A NORTHUMBERLAND kennel owner has said they are facing high demand with more pet owners able to go on holiday this year after travel restrictions were eased.

Laura Beattie, who runs North of Tyne Boarding Kennels, said she was having to turn away dogs due to a lack of space.

"We are fairly new and we're fairly small - we only have six kennels - so we get booked up really, really quickly," said Laura.

"It's good for us - we're not complaining at all - but it's quite sad because over the last couple of weeks I've had to turn quite a lot of people away.

"It's sad especially with our regulars because they're the ones who have supported us from the start while we've been getting our name out there. We hate to turn people away."

The boarding kennels, based on Laura's family-run working farm near Bellingham, opened in June last year.

"It's the best job I've ever had," said Laura. "We get some really good customers and lovely dogs in, we're really lucky."

The kennels now only have the odd couple of days available until the end of September.

Laura added they are also receiving quite a lot of bookings for Autumn and also for next year.

"Everyone is in the same position," she said. "All kennels are getting booked up.

"People are starting to think ahead and book ahead because they know they're going to struggle to get their dogs in."

Laura said she recently had a "super frustrating" incident when she was unable to accept a dog at the last minute because it had not been vaccinated.

"We can't have a dog who isn't vaccinated," she said. "So they've held a kennel up and we can't at the last minute have them. Then we've got a free kennel that we could have given to somebody who does actually vaccinate their dogs."