Shelter celebrates 130 years helping dogs and cats
BBCNewcastle Dog & Cat Shelter was one of the first animal charities to be created in the country. Now it is celebrating 130 years of helping our furry friends find happy homes and have healthy lives.
The sun is shining and Matty Campion is throwing a ball for Yeti in the grassed doggy play area.
The four-year-old American bulldog barks with anticipation and excitement, his head cocking to the side.
The happy, playful dog we see today is a far cry from the one that arrived at the shelter in Longbenton in December.
Back then, his skin was in bad condition and he was in pain.
Helping dogs like Yeti get back on their paws is why Matty volunteers.
"It's one of the best things I've ever done," he says.
"I get up in the morning looking forward to coming here."
He decided to become one of the 143 volunteers who keep the shelter running after his own dog, Floyd, died.
Every Monday he helps clean the kennels and exercise the dogs.
On a Wednesday he will take one of the dogs for a longer walk, then on Saturdays completes his local park run with one of his new furry friends.
"Basically I wanted to make other dogs lives as happy as my dog's life was," he says.
"I've seen dogs come in which you couldn't even approach, they cower in the corner shaking.
Newcastle Dog & Cat Shelter"By the time we let them go, they're wagging their tails, they're jumping on your knee, they've just got a total different demeanour, they're absolutely a different animal - and that's what makes me happy."
The shelter was created in 1896 by Colonel William Lisle Blenkinsop Coulson after he became concerned at the number of stray dogs he was seeing around Newcastle.
"The world was a very different place back then," says Anita Ball, the shelter's campaign manager.
"Someone actually thinking about animals at that time was really quite pioneering."
The shelter, which is the subject of an exhibition at Newcastle Library, has survived staffing shortages during the world wars and benefited from changing attitudes towards animals, as well as laws protecting their welfare.
Three years ago its Claremont Road site, where it had been operating since the 1940s, was shut because the shelter buildings there were no longer fit for purpose.
Finding funding is tough for many charities and while the shelter recently secured almost £200,000 from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home to upgrade its current base in Longbenton, it also relies on the support of those closer to home - like 98-year-old Vera Shearer.
She adopted three dogs from the shelter, the last one dying 38 years ago when she was 60.
She says she thought about getting another dog but feared what would happen to it if she died.
"I thought the best thing was to make a donation every month and I've done that ever since," she says.
"I really do enjoy giving. I shall continue until the man upstairs takes me to the kennel up there."
Jack Brydon, one of the youngest members of staff, says '"moving with the times" has been important for the shelter's success, highlighting its use of social media to find homes for the animals as well as appeal for donations.
While the charity has changed in many ways, one thing that has not altered is the ongoing need for the work it does.
"There's always more that we could do," Anita says.
"It's a constant pressure that the team has to manage all the time, about having the right safe numbers on site and the animals we can help move on to great new homes."
