if you just need to jog your memory. This is also ideal if you want to see if there was photographers on a specific have a go or dog show - find the club and then you can drop them a message.
Photo credit; official photographer Ben Heward
Comments