Holistic Dog

About Holistic Dog

The Holistic Dog® Hosted by Nina Fotara, The Holistic Gundog Specialist at Confident Canine® in Essex, UK This podcast explores what it really means to connect with your dog, not just through cues and training, but through energy, emotion, and presence. Rooted in a holistic approach to dog behaviour, Nina shares insights from years spent training, specialising in working with gundogs and their guardians, blending positive reinforcement with energy awareness, mindfulness, and practical spirituality. Episodes are created to help you understand you and your dog as energetic beings and to help you bring balance to both ends of the lead. Whether you're navigating prey drive issues, recall challenges, loose lead nightmares, reactivity, or just want a deeper more meaningful relationship with your gundog, this podcast will guide you towards calm, connection, and clarity.

Publisher

Nina Fotara

Category

education · kids & family

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Sept 2020

Latest episode

14 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

8 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   14 Sept 2026

   Holistic Dog with Mrs P for CRA Day 2026.mp4

   Happy People, Happy Dogs: A Canine Regulation Day™ Conversation with Tracey (Mrs P) of No Fuss Fill Recorded for the launch of Canine Regulation Day™ 2026. Episode overview For the launch of Canine Regulation Day™, Nina sits down with Tracey, known to her customers as Mrs P, founder of No Fuss Fill, to talk about how the business started, the link between a guardian's own regulation and their dog's behaviour, and Tracey's own journey working with Nina. In this episode How No Fuss Fill grew from one mess-free idea into a full range of enrichment tools Why a guardian's small stresses, cold hands, a rushed morning, phone in hand, travel straight down the lead Tracey's journey with her dog Harvey, including his recovery after a dog attack, and the shifts she credits to working with Nina What surprised Nina when she asked industry peers about regulation directly The No Fuss Fill story and products Tracey started No Fuss Fill after wanting easy, mess-free enrichment for her own dog, and developed the range with a university manufacturing team The range now covers the No Fuss Fill enrichment toy filler, the Training Treat Chopper, praised for how easy it makes cleanup and prep and to chop pate for the 'perfect sized training treats’, and the SkooGo pocket gloves for comfort on long-line walks A blog post on walking boots and tread is used as a simple, relatable example of how a guardian's own comfort affects their dog Guardian regulation and dog behaviour Core message: happy people, happy dogs. Small stresses a guardian carries, cold hands, a rushed prep, phone energy, transmit straight down the lead Tracey shared her journey with Harvey, including his recovery after being attacked, and credited Nina's work with the major shifts that followed When Nina surveyed industry peers about regulation directly, she found many were surprised by the question itself, a sign the topic is still under-discussed Find Tracey No Fuss Fill: https://www.nofussfill.com/ (https://www.nofussfill.com/) And on socials (TikTok and Instagram, also on Facebook), @nofussfill About Nina Nina Fotara KCAI (WG) is the multi-award-winning Holistic Gundog Specialist™, a trainer and behaviourist at Confident Canine® in Essex. Her work is built on balancing both ends of the lead, working with a dog's nervous system state and the energetics its guardian brings, rather than just the behaviour on the surface, with clients in person and online worldwide. She's also the founder of the Canine Regulation Project™, home of the annual Canine Regulation Day™ on 14 September. Find Nina Websites: Confident Canine® main site: https://confidentcanine.co.uk (https://confidentcanine.co.uk/) Holistic Dog® online platform: https://holisticdog.uk (https://holisticdog.uk/) The Holistic Dog® deck page: https://holisticdog.uk/deck (https://holisticdog.uk/deck) Canine Regulation Project™ Website: https://canineregulation.org (https://canineregulation.org/) My social media profiles are as follows: FB: https://www.facebook.com/confidentcanineuk/ (https://www.facebook.com/confidentcanineuk/) TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@holisticgundogspecialist (https://www.tiktok.com/@holisticgundogspecialist) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Theholisticgundogspecialist (https://www.youtube.com/@Theholisticgundogspecialist) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/confidentcanineuk/ (https://www.instagram.com/confidentcanineuk/) Join the Canine Regulation Project™ pledge: www.canineregulation.org A note on this podcast This podcast is for general information and isn't a substitute for individual veterinary, behavioural or professional advice for your own dog.

