Former South Shields teacher sets up her first dog show in 20 years for charity
A former South Shields teacher and animal lover is organising her first dog show in twenty years.
A retired teacher who moved to the North East as a student herself is organising her first dog show in two decades.
Linda Tuffield is organising the community event to raise money for local and national animal charities including North East based Paws 4 Thought.
Taking place between 2pm and 4pm on Saturday, July 11, the event is open to all dogs and no pre booking is required.
Labelled as a ‘fun’ show, the event will include a competitive element with judged categories in addition to a dog grooming demonstration, nail clipping as well as a raffle and tombola for the charities.
One of the categories allows owners to bring images of dogs which have passed away.
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“I’ve been rescuing dogs for about a thousand years” jokes the 80-year-old, who spent most of her life working as a teacher in South Tyneside as a teacher having moved from London for university in the 1960s.
She has taught at Brinkburn School and Harton Academy.
“I look around and I see people 20 years younger than me driving their mobility scooters and I think ‘what did I do right?’ I just walk my dogs every day!
“We did a dog show for St Francis Animal Rescue and that was about 20 years ago. I’ve been thinking about doing a dog show for ages because I love dogs and I’m not interested in the glamour. I’m just interested in people loving nice dogs.”
The event will be hosted by South Shields pet day care site Waggy Warehouse on Temple Town.
“It’s a headache at times” adds Linda. “It all comes back to the love of dogs.
The event will cost just 50p to enter with money raised from entries, raffles and tombolas will all go to Street Paws, Paws 4 Thought, Support Dogs, Bryson's and Dogs on the Street.
“I always support dog charities and if I can I’ll support charities which support both people and dogs. Support dogs train abandoned dogs up to be helping dogs. They’ll get mail from the door or open the washing machine, things like that. I’m hoping one of the recipients of this will be coming down.”