Anna's Blog

This week Anna is joined by Zazie Todd (Companion Animal Psychology) talking about her new book Purr - the science of making your cat happy.

Zazie has a PhD in Psychology, and an Advanced Certificate in Feline Behaviour from International Cat Care. Her award winning book Wag was featured in episode: 53 of A DOG’S LIFE and similarly covers all the essentials and latest science to work out how to make your pet happy.

This week Anna is joined by Nadia Leguel founder of Wagit, championing dog friendly, Nadia is bringing her vision to  making it easy to find pubs, cafes, restaurants that are genuinely dog friendly.

The platform which also includes, groomers, pet boutiques, and more is designed with modern pet parents in mind. Wanting to take their pooches with them when out socialising, Wagit makes this so easy with hundreds of tested venues listed. Nadia and her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel have spent months checking out places, being tipped off about new venues joining the dog friendly revolution. 

This week Anna is joined by Debbie Humphreys, the founder of Redhound for Dogs. As a small independent business, Debbie chats about why she set up her business to offer Whippets with a stylish, yet practical coats for wet , wintry walks.

We chat about her passion for the Whippet, her concerns as Whippets’ popularity has grown through the pandemic. The worry being Whippets may fall victim to unscrupulous breeders, or to pet parents without the experience to take on a ancient sight hound.

This week Anna is joined by Sarah Hollinshead, Head of Brand & Content at Attest, which is one of the largest consumer SaaS platforms. We’re chatting about a new study that reveals that Brits are still barking mad about dogs. Flying in the face of the soaring cost of living pet parents prioritise their pets and go the extra mile, notably taking the time to shop at their local pet boutique, rather than online.

Friday April 22 was National Beagle Day. Anna marked the day by chatting to John Curtin, one of the leaders of Camp Beagle, who have been camped outside Marshall Bio Resources since last July, protesting their ongoing supply of Beagles for 'aboratory testing'. 

Despite being redundant and unnecessary research, the treatment of the beagles is also cruel, owing to their docile nature.

Campaigning for justice for the Beagle and for true animal welfare that is 'allowed' in the name of science in an institutionalised way- a bit like 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". 

In an uncanny small world, it turns out that Chris' son, Will, is OJ's producer who had booked Anna as a guest. In this episode Anna and Chris catch up post Crufts, chatting about how Chris’s world has gone to the dogs - in a good way of course!  Having been high flying in the world of corporate advertising, he crashed out of the industry, questioning what life should be about. 

This week Anna is joined by Broadcaster OJ Borg, who chats about his passion for dogs, especially his rescue for Manchester Dog's Home Lebowski. He's a Jack Russell mix and very part of the family. 

OJ talks about why for him AdoptDontShop is so important, giving dogs a second chance. he also airs some of his bugbears, including the growth in designer crossbreeds rather than adopting.