A very different type of pooch was among the VIPs at the Guide Dogs autumn fair on Saturday.

Mascot Scooby Dude mixed with visitors as well as three guide dogs Ulla, Zebedee and Bonnie, at the Landmark Centre in Deal High Street.

Liz Sykes, chairwoman of the Deal, Dover and Sandwich branch of Guide Dogs, said: “We sold tea and coffee withhomemade cakes, bric-a-brac, books and Guide Dogs merchandise.

“There was also a tombola and a toybola and Maddie Cordes’s Landmark Show Choir sang How Much is that Doggie in the Window?”

Charlie Elphicke MP, who in January 2013 took part in a blind walk with branch members, visited the fair too. Others were bowled over by Mac, the guide dog puppy who was named under Guide Dogs’s Name a Puppy scheme. Sainsbury’s in Deal collected £5,000 and won the privilege of naming him.

“He is now seven months old,” said Mrs Sykes. “He has started basic obedience training, and is going out experiencing things he will come across when he is a working dog.”

Guide dogs start their training when they are a year to 14 months old. Mac is living with a puppy walker– someone who homes a guide dog puppy until it starts to train.

More puppy walkers are needed in the Deal area.

The next fundraiser organised by Guide Dogs is a quiz at the Royal British Legion Club in Deal on Saturday, November 15 at 7.30pm. Entry is £3.50 on the door.

For more details or raise funds for Guide Dogs, call branch chairwoman Liz Sykes on 01304 380854.