Anna's Blog

This week Anna is joined by Jo Boughton-White, Managing Director of Dorwest Herbs. Visiting their HQ in Dorchester, the Dorwest team show Anna around the facility, and chat about how their award winning range of Herbal supplements are produced.

Conscious of the very best practice with quality ingredients, the supplements are made to pharmaceutical standards. We chat about the history of the company, now run by Jo as the third generation of this family business. Looking back at press cuttings from as far back as the 1950’s , Anna and Jo discuss why the heritage of Dorwest is so significant as they move into their 75th year!

This week Anna is joined by Kim Brophey, who is an applied ethologist and owner of The Dog Door Behaviour Centre in the USA. 

Kim’s 20-year commitment to Family Dog Mediation® has been recognised both nationally and internationally. We chat about her new trademarked Dog L.E.G.S.® model, which is considered as a groundbreaking new system for dog lovers to truly understand their dogs’ behaviour.

This week Anna is joined by Sarah Jones who rescued Bella eight years ago and soon discovered Bella was very nervous and reacted when her space was invaded by other people and dogs.

Realising that the majority of dogs display some sort of anxiety, and are reluctant to socialise with unknown doggies,  Sarah devised a range of yellow leads, collars, bandanas jackets in yellow , which is the colour recognised to highlight that your dog needs some space. Dogs in Yellow was born! 

To kick off the New Year Anna is joined by Trainer & Behaviourist, Victoria Stilwell, all the way from Atlanta. With Victoria’s second series of It’s Me Or The Dog being aired, we chat about this and the landmark first series that aired in the UK in 2005.

Victoria explains that the doggy problems are the same as they were in the first series, but more intense as our lives have changed, not least because of the pandemic. If trained dogs are happy dogs, they make for happier pet parents! Victoria champions the term ‘teaching’ over ‘training, and about empowering pet parents with the skills to get the best out of your dog.

Surely ‘walking the dog’ is synonymous with bringing a dog into your life. It’s one of a dog’s many selling points that’s being drawn to our attention by National Walk Your Dog Month. Apart from being a free chance to get outdoors, enjoy fresh air and nature, walking the dog is an aerobic exercise that reaps mental and physical health benefits naturally: that’s not just for yourself, but your pooch too!

It's 'food for thought', why feeding for optimum health and behaviour will impact positively on your dog's health and behaviour!

Just as highly processed ‘simple’ ‘high-glycemic’ refined sugary foods like biscuits can create sugar spikes in people, similar hyperactivity and an inability to focus occurs in dogs fed highly processed simple carbohydrate foods like ‘kibble’. Sugar highs are followed in people and dogs by sugar lows like lethargy, moodiness, and being irritable. But some pet parents mistake these behaviours as being ill-mannered or uncooperative, rather than attributing them to their dog’s food.

Simple carbohydrates digest and absorb quicker, leaving dogs feeling hungry again quicker. Triggering undesirable begging behaviours, or munching on inappropriate ‘foods’ like your designer Chelsea boots. 

As rescues see the aftermath of the ‘pandemic puppy boom’, re-sales of young dogs are soaring online. Could making a choice to feed a healthy raw balanced and complete diet like Paleoridge reduce dogs being abandoned for ‘bad’ behaviour problems?  

Whether you’ve just introduced a puppy, a rescue dog, or want to perfect a recall with your adult dog, MyLine makes training easy, consistent and fun. With outdoor spaces busier than ever a reliable recall is the most important command to teach your puppy / adult dog.  Apart from possibly saving your dog’s life one day, in an age of dog theft it’s unadvisable for your puppy / adult dog to ever leave your sight. MyLine will help you navigate distractions and with practice and repetition, your dog will learn that a five-metre approximate distance from you is the morally mandatory rule.