We are finalists!

We are very pleased to announce that we have been shortlisted as finalists in two categories at this year’s Hertfordshire Business Awards run by the Federation of Small Businesses.

The winner of the event will win £10,000 in advertising from The Hertfordshire Business Independent and Archant Herts & Cambs.

In the past 18 months we have gone from strength to strength, with subscriptions costing just £4.95/month for over 20 hours of dog training and well-being advice, we are fast becoming one of the best value for money dog advice services and there is new content every month.

We are gradually branching out to our international viewers too, we already have subscribers in Australia , Denmark, Finland, Ireland and the US.

Secret project… ssssh!

Today we met up with our resident behaviour specialist, Jez Rose. We can't say too much at the moment, but we are working on an exciting project with Jez which will become clear in the coming weeks, watch this space!

Insurance matters…

Today we had the pleasure of filming Neil from VIP (Independent Pet Insurance Specialist Brokers) about an important subject – pet insurance.

Neil is the Managing Director of VIP and has been in the insurance game for many years. He is also a contributor to Dogs Today magazine providing advice to worried pet owners about what their insurance covers. Neil gave us a lot of very useful advice about choosing a pet insurance company, choosing the right policy for you and your pet and also what to do if things don't quite go to plan.

May issue live

It is springtime and here at the Naturally Happy Dogs offices we are thinking about new beginnings. In particular, this month we are focusing on children and dogs.

We start off with a fascinating piece on the work of Lincoln University and their study into dog bite prevention for children. That is swiftly followed by an interview with Victoria Stilwell about introducing a dog into a family with children. Finishing off our 'young persons' theme is an article about the Young Kennel Club, featuring an interview with Fay Moore which we filmed at Discover Dogs last November.

Also in this month's issue, a very moving piece featuring Lorna and Eli, the Canine Partnership that we filmed as part of our feature on Canine Partners. We think this is our best article to date, you may well need a box of tissues to hand when watching this one.

Our resident behaviour expert Jez Rose talks to us more about chewing, in this article he talks about what to encourage your dogs to chew, and at what times. We hope to be working closely with Jez on a related project in the coming months, which we very much look forward to... watch this space!

TV vet Joe Inglis also makes another showing this month, this time talking about how to find (and keep) a good vet. Very interesting to see this from the vet's point of view – you might be quite surprised!

Our dancing with dogs feature also continues this month, with expert Mary Ann Nester showing us how to teach the reverse command, and our friends at the RSPCA talk us through the adoption process.

Another busy month, and we are hard at work preparing the next information-packed issue for June, see you then!

Give the dog a comb...

Today we met up with Jo Hart, a soon-to-be qualified dog groomer with a level 3 City & Guilds qualification in dog grooming.

Jo filmed three videos for us on our upcoming series of dog grooming articles. We look forward to bringing these to you in the coming months, beginning with "Cleaning ears".

Thanks to Jo for her time, and we look forward to filming with her again in the future!

Search & Rescue dogs in Kent

Today we met up with James Dunn of the NSARDA which stands for National Search And Rescue Dogs Association, on a farm on the Kent/Sussex border to film a training and assessment day with this charitable organisation.

NSARDA provide the Search & Rescue arm of Kent Search And Rescue, and are on call 365 days a year to provide their services as required throughout the Kent area. They are often called upon to search for vulnerable adults as well as missing hikers, and their service includes a high level of first aid training to provide medical assistance at point of discovery.

Entirely funded by charity and staffed by a hugely dedicated team of volunteers, they are often called upon to search all night and then return to their day-jobs the next day. We will be very pleased to bring you this article later on in the year, thanks to all at NSARDA for inviting us to their training day.

April issue is live

It's issue time again, and another packed issue is released, chock-full of the best information we can find from around the dog world.

This month we are extremely proud to be supporting Canine Partners, and bringing you the first video in our series covering this amazing charity. Hear from CEO Andy Cook all about the work that they do and the lives that they change.

In terms of dog behaviour and health, we have the likes of Victoria Stilwell, Dr Roger Abrantes, and TV vet Joe Inglis all making another appearance in our star-studded video library, and we have more dog training treats from Mary Ann Nester and Adem Fehmi. Last month's charity, the Pet Blood Bank, allowed us to film a donation session at one of their centres, and this video also features in this month's issue.

Topping all this off is an article with the Chairman of the Friends of RSPCA Southridge explaining the work that they do to help their local RSPCA centre.

See you next month!

Two more for the breed library

Today we filmed two more breeds for the breed library. Firstly was Diana Yemm and Mark Fox showing off their handsome Mastiffs. We were in luck - they had a litter of puppies to show us too, as well as an adolescent and a senior bitch - the full age range.

Then we visited with Lesley Busby who has been in Afghan Hounds for over 30 years. We got a great insight into this most majestic of breeds, and met her lovely two dogs.

Thank you to both breeds for inviting us to film your lovely breeds, we hope to have the finished videos in the breed library soon.

Din Dins and BATs!

On the road again, this time in London to film a great article about nutrition with Alison Daniel. Alison has spent a great deal of time researching the benefits of many natural ingredients, and has used this knowledge to create a range of supplements called Din Dins. It was clear how much Alison knew about her subject, and great to get some of it down on film. We look forward to bringing you this article later in the year.

Straight from there we went to meet up with Grisha Stewart, in between her very busy schedule of seminars and conferences she agreed to meet up with us to film a few articles about her Behaviour Adjustment Training, or BAT. As well as a general article about BAT and it's benefits, we filmed a session using BAT to treat a reactive dog who attacks the vacuum cleaner with amazing results. As always, we cannot wait to bring you these articles.

And if that wasn't enough, we also met up with Jordan Shelley to ask him how he has been getting on over the past few months and what he has discovered about putting positive reward based training into practice. 

Thanks very much to Alison, Grisha and Jordan, we look forward to filming more with you all again in the future!

Resting Pets and Pet Crematoria

Today we visited Matt Wallace from 'Resting Pets', one of the 30 pet crematoria registered with the APPCC, the Association of Private Pet Cemeteries and Crematoria. Matt showed us round their impressive facilities and talked to us about the various options and what to expect when the time comes to lay your pet to rest. A solemn subject for sure, but one worth thinking about, as it is during these times that making these tough decisions can be especially difficult to make. Thinking ahead can certainly help to ensure that you make the choices you would be happy with in the long run. We look forward to bringing you this article later in the year.

Crufts 2012

It is that special time of year again where many of the great names in positive and natural dog care congregate at the NEC in Birmingham for the greatest dog show in the world...Crufts. This year we had the great pleasure of being on the BARF UK stand with Andreas Dauer and his team. Andreas kindly let us promote Naturally Happy Dogs so we ran a special promotion for visitors to offer free memberships to those who stopped by. We hope you enjoy your memberships all those that signed up! It was great to see Joe Inglis and Jez Rose again, both on the Vet's Kitchen stand in Hall 3, we hope to film more videos with them both soon.

We hope to have our own stand at Crufts this time next year, watch this space!

March is live!

Another action packed month goes live today, and we are proud to bring our first article featuring Pet Blood Bank UK. This great organisation, based in Loughborough, provides vets around the country with much needed red blood and plasma, saving dogs lives every single day.

Training and behaviour stalwart and Naturally Happy Dogs veteran Jez Rose presents the first of 3 articles on chewing, concentrating this time on the benefits. Other veterans in March's issue include veterinary physiotherapist Barbara Houlding with an interesting article on how physiotherapy can benefit hip dysplasia, and Lizi Angel with the second part of her A.L.O.N.E. T.I.M.E article covering separation anxiety. We also present the second article from Mary Ann Nester on competing in the canine sport heelwork to music.

This month we also feature BARF Pet Foods UK, a leader in the UK in providing raw foods and supplements, with a great article on the benefits of raw feeding. Karen Lawe from the Deaf Dog Network talks to us about living with a deaf dog, and we have a thought-provoking article from Gemma Blackwell on animal communication.

Remember to sign up as a subscriber - £1 from each subscription this month goes straight to Pet Blood Bank UK and new annual subscribers receive a free gift from www.hiltonherbs.com.

Breed Library: Gordon Setters

Today we went to film Maureen Justice and her Gordon Setters. The Gordons are a breed with surprising presence when you meet them, very loving and also wilful, it was a pleasure to film them. Thanks to Maureen for her time, we look forward to adding this video to our breed library.

CV247 and Neopolitan Mastiffs

Today we went to visit Roger Oakes who has been heavily involved with a cancer treatment option called CV247. Originally created by John Carter as a palliative care treatment in dogs, Roger has been working primarily with the human equivalent for many years. Unfortunately John is no longer with us but Roger told us about his work, his veterinary practice, and the work that he started and how his work is benefiting dogs all over the country.

From there we headed to the Fens, where we met up with Steve Cox and his Neopolitan Mastiffs. Steve provided the dogs for 'Fang' in the Harry Potter films and he has a huge collection of these handsome beasts. We were very impressed with Steve's extensive kennels and runs (www.rayvonley.com), and it was a pleasure to film this interesting breed. We thank Steve for his time, and look forward to bringing this video to our breed library!

New site launched!

Some of you may have been wondering why we were a little quiet over January... well, we can now reveal it is because we have been working very hard on a brand new design for the website. As well as giving the look and feel of the website a freshen-up, we have also launched our new breed library. This is a long term project for us, to film each and every breed recognised by the Kennel Club, and create the ultimate breed reference online.

We hope you enjoy the new site, as always any feedback is much appreciated and allows us to continue developing the site to be the best it can be. In order to achieve this, we are giving away 3 pairs of tickets to Crufts (March 2012). To enter all you have to do is provide us feedback about what you think of the new site. Please send your feedback, including name and address, to feedback@naturallyhappydogs.com

Filming for the breed library

Today we filmed two more breeds for our breed library, the Irish Water Spaniel and the Basset Griffon Vendéen (Petit). First up was Judy Hempstead and her mother Sue with their Irish Water Spaniels, two fantastic examples of this captivating breed. It was amazing seeing them in their natural environment – retrieving from across the water, and having such fun doing it.

Then we met up with Gavin Robertson, the President of the Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen club, and his pack of PBGVs. We were in luck today – he had a litter of pups who were absolutely adorable! Gavin certainly knew his stuff, and gave us a fascinating insight into this lovely breed. Thanks very much to all for being involved in the filming, we hope to bring these articles to you very soon.

Comet country's happiest dog!

Following our recent competition in the Comet newspaper, our Facebook followers voted for who they thought should be crowned as Comet country's happiest dog. Congratulations to Stanley and Nuala, who came in second and third respectively, and each win a year's subscription to Naturally Happy Dogs.

The winner was a very happy cross-breed called Bony, owned and loved by Nicky Visser from Hitchin. The Naturally Happy Dogs team went to visit them and film them for a special article coming soon, we'll let you know when that is live.

As well as being filmed, Mark from A2Zoom photography came along to take a professional picture for the Comet newspaper. He has some experience with photographing dogs and is really understanding and patient with them.

Many congratulations to Nicky and Bony, we hope you enjoy your annual membership for the website, and best wishes for a very happy future!

February issue is live

The weather may be turning colder, but here at Naturally Happy Dogs things could not be hotter! We are delighted to bring you another information-packed issue, with the top canine specialists in the world.

To kick things off, Victoria Stilwell tells us about some of the campaigns she is involved with on both sides of the pond, including puppy farming, which leads into our article from TV Vet Marc Abraham in which he goes into more detail about this huge problem.

Then we have the first in our series of articles featuring the great Roger Abrantes from the Ethology Institute. In this article, Roger talks about the difference between nature and nurture, and how the different stages of puppy development play a crucial part in determining it's behaviour further along in it's life. A must see article!

As if that wasn't enough, we have our first video with TV vet Joe Inglis, who tells us about his new product range from Vet's Kitchen. We look forward to more from Joe in the coming months.

On the training and behaviour side we are very pleased to bring you Mary Ann Nester, who has displayed her heelwork to music skills at Crufts, and in this article gives us an insight into the world of doggy dancing. Along with a video about teaching the heel and recall for gun dogs with Adem Fehmi, and another great article from Lizi Angel about separation anxiety, this is another great month for training articles!

And that's not all. In October last year we went to visit Minnie, the Bichon Frise who became a Minnie-celebrity (groan...) when she reached the 5,000 friends limit on Facebook and was featured in the Times. We have finally managed to bring you our interview with owner John Antoniou.

We hope you enjoy the articles, and look forward to bringing you more great videos next month.

Happy new year!

Happy new year from the Naturally Happy Dogs team!  We hope you had a lovely christmas and that your heads are not too sore after the new year celebrations.

Here at the Naturally Happy Dogs office we have a packed start to the new year, with some absolutely fantastic videos in the January issue.

We are delighted to bring you the first of our Victoria Stilwell articles, starting with Victoria's Story.

Our supported charity this month is Wood Green The Animals Charity, to coincide with a video about their rebranding.

We have also covered lots of new ground this month, with articles on EMRA, Talking Dogs Rally, gundog work, and rehoming older dogs.  Not forgetting our favourite behaviorist Jez Rose of course with a great article on dog-to-dog aggression.

What another great months videos, and we can't wait for next month either!

A partnership in action

Today we had the immense privilege and pleasure of meeting Lorna Marsh, and her amazing Canine Partner Eli.  Lorna suffers from Cerebral palsy and is Quadriplegic, and we were visiting to see how much of an impact having a Canine Partner has made to Lorna's life. 

Having already filmed at the CPI headquarters a week ago, we ought to have been well prepared for what we were going to film today.  Not so.  We were simply blown away by what a help Eli is every day to Lorna, doing everything from opening and closing doors, retrieving dropped items, helping to remove Lorna's jacket, flushing the toilet and even clearing up his own dinner bowl. 

Lorna was a natural in front of the camera, and thoroughly enjoyed demonstrating the wide range of skills Eli has whilst explaining how he instills a very strong sense of independence in her. 

We will bring you Lorna's story in the May 2012 issue.