New additions to this year’s North East Dog Festival near Ponteland

The North East Dog Festival at Northumberland College’s Kirkley Hall Campus is taking place on Saturday, September 2 and Sunday, September 3.

Five new have-a-go activities have been arranged for the 2023 event – UK Sniffer Dogs, Mantrailing, UltiMutt, Scent Hurdling and Petnanny.

The main arena will feature regular favourites and, for the first time at the festival, Simon Whitehead and his team of ferrets and dogs.

Dubbed ‘The Ferret Man’, his arena demonstrations are ranked amongst the most entertaining and popular on the UK show circuit.

The wellness tipi will welcome regular speakers. A special highlight is first time festival speaker Sarah Jones, founder of My Anxious Dog, who will be hoping to educate visitors on why #dogsinyellow is such an important movement.

Festival directors Rebecca Ashworth Earle and Dawn Oliver Doyle said: “Every year our team set out to create something different for visitors and this year has been no exception.

“We are lucky to have such a wealth of dog trainers in this area and we are sure having five new have-a-go activities will be a hit.

“The main arena always attracts big crowds and we hope that they’ll be entertained by everything from flyball to ferrets, soaring agility dogs to sniffing dogs; plus there are more than 80 exhibitors to shop at, two charity dog shows and much more.”

Early bird tickets are on sale for a limited time at ​www.northeastdogfestival.com