2. 

   14 Sept 2026

   Holistic Dog with Kye Payne for CRA Day 2026.mp3

   Holistic Dog® Episode with Kye Payne for CRA Day 2026 Physio, Pain and Regulation: A Conversation with Kye Payne of Every Step Veterinary Physiotherapy Episode overview For Canine Regulation Awareness Day™(14 September). Nina sits down with Kye Payne of Every Step Veterinary Physiotherapy to talk about what actually happens in a physio session, the pain signs guardians most often miss at home, and what's coming up in Kye's own workshop series. In this episode How Kye structures physio sessions around a dog's nervous system, not just the body The pain signs that hide in plain sight, from how a dog sits down to how they sleep at night Why keeping a dog's normal routine matters before a session, and how scent tools like Pet Remedy fit in What's coming in Kye's rolling workshop series, and a shared stance on ball throwers How physio sessions are structured around the dog Sessions run for two hours, forty five minutes longer than average, to allow for breaks and time to talk with the guardian Kye works with the guardian first to bring their anxiety down, then moves to the dog, breaking the assessment into small chunks with snacks along the way Guardians are asked to keep the dog's normal routine before a session: no skipping medication, meals or walks, since any disruption changes the baseline Kye needs to read Pet Remedy is sprayed on Kye rather than the dog; guardians are welcome to spray their own dog beforehand if they're nervous Signs of pain guardians often miss Excessive licking, whether of themselves, their bed or the walls Being slow to sit or stand, taking more than a second, repositioning their hips, or sitting onto their bottom rather than folding down A change in behaviour when touched in specific spots, displacement onto a toy, or a shift in how clingy they are Restless sleep and repositioning at night, and gait changes partway through a walk: an amble, a pace or a waddle that wasn't there before Kye recommends the Doggy Time app for logging walks and spotting patterns over time What's next from Kye A rolling series of educational workshops over the coming months, covering the basics, nutrition, harnesses, breed specific concerns and home management with a strong stance against ball throwers, which Kye links to elbow and cruciate issues Find Kye Every Step Veterinary Physiotherapy: https://www.everystepvetphysio.co.uk/ (https://www.everystepvetphysio.co.uk/) Doggy Time app: https://www.doggytime.app/ (https://www.doggytime.app/) Bio Links About Nina Nina Fotara KCAI (WG) is the multi-award-winning Holistic Gundog Specialist™, a trainer and behaviourist at Confident Canine® in Essex. Her work is built on balancing both ends of the lead, working with a dog's nervous system state and the energetics its guardian brings, rather than just the behaviour on the surface, with clients in person and online worldwide. She's also the founder of the Canine Regulation Project™, home of the annual Canine Regulation Day™ on 14 September. Find Nina Websites: Confident Canine® main site: https://confidentcanine.co.uk (https://confidentcanine.co.uk/) Holistic Dog® online platform: https://holisticdog.uk (https://holisticdog.uk/) The Holistic Dog® deck page: https://holisticdog.uk/deck (https://holisticdog.uk/deck) Canine Regulation Project™ Website: https://canineregulation.org (https://canineregulation.org/) My social media profiles are as follows: FB: https://www.facebook.com/confidentcanineuk/ (https://www.facebook.com/confidentcanineuk/) TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@holisticgundogspecialist (https://www.tiktok.com/@holisticgundogspecialist) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Theholisticgundogspecialist (https://www.youtube.com/@Theholisticgundogspecialist) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/confidentcanineuk/ (https://www.instagram.com/confidentcanineuk/) Join the Canine Regulation Project™ pledge: www.canineregulation.org A note on this podcast This podcast is for general information and isn't a substitute for individual veterinary, behavioural or professional advice for your own dog.

3. 

   14 Sept 2026

   Holistic Dog with Niki French for CRA Day 2026.mp3

   Holistic Dog with Niki French for CRA Day 2026 Niki French: Why She Tells Clients to Stop! Walking Your Dog If your dog turns a walk into a battle before you've even left the drive, this episode is for you. For Canine Regulation Day, I sat down with Niki French, the Twickenham-based trainer and author of Stop! Walking Your Dog, who left a corporate career about eight years ago to work with dogs who genuinely struggle to cope outside. Her advice to clients like Gail, whose collie Ella just couldn't settle on a walk, became the seed of her first book, written in around nine months back in 2020. Her own dog Bodi, a collie-lurcher rescued from Battersea, was the proof in her own home too: dropping his second walk changed his evenings completely. We talk about what regulation actually means from her side of the lead: avoiding emotional extremes, giving dogs real choice, and working with a dog's nervous system like a dimmer switch rather than an on/off setting. We get into the chicken-and-egg loop between an anxious guardian and an anxious dog, the breathwork and humming tools her partner Ash (a Wim Hof practitioner) brings into her toolkit, and a subject that rarely gets talked about: sleep. Niki shares a case study of a dog named Rogue who needs 18 to 20 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period, and why fragmented naps that miss REM sleep matter more than most guardians realise. Niki's follow-up to Stop! Walking Your Dog launches in late October, covering the more nuanced next steps: pain, health and nutrition, with four new case studies including an update on Gail and Ella. The waitlist is open now at puptalk.co.uk. In this episode: How Niki went from corporate life to specialising in dogs who can't cope with walks. The client story, and the dog, behind Stop! Walking Your Dog. What regulation looks like from a trainer's side of the lead. Why an anxious guardian and an anxious dog can get stuck in a loop together. Breathwork, humming and the tools Niki uses to help guardians regulate. Why sleep is one of the most overlooked parts of a dog's regulation. What to expect from Niki's second book, out late October. Bio & Links Niki French is a Certified ACE Trainer and KAD® Kids Around Dogs Approved Professional, founder of the award-winning Pup Talk, and author of the Amazon best seller STOP! Walking Your Dog. She specialises in supporting families living with nervous, reactive and over-excitable dogs, helping them feel calmer, more confident and better equipped to make kind, practical choices for both dogs and children. Niki’s work is grounded in modern, evidence-based practice and focuses on emotional wellbeing, safety and understanding behaviour in real-life settings. She is ABTC registered (Animal Behaviour & Training Council), a PACT ATI accredited member (Animal Training Instructor), and a Bronze Scent Detection Instructor with UK Sniffer Dogs. Book wait list link - https://puptalk.co.uk/book-two-wait-list/ (https://puptalk.co.uk/book-two-wait-list/) If you want other links: www.puptalk.co.uk (http://www.puptalk.co.uk/) Free Facebook group - Pup Talk with Niki French https://www.facebook.com/groups/puptalk/ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/677211352721441/) Instagram / TikTok / Twitter @puptalk101 (http://www.instagram.com/puptalk101/) About Nina Nina Fotara KCAI (WG) is the multi-award-winning Holistic Gundog Specialist™, a trainer and behaviourist at Confident Canine® in Essex. Her work is built on balancing both ends of the lead, working with a dog's nervous system state and the energetics its guardian brings, rather than just the behaviour on the surface, with clients in person and online worldwide. She's also the founder of the Canine Regulation Project™, home of the annual Canine Regulation Day™ on 14 September. Find Nina Websites: Confident Canine® main site: https://confidentcanine.co.uk (https://confidentcanine.co.uk/) Holistic Dog® online platform: https://holisticdog.uk (https://holisticdog.uk/) The Holistic Dog® deck page: https://holisticdog.uk/deck (https://holisticdog.uk/deck) Canine Regulation Project™ Website: https://canineregulation.org (https://canineregulation.org/) My social media profiles are as follows: FB: https://www.facebook.com/confidentcanineuk/ (https://www.facebook.com/confidentcanineuk/) TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@holisticgundogspecialist (https://www.tiktok.com/@holisticgundogspecialist) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Theholisticgundogspecialist (https://www.youtube.com/@Theholisticgundogspecialist) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/confidentcanineuk/ (https://www.instagram.com/confidentcanineuk/) Join the Canine Regulation Project™ pledge: www.canineregulation.org A note on this podcast This podcast is for general information and isn't a substitute for individual veterinary, behavioural or professional advice for your own dog.

4. 

   14 Sept 2026

   Holistic Dog with Dr Katrin Jahn for CRA Day 2026.mp3

   Holistic Dog® Episode with Dr Katrin Jahn for CRA Day 2026 If you've ever been told your dog's behaviour is "just training" when your gut says something else is going on, or you've felt nervous at the thought of medication, this episode is for you. I sat down with Dr Katrin Jahn of Trinity Veterinary Behaviour, a vet of 26 years and a double board-certified veterinary behaviour specialist based in the UAE. We start from the ground up: emotional regulation isn't just a mindset, it rests on a regulated nervous system, on neurotransmitters, and on physical health, pain, gut health and musculoskeletal issues included. Katrin shares Faith's case, a multisystemic toxicity with an underlying neurological lesion, where behaviour medication alongside training wasn't optional, it was what actually restored her sense of safety. We talk about how much a handler's own energy and overcontrol can drive a dog's dysregulation, and why agency, choice and space to self-regulate matter as much as any exercise. Katrin also flags an emerging link between separation-related behaviours and underlying physical health issues that's easy to miss if you're only looking at behaviour on the surface. At the vet, she makes the case for cooperative care: reducing fear and stress in the consult room doesn't just make visits kinder, it improves clinical outcomes. And she points out something guardians get wrong constantly, mistaking a fiddly, appeasing dog for a friendly one, missing the early stress signals underneath. We close on three priorities for anyone caring for a dog: get the physiological foundations right first, diet, sleep and pain management, help your dog re-regulate through sniffing, licking, chewing and pattern games, and stay open to medication earlier rather than as a last resort. Katrin takes on the two fears that keep guardians from considering it, the "zombie dog" worry and fear of organ damage, and reframes medication as something that helps a dog become more themselves, not less. In this episode: Why emotional regulation is built on a physically regulated body, not just training. Faith's case, and why medication and training worked together, not against each other. How a handler's own energy and overcontrol can dysregulate a dog. Why agency and choice matter as much as structure. The emerging link between separation-related behaviours and physical health. Why cooperative care at the vet changes clinical outcomes, not just comfort. What guardians usually get wrong about appeasement signals. Three priorities for caregivers, and the truth about medication myths. Links: trinityvetbehaviour.com Instagram: @trinityvetbehaviour Facebook group: Veterinary Behaviour Community (also her mailing list for course updates and discounts) About Nina Nina Fotara KCAI (WG) is the multi-award-winning Holistic Gundog Specialist™, a trainer and behaviourist at Confident Canine® in Essex. Her work is built on balancing both ends of the lead, working with a dog's nervous system state and the energetics its guardian brings, rather than just the behaviour on the surface, with clients in person and online worldwide. She's also the founder of the Canine Regulation Project™, home of the annual Canine Regulation Day™ on 14 September. Find Nina Websites: Confident Canine® main site: https://confidentcanine.co.uk (https://confidentcanine.co.uk/) Holistic Dog® online platform: https://holisticdog.uk (https://holisticdog.uk/) The Holistic Dog® deck page: https://holisticdog.uk/deck (https://holisticdog.uk/deck) Canine Regulation Project™ Website: https://canineregulation.org (https://canineregulation.org/) My social media profiles are as follows: FB: https://www.facebook.com/confidentcanineuk/ (https://www.facebook.com/confidentcanineuk/) TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@holisticgundogspecialist (https://www.tiktok.com/@holisticgundogspecialist) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Theholisticgundogspecialist (https://www.youtube.com/@Theholisticgundogspecialist) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/confidentcanineuk/ (https://www.instagram.com/confidentcanineuk/) Join the Canine Regulation Project™ pledge: www.canineregulation.org A note on this podcast This podcast is for general information and isn't a substitute for individual veterinary, behavioural or professional advice for your own dog.

5. 

   9 Jan 2026

   Episode 4 - Interview with Joe Nutkins

   This episode of the Holistic Dog® podcast brings you an interview with the lovely Joe Nutkins, CPCFT, KCAI (CD), CDTI, ACHUKI. Joe shares her home with her husband Jon, two Norwich Terriers Merlin and Ripley and Pepper Potts, a 3 year old mixed breed rescue girl who came to live with Joe age 10 months. We mustn’t forget also the 6 Cockerels, 30+ chickens, 40+ ducks, 20 rescue ferrets, 20+ quail, a foster Conure called Gizmo plus a Pionus parrot and two Zebra Finches!! Joe also had the lovely Echo, Trick Duck, who lived in the house and had three official Trick Titles! To say it’s a busy household is an understatement! Joe runs the Dog Training for Essex & Suffolk centre in Ardleigh, Essex which offers pet dog training both in person and online for all breeds and ages. Running over 18 years this year, Joe works with Pet Dog Owners with their Puppies, Teenager, Adult and Senior Dogs on a wide range of topics such as regular obedience training, Recall work, Canine Fitness Training, Scentwork, Children's Dog Training, Sports like Hoopers, Heelwork to Music and Agility, Senior Dogs Training and more! Joe provides training both in person and online, to help people preferring to stay home or who live further away. One of Joe’s main passions in dog training is Canine Fitness for all ages, plus working with Senior Dogs to help them stay mobile and strong for longer. As a Certified Professional Canine Fitness Trainer Joe loves working with dogs to help them lead a pain free life, return to their favourite activities after injury or illness and to help work through behaviours caused by dogs being in discomfort.

6. 

   21 Sept 2024

   Episode 3 - Finding the balance between blame and excuses.mp3

   Finding the balance: Dog Training beyond blame and excuses. In this episode, we look at the balance between understanding your dog's behaviour and your role as their guide. It's easy to go for an extreme, such as reaching for blame, making excuses for your dog's behaviour, or how a session has turned out. Together with my lovely guest Gabriella from Simply Gabriella Ltd we will explore what might be behind these reactions and how they could be reframed or changed to find balance, offering insights on fostering growth and connection without blame or excuses. Whether you're working through challenges or want to strengthen your bond, this episode might be for you!

7. 

   24 Jan 2021

   Episode 2 - The magic of music for dogs

   Do you have a dog that struggles to settle? Do you have a new dog or puppy at home that you are trying to create new sleep/rest routines with? Do you wish your dog or puppy had the ability to rest/sleep more easily? Then this is a fantastic episode for you! This hot tip is so simple yet so affective at facilitating good sleep/rest routines and its something anyone can do really easily.

8. 

   7 Sept 2020

   Episode 1 - An introduction to Meditation, Mutts & Mindfulness

   I coach canines and their companions to another level of beautiful balance and inner peace by teaching the joys of meditation, mindfulness, energy work and movement. So join me, and get know your dog on a completely different level, energetically, sharing, connected on a level you are unlikely to have ever previously experienced. This first podcast is an introduction and short background into what I do. Looking forward to bringing you more in future and hopefully starting you off on a who new journey with your dog!

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