A GENEROUS pup is spreading the love this Valentine’s Day by making a donation to dogs in need.

Six-month-old Ava fetched more than 1,500 votes in an online poll to decide the Northern Echo’s Love Your Pet competition winner.

And her doting owner, Liane Shields, from Whickham, in Newcastle, has pledged to spend a Designer Dog Company gift voucher for £75 on dogs in shelters.

Mrs Shields, who works as a manager for dog grooming service, Pet Den, splits her time between the North-East and Cardiff where she is launching a one-of-a-kind pet crèche.

She said: “I’m so happy and absolutely chuffed. People who don’t have the bond that I do with my dogs just won’t understand or appreciate what my dogs mean to me, but I really am so proud.

“Ava is definitely a pampered pooch and she loves the camera. She’ll often do different poses in her outfits and she gets groomed a lot.

“I take her into work with me most days which means she’ll often have different hairstyles tried out on her and she really does love it.

“I also own Ava’s mum too, Heidi, who is a pure Cocker Spaniel, and Ava’s dad is a Cockapoo which makes Ava Cockapoo too. She’s just so cute.”

And after being named top dog in the Love Your Pet completion, Ava will be treated a professional pet photoshoots and framed print from the day.

Northern Echo photographic co-ordinator, Sarah Caldecott, devised the competition and chose five finalists alongside The Designer Dog Company’s Vicki Robertson.

But Ava lapped up the love just in time for Valentine’s Day after picking up 48 per cent of the overall vote.