I'm not far from Telford either. She looks like she also knows a few gipsies, very cute. 
True that. Could picture her with a red and white spotted neckerchief 'round her neck. 
Nooooooooo! Dogs with neckerchiefs 
WTF is that all about?
It goes back a long way ~ before Dog Collars were the norm.
Barge Folk used to tie these round their dog's neck as they were always on the move and dogs could sometimes be left behind. Other bargees would recognise the dog by the neckerchief and take it on board until they met up with the owner on the way back.
Source
My great, great grandparents on my father's mother's side worked the Canals around Berks/Oxon.
There was also a great fashion for dogs to appear in "end of pier" shows and they would invariably be fitted with a "Ruff" or Frilly collar. Very popular in Victorian times.
Toby, the Punch and Judy dog, often had a ruff or frill round its neck. This, of course, hid the join where the puppet ceased to be fabric and became a wooden head. Punch and Judy has its origins in the 14th Century but, as we know it, came into its own in this country at the fairs and subsequently the seaside shows.
It is a short step from the canal bargees to the fairgrounds and those who led that nomadic life shared many habits.
Yes I have worked (in my extreme youth) on the fairgrounds and I have always hankered for a life on the canals. One out of two ambitions fulfilled ain't bad I suppose and I am now too old and too ill to realise the latter or repeat the former.
The modern fashion for neckerchiefs on dogs is just a bit of retro chic ~ much like "shabby chic" furniture. People pay a lot of money to achieve a look that our ancestors had out of necessity.
