An award-winning Bradford dog trainer whose skills started developing when he was just 10 years old has added to his collection of awards.

Mudge Ali (pictured above), master trainer, founder, and director of Big Dog Fellas, which is based at Regina Mills, on Laurel Street, off Leeds Road, has gone from strength to strength and has clocked up an incredible seven awards in a short space of time.

Big Dog Fellas recent list of awards includes:

• Dog Communicator and Owner Educator of the Year 2024 – UