Handstands!

Today we filmed Chris Mancini at the Puppypals training school. Chris kindly agreed to film three articles with us on the subject of trick training, including cross paws, 'foot on foot' and even how to teach your dog to do handstands!

We thank Chris and her colleagues for their time, and look forward to bringing you these articles early next year.

Medical Detection Dogs

Today we filmed the amazing work of the Medical Detection Dogs. A fairly new charity, they are training dogs for a variety of roles, using their keen sense of smell to detect particles in urine samples and indicating when they find the particular scents that they are trained to detect.

 It is said that some dogs can detect cancer cells in two parts per trillion. They are also more accurate during the earlier stages of cancer, as there are less other complications at this point, and thereby easier to distinguish.

We also filmed 10-year-old Stephen who has type-1 diabetes, his dog is trained to detect the scent of low or high sugar levels, and indicates by fetching his tester equipment, and alerting his mum in the second instance. A wonderful story, we look forward to bringing these articles to you in the new year.

Baileys, no ice

Today we had the good fortune to film the great Bill Bailey! Bill and his wife Kris kindly allowed us into their home to capture Bill in his native environment, with his three Bali Dingos, and a whole menagerie of other animals too.

Bill shot a video with us, all about his work with the Bali Adoption and Rehabilitation Centre (BARC) and how he came to rehome three Bali Dingos himself.

We thank Bill and his family for their time today, and look forward to bringing you this video soon!

New December 2012 videos

Our December issue is now live. In this we take a deeper look into some of the topics that have proved popular in recent months. We look further at the Pets As Therapy dogs scheme (Registering a Pets As Therapy dog), dog first aid (Poisoning), agility training (tunnels), Tellington TTouch (earwork) and pet insurance (different types).

We also take a look at a couple of innovative new schemes. A fairly recent idea and one that builds on the Pets As Therapy notion is that of “reading to dogs”. This is not as crazy as it might initially sound. Studies have shown that when a child reads to a dog, it is not only fun for them but helps by providing a non-judgemental audience. It really seems to build a child’s confidence and there are a number of these schemes now supported by the Kennel Club. We hear from the Kennel Club about their participation and from 'Danny' from one of the schemes.

Another new and exciting approach has been taken by Wood Green – The Animal Charity with their “Paw to Door” scheme. This is a way to re-home dogs without the need for lengthy stays in kennels. We discover how this works in practise.

Finally, should you want to make the most of your canine’s good looks in time for Christmas, we get some helpful hints on finding a good groomer.

Surgery with Noel

Up bright and early today to visit Noel Fitzpatrick at Fitzpatrick referrals near Guildford in Surrey. Fitzpatrick Referrals are committed to providing the best compassionate care, surgical excellence and rehabilitation – the gold standard of care.  They offer all the options available in neuro-orthopaedic surgery today.  Achieving the best possible quality of life for pets, Fitzpatrick Referrals strives to make the impossible possible.

Noel explained in detail elbow problems, hip dysplasia, a spinal problem and cruciate ligament problems. He even let us video a couple of operations - one took just over half an hour and the other lasted just 4 minutes!

We hope to bring you these fascinating videos very soon.

Alarms and Raw feeding

Today we met Victoria from Animalarm - the digital thermometer that can actually text you when it is getting too hot or cold for your dog in your car / kennel / conservatory / boat etc! She showed us how the fantastic product works and even left us with one to test out with our own dogs. That will be very useful for checking that the temperature isn't getting too cold for our office dog Lady who has just had her 15th birthday!

We also met Catherine from Albion meat products. Catherine started selling raw meat dog food from the back of her car and now has a company with a fleet of drivers delivering around the country.

We look forward to bringing these videos to you soon.

Discovering Dogs

We spent today at Discover Dogs in Earls Court, London - a very good but very tiring day.

We filmed some great articles though - Tony Nevett and Caroline Kisko told us about Bark and Read, the Kennel Club's scheme to support organisations which take dogs into schools to help children to improve their reading. The calm, non judgmental nature of the dogs means that children improve in confidence and ability very quickly. Danny the lovely greyhound even gave us a demo with some young visitors to the event.

We also met Carolyn Menteith who explained about the benefits of the Companion Dog Club and then Bill Lambert to learn about the Assured Breeders Scheme.

November 2012 videos

Our November issue is live and this month sees the first of a series of great videos on the work of Pets as Therapy dogs, Introduction to P.A.T. dogs, and the invaluable work they do. Pets as Therapy dogs and their dedicated volunteers can be found working together to promote health and wellbeing in a variety of settings, from hospitals and care homes to schools for children with learning difficulties. It’s amazing how beneficial a visit from a dog can be both to the physical and mental health of a wide variety of people.

We learn how we can improve our chances of Buying a Healthy Puppy from Margaret Carter at Cavalier Matters. Cavaliers have more than their fair share of health problems and Margaret has learned, as have so many others, the problems that can beset you if you take on a dog with health problems.

As well as those, there are videos on: training - Teaching Agility Jumps; health – how to take a Dog’s Temperature; alternative therapy – TTouch Observations; practical matters – Making the Most of Pet Insurance; and animal behaviour – Reinforcement and Punishment.

We really do look at a wide variety of topics at Naturally Happy Dogs. Sled Dog Harnesses anyone? With winter just around the corner, who knows what we might be needing...

Dangerous dogs and not-so-dangerous dogs

On Saturday we visited Wheldon Law in Hemel Hempstead - Specialist Canine and Criminal Lawyers to find out all about the dangerous dog laws, what they mean and what to do if you are involved in an incident with a dangerous dog. Tina Hay explained to us what Breed Specific Legislation means for people who own dogs who are of a certain 'type'.

On Sunday we were back with Adem Fehmi from Dog-ease who showed us some more gundog training, including how to train a dog to stop on command and how to overcome some typical 'problems' with retrieving.

Grooming and Gundogs

Another busy weekend, on Friday we visited Trevor Pearman from Pedigrees n Pooches based at Fosters Pet and Garden Centre in Hertfordshire.

Trevor was nervous but was excellent in front of the camera, very clearly showing and explaining to us:
- Bathing dogs
- Drying dog
- Plucking dogs ears
- How to find a good dog groomer

On Saturday we attended Dog Ease training school near Buntingford to film some of their agility class and also film Gundog trainer Adem Fehmi explaining how to teach a dog distance control.

These videos should be coming to you over the next few months.

Give a dog a P.A.T.

With autumn approaching, the Happy Dogs team were on the road again, this time in Buckinghamshire to catch up with the great work being done by Pets As Therapy, a nationwide charity with volunteers visiting a wide range of establishments, from schools to care homes.

First we met with Chief Executive Lisa Coles who talked to us about the organisation in general. Then we met with a Regional Coordinator Jennifer who took us to Stoke Mandeville hospital and St Leonards care home so that we could see first hand the good these animals do.

We'd like to thank the volunteers (Sylvia and Myrna) who talked to us about their work and also the patients, and everyone at Pets As Therapy who made us feel so welcome. We look forward to bringing you the first of these videos in November.

(pictured is Sylvia with Hetty the dog meeting patient Maurice at Stoke Mandeville hospital)

Back to Wood Green

Happy Dogs was pleased to be invited back to Wood Green The Animals Charity headquarters in Godmanchester, this time to film articles covering rehoming a pet, both from the angle of current and prospective owners, and also a piece with Tracey Hill about Paw-to-Door, their trial scheme which aims to re-home animals without the need for a stay in the shelter itself.

We would like to thank Tracey, and also Barbara Fances and Victoria Cannon for their time today, and look forward to bringing you these articles in the coming months.

Itchy and scratchy

Today we met up with Richard Allport during a consult with Michelle Brown and her Jack Russell Jake.

Jake has been biting and scratching his skin in various areas, including his legs, feet, tummy and around his ears. Michelle wanted an alternative to the 'masking' effect of steroidal drugs, and so consulted our natural vet contributor. Both Richard and Michelle kindly agreed to allow us to film this consult, the second time that Michelle had seen Richard about this problem.

We look forward to bringing you this article soon.

October 2012 dog videos go live

October's videos are now live, including articles by Dr Ian Dunbar, Dr Roger Abrantes, Jane Harvey, Margaret Carter, Alex Wilson, Sophie Flux and Neil Flint...what an expert filled month!

Our diary for the rest of this year is filling up rather quickly with filming for the next 6 month's issues, we look forward to bringing even more top canine experts to your computer screen soon!

Agility introductions

Today we visited a local agility class - Wrayfield Agility Club who were holding one of their regular 'taster' agility sessions for people who hadn't done agility with their dogs before.

Some of the students were brave enough to try teaching their dogs a few pieces of agility equipment 'to camera' with help of dog trainer Sally Marchant.

The videos on how to teach Jumps, Tunnels and Weave poles will be coming soon.

Basset Griffon Vendeen (Grand)

We spent a lovely day today in a gorgeous National Trust area just outside Tring with Vivien Phillips and her Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen (and her Dachshunds, Petit Basset Griffon Vendeens and Beagles although we weren't there to film the other breeds!)

Vivien was a natural in front of the camera and we are looking forward to bringing you her fascinating insight into this great fun breed.

Our September 2012 issue is live

This month, Jez gives us a fascinating insight into Understanding dog language. We get some useful overviews on dog training techniques. Grisha Stewart tells us how Behaviour Adjustment Training (BAT) works in practise in Behaviour Adjustment Training: Case studies and Dr Roger Abrantes clarifies what is really meant by ‘reinforcement’ and ‘punishment’ in dog training in Reinforcement and punishment explained.

It’s good to have fun with your dog. Dr Ian Dunbar is a great believer in the value of playing tug and tells us how it can be a useful tool to support other training in Playing tug and , for all those would-be canine film stars out there, Sally Rowe teaches how to get your dog to go to a ‘mark’ in Teaching tricks: Mark.

On a more practical front, we can learn about Choosing the right harness, Doggy day care and the ins and outs of pet insurance in Pet insurance explained.

Food and diet

We were sent some useful information recently that we thought you might be interested in. For more great ideas, we have a number of 'how to' recipe video ideas in our 'Diet and Nutrition' video section.

Healthy Dog Food: 4 Things Your Puppy Will Love
If you've been looking at some of the labels on commercial pet food products lately, you may be wondering: how is this supposed to be healthy dog food? There has been a series of scandals recently regarding tainted and low quality pet foods being sold in supermarkets around the nation. 
This has prompted many people to ask themselves weather the foods that we give to our pets are actually safe and good for them. One thing that pet owners need to be aware of, is that unlike human foods, dog food must be certified to be able to meet a dog's nutritional needs, no matter what brand of food it is or where it is sold.

A dog has certain nutritional needs that will differ from humans. According to veterinarians, the best diet for a dog would be one that contains roughly half meat and half vegetables. Avoid foods that have too much grain, wheat, or other ingredients that are simply used as fillers and offer very little in terms of nutritional value. 

While grains can be used as part of a healthy diet for a dog, as they provide long term energy, the problem with them is that they are often used as a cheap filler and to boost the protein count on the label. The best type of food is one which has meat as a primary source of protein.
If you want examples of healthy dog food that provides the proper nutrition and is enjoyable for your dog to eat, then here are four healthy meals for healthy weight. 

Organic Canned Dog Food 
Many pet owners would say that this is the very best that you can offer to a dog you love. It contains organic chicken, turkey, liver, sea salt, kelp, flax seed, plus all the essential nutrients and vitamins to help your pet thrive. It is also a food recommended by veterinarians for dogs that are recovering from health issues.

If you want to skip commercial dog food entirely and make your own, there are some options which are open to you. After all, dogs have been domesticated long before commercial pet food came into existence. Here are some ideas:

Hamburger meat, seafood and liver combination 
This is done by preparing 2 pounds of hamburger, 10 ounces of shrimp or lobster, plus 1 cup of raw liver. You can add half a cup of brown rice to the mix as well.

Vegetarian meal 
While dogs are carnivores, some of the meals can be vegetarian. One idea to make a vegetarian dish is using 2 lbs of grated carrots, 3 bunches of grated broccoli, 2 cups of brown rice and 4 grated zucchinis. 

Dog meatloaf plus vegetables
You take 2 lbs of lean ground beef, add 2 carrots, 3 small potatoes, 1 chopped celery stalk to make a meal that your dog will definitely love and enjoy eating.

These are just some examples of recipes you can make at home. Before making your own dog food, you need to do your research, as there are items such as grapes, chocolate and some onions can be very harmful to dogs.

Fantastic new veterinary practice

We have had a lovely day today in Swindon with Joe Inglis and Jez, celebrating the opening of their new 'Vet's Klinic' surgery. It really is great to see such innovation in the world of general veterinary practices, this Klinic has a large glass fronted room for preparing dogs for surgery and completing minor procedures such as dental work.

The vets will use iPads to record their client's information and behaviourist Jez will also be able to use their technology to record behaviour sessions for owners to watch back afterwards.

We have been ultra efficient at editing this video and so it is live already here.

We look forward to them opening a new surgery closer to us, we will certainly be one of the first to sign up!

While we were there we met up with 'Mugly'- officially The World's Ugliest Dog! We asked his owner Bev to explain how he got the title, that video should be live in our September issue.

Animal Aiders and Portuguese Water Dogs

We went off to Bury-St-Edmunds today to interview Sophie Flux from Animal Aiders.

Animal Aiders provides practical and high quality vet led courses in animal first aid throughout the country. With her invaluable help, we were able to produce videos on: basic health signs - how to tell when something is wrong and what to do; eye injuries – signs of and how to treat; poisons and poisoning; and heat stroke. Sophie was a perfect host and a dream to film. We look forward to meeting up with her again for more articles in the future.

It was all go today, after filming Sophie in the morning, we were off to another part of Suffolk to meet Jocelyn Creffield to interview her about Portuguese Water Dogs. PWD’s turned out to be an affectionate and lively breed. As the name suggests, the dog is native to Portugal, is an excellent swimmer, and worked for hundreds of years helping fishermen. The “lion trim” they were given, where the rear is close cut, helped them to work in the water, and is still used in the show ring today. Many thanks go to Jocelyn for her time and hospitality. We look forward to adding this video to our breed library soon.

Cavalier Matters

We met up with Tanya Ledger and Margaret Carter from Cavalier Matters today.

Cavalier Matters is a not-for-profit organisation set up to provide health and other information about the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. It’s brilliant website may be full of fun cartoons but is jam packed with useful information on serious issues for CKCS owners.

It’s founder, Tanya, was prompted to set it up after she discovered her own Cav suffering from some serious health issues. We did an interview about the organisation, one about health issues and another about how to buy a healthy Cav. Tanya is keen that future CKCS owners don’t face the problems she had to.

August 2012 is live

Our August issue is live, this month we have some practical demonstrations including Behaviour Adjustment Training in action to help a dog overcome it's fear of vacuum cleaners and an instruction video on how to clip your dog's claws.

We also have a very interesting article on the Critical Periods of a puppy's development, an explanation of the assessment process at Canine Partners and we find out more about the research behind the CV247 cancer therapy.

We met up with Xtradog to find out about the benefits of harnesses, Lizi Angel gave us some advice on how to help dogs with Separation Distress and Jez discusses how he would help an unusual problem of a dog who didn't like 'walkies'.

German shorthaired and longhaired pointers

Today we travelled to Cambridgeshire to meet David and Eileen Winser and their German Shorthaired Pointers and the less common German Longhaired Pointers. David and Eileen have 3 Longhaired and 2 Shorthaired pointers and a litter of pups. It was a real pleasure to meet them and their very well trained and well behaved dogs. Even the 7 week old pups were demonstrating lovely recalls and sits! We should be bringing that video to you soon so do keep an eye out on our video library Breed Section.

Sex and growling!

We travelled to Buckinghamshire today to see the great Ian Dunbar at his seminar at Amersham Rugby Club. He very kindly spent much of his lunch break with us and we have some fantastic new videos on inappropriate sexual behaviour, unwanted toileting behaviour, playing tug and teaching 'growl' and 'shush'. Ian was, as always, a natural in front of the camera and we filmed these four great videos in no time, leaving him in peace to eat his lunch before returning to the packed venue for his last day teaching during this trip.

July 2012 issue is live

This month we feature the work of the National Search and Rescue Dog Association (NSARDA) Kent organisation. They are this month's featured charity, and we bring you a fascinating insight into the thorough work they do with this month's first article.

Also this month we bring you an interesting article about pet cremation, a sombre subject but one that all pet owners out there should consider in good time.

Our Canine Partners series continues with an article about puppy parents, and behaviourist Jez talks to us about guarding issues that can arise when you have more than one dog in the house.

TV vet Joe Inglis talks to us about nutrition through the various stages of a dogs life, whilst Victoria Stilwell talks about the process of introducing a baby into a family that already has dogs.

Our gun dog training series continues with Adem Fehmi with a 'retrieve' video and we see another grooming video about trimming feet featuring Jo Hart go live this month also... another action packed issue, well what would you expect!

Maybe next time

The Naturally Happy Dogs team attended the FSB Hertfordshire Small Business Awards 2012 Gala dinner along with a few hundred other finalists. There were some very strong entrants this year and a few businesses stood out as leaders in their industries.

Unfortunately we didn't come away with an award, however our framed 'finalist' certificates are up in our offices. We were very pleased and honoured to even get to the finals so we didn't leave disappointed. There's always next time and we'll keep trying!

Irish Terriers

Today we visited the lovely Ann Bradley and her Irish Terriers, which she breeds and shows.

It is rare for us to visit someone so organised, and Ann had prepared her answers in great deal making her an absolute pleasure to film. Her older bitch 'Lady' was a calm and thoughtful example of the breed, and helped Ann welcome us to the home, but gave us a false sense of security - Ann also has a number of younger dogs and they were anything but calm! An energetic and lively breed, they were a real pleasure to meet and film and were a credit to themselves.

We very much look forward to bringing you this article in our breed library, one of our best so far! Thanks very much Ann.

Ready, Set, Finnish!

Today we filmed another two breeds for the breed library, Finnish Lapphunds and Irish Setters. First we visited Elaine Short and her Finnish Lapphunds.

Elaine has 9 Lapphunds including the various colours that the Lapphunds comprise, and a variety of ages from 8 months to 12 years. She also had one bitch in whelp, about a week from full-term...we should have visited three weeks later! We wish Elaine all the best with the new additions to her canine family, and thank her again for her time.

Then it was onto visit David Bell and his Irish Setters. Again there was a variety of ages on show with their youngest dog being only 4 months old, and their eldest 13 years. David is the Chairman of The Irish Setter Association, England and with 40 years experience of the breed was very knowledgable. We thank David and his wife for their time, and very much look forward to bringing both of these breed videos to you soon.

June 2012 dog videos

Another month, another action packed issue goes live on the Naturally Happy Dogs website.

This month we feature the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, with an interview with Jo-Ann Essex and Lesley McFadyen from the East Anglian Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club, who are also our charity of the month this month.

We also have another interview with Karen Lawe all about training deaf dogs, and a great video about the training process that Canine Partners use to train their partner dogs. With another interview with Victoria Stilwell about the problems of anthropomorphising dogs, a fascinating insight into the canine cancer treatment option CV247, and another video from Mary Ann Nester about dancing with dogs, it is another very full month - see all our videos in this issue here - June 2012

But that's not all – we also feature the first in our series of dog grooming videos with groomer Jo Hart, who explains how to clean your dogs ears.

We've had another busy few days full of filming too, so lots more interesting articles coming up in the next few months, stay tuned!

A TTouch of class

After what seems like a lifetime we have finally returned to film Jane Harvey, TTouch practitioner and proprietor of Harvey's Dog Training & Day Care.

Jane very kindly showed us round her doggy day care facilities, and also talked us through some more TTouch techniques including ear work. We have got some great articles which we look forward to bringing you in the next few months. We thank Jane very much and look forward to filming her again in the future.

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 projects, ssssh!

Today we met up with our behaviour specialist, Jez. 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 2012 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.

Behaviour expert Jez 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 2012 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 on the Vet's Kitchen stand in Hall 3.

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

March 2012 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 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 Neapolitan 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 Neapolitan 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 us via our contact page.

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 2012 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 2012!

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 behaviorist Jez 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!