DogsFirst Webinars

New to raw 

Webinar Length: 3hrs (additional 1hr question time FOC)     Difficulty: Easy 🤓

This is one of the most popular seminars. It’s for those completely new to the subject that still need a little convincing. We begin with a shortened version of the carnivore / omnivore debate (see below) and then touch upon the science supporting raw feeding. That’s 75mins already. After a short break, we move into raw feeding – what is it, different types, how do it, picking a good premade, DIY raw, treats etc. Question time following this seminar is often quite lengthy!

Raw Feeding Masterclass: Everything you Need to Know

Length: 2hrs (additional 30mins question time FOC)     Difficulty: Medium 🤓🤓

Length: 1hrs (additional 30mins question time FOC)      Difficulty: Easy 🤓

So many people are confused over this simple question – is the dog a carnivore or an omnivore? In this field, I am very strong as diet and guts was a large part of my doctorate. There are so many interesting parts to this short seminar including canine ancestry, dog diet studies and why they are seen to differ, the digestive physiology of the dog and the carbohydrate debate. It makes for a fantastic introduction to all things raw.

Carbohydrates: Their Role in the Canine Obesity, Cancer and Pancreatitis Epidemics 

Length: 2hrs (additional 30mins question time FOC)    Difficulty: Medium 🤓🤓

The majority of dogs today are living on food-like products containing more than 50-60% rapidly-digested carbohydrates. In humans, the literature is unambiguous on the potential effects of such an ultra-processed diet on a human over time. It will lead to obesity, diabetes and cancer. And we are largely plant-eaters. Dogs are largely meat-eaters with zero physiological requirement for carbohydrates in their diet. You have to wonder, with today’s dogs facing their own obesity, cancer and now pancreatitis epidemics, is such a diet safe for our pets? The answer, clearly, is no but do you understand the processes involved? Dogs have a similar, disgraceful obesity epidemic as humans, in not only origins but scale. Worse, they are ten times more likely to get cancer than humans (the next most cancer-prone species on earth). Ten times. And a staggering amount of cats and dogs, up to two thirds, are today suffering some form of pancreatitis by old age. Quite a feat with no access to alcohol or prescription drugs. This is shocking and completely unacceptable. I discuss each of these topics in detail, explaining the role of carbohydrates play in each and close each section with the recommended diet for each health condition.  This seminar is absolutely pivotal information for not only owners of pets affected by these diseases but for any vet overseeing their recovery.

Matters of Protein

Length: 90mins (additional 30mins question time FOC)     Difficulty: Medium 🤓🤓

The Role of Nutrition in Behaviour

Length: 1.5hrs (additional 30mins question time FOC)     Difficulty: Medium 🤓🤓 

During my time in Guide Dogs I encountered a training school that had recently changed around 180 dogs from cereal-based dry food to raw feeding and among other benefits, the dogs were better able for their work. Exactly how or why may still elude us today but we have a lot more answers than we did ten years ago. The literature is rife with studies documenting the power of food to alter, stoke or soothe human behaviour. Unsurprisingly, we are finding the majority of these compounds work in a similar fashion in dogs. In this seminar, we discuss the many nutritional issues with ultra-processed food for negatively impacting behaviour in dogs. Of all aspects in this respect, the gut microbiota is perhaps the most important. We all know 90% of our serotonin comes from our gut but less of us know this process is managed by the gut flora. You mess them up, you get less happy chemicals. But they are not the only thing we should consider. From vitamins and minerals to protein (where we touch upon the tryptophan delusion), the role of carbs/sugar, fats and chemicals, we take a trip through a number of fascinating canine nutrition works that highlight how important each of these points are to the mental stamina in your dog. We conclude with some base-line tips on what you might do should you be faced with a dog exhibiting negative behaviour.

Canine Food Allergies (and how to fix them)

Length: 1.5hrs (additional 30mins question time FOC)     Difficulty: Medium 🤓🤓 

The number 1, 2 and 3 reasons for visiting the vet today are recurring skin, ear and gut conditions. They’re also the most common reasons folk jump to raw. Sadly, while a quick change to any raw will solve a lot of your issues, very often it is not as simple as that. Food sensitivity can be a very tricky little condition so a little groundwork here is needed to help you move forward. We begin by teaching you the different types of food sensitivities (it’s not all “allergies”). Using the literature we discuss the top antigens in dogs, why they may have come about and demonstrate why dry food will never solve the problem for you long term. We then get into a detailed step by step of what to do which involves how to move them over correctly, which meats to choose and why, how to conduct an exclusion diet properly as well all the natural supplements I would use and why. Above all, it’s vital you understand that the fix entails mending the gut. There is no point looking for a new car when your road is full of potholes. The new car will only work so well, and for so long. With this course it is hoped you will get your dog back to full digestive potential and thus good health. 

The Dark Side of Pet Food Science (and why your vet is so confused)

Length: 2hrs (additional 30mins question time FOC)    Difficulty: Medium 🤓🤓 

This is a scary one. When you realise that real food is the very obvious winner in the dry v raw debate, you naturally ask yourself – how did the veterinary industry go so wrong? I certainly did, anyway and I spent a lot of time over the last few years getting to the bottom of it. We begin by analysing what vets learn in college, in a nutritional sense. From there we step back and examine how both the human food drug industries are hopelessly entwined with and now ruined by copious amounts of pseudoscience. We then focus on the tricks of the pet food industry, the corporate links to our veterinary sector and the terrible lack of regulation keeping the whole show on the road.

The Hazardous Microbiology Debate

Length: 1hr (additional 30mins question time FOC)      Difficulty: Medium 🤓🤓 

Folk new to raw feeding come with a certain amount of fear to the table. This fear has been carefully instilled in you (and your vet) to make you believe that overly complicated, ultra-processed and over-priced bag of crackers is worth the money you are currently wasting on it. By far the biggest fear pushed by vested interests is the risk of hazardous microbiology (which saves talking about nutrition or health so easily). So here we spend time talking about the risks of BOTH dry versus raw dog food from that very perspective. We go through the bug threat of each product, showing you the figures, the deaths, the recalls, and allow you to make up your own mind of what is truly safe and what is not for your pet.  

Bloat/GDV and the Role of Dietary Fibre

Length: 45mins (additional 30mins question time FOC)     Difficulty: Medium 🤓🤓 

Today we know that if robust gut and microflora health and in turn your own physical and mental well being is what you’re after, then we need to ensure we keep a regular intake of plant fibre. To this end, we now exploit a great variety of plant ingredients for their soluble and insoluble fibre offerings. Various plant fibre ingredients are used in pet food also. However, to what advantage is such material to a meat eater? Plant fibre is not normal fibre for a meat-eater, that is more likely to be meat peptides and undigested muscle fibre, as well as indigestible parts including hair, hide, feathers and bone roughage. We discuss the danger off too much plant fibre in dogs (as leftovers of the human food industry – beet pulp, corn gluten pulp, soybean and now grape pomace meal – the pet food industry is more than happy to use such ingredients liberally), specifically in deep-chested dogs prone to bloat and GDV. All the fingers now point towards one specific ingredient. You will learn about the different types of fibre and their roles in the body. We touch upon the difference between Crude Fibre on pet food labels and the more accurate reading of Total Dietary Fibre and finish with best advice for the average dog. 

New Pup: Everything You Need to Know

Length: 1hr (additional 30mins question time FOC)     Difficulty: Easy 🤓 

From my guide dog days, I have a wealth of experience settling pups into their homes and training the dogs (and families) up during that crucial first year of their life. I will advise on what you need in terms of food, treats and equipment, in preparation for their arrival, as well those first few nights and some training tips that will set you up for the years ahead. Of course, the focus will be on the best nutrition but we will also focus on simple, natural health tips and tricks to keep him out of the vets as much as possible. Issues such as flea and worm treatments, vaccinations and neutering are absolutely crucial (and the answers may not be what you expect!). 

Natural Parasite Control & Vaccination Advice

Length: 90mins (additional 30mins question time FOC)    Difficulty: Easy 🤓

When pet owners begin to question the nutritional information they have been receiving, attentions naturally shift towards other products they have been putting not only in but on their pets. The first place they should look is parasite control. We have a major problem with the overuse of chemical parasite control in pets that do not have those parasites in the first place. Such products are not without harm, to your pet and the indeed the environment in which they travel. Know that there are a multitude of cheap, natural and very effective solutions to most of the bugs we are told to fear today. You wouldn’t de-nit a kid without nits, would you? In this webinar, we walk you through the major parasite groupings – fleas, worms and ticks, showing you what the science says not only of incidence and risk but ways you can keep them at bay yourself with products so safe you’d be happy to use on the kids (though I can’t advise there). We finish with a section on vaccinations (to both viruses but also bacteria such as leptospirosis), showing you not only what the science says is going on currently but as always the best, most effective, least harmful way you can protect your pet, using advice from the top vet governing bodies, such as WSAVA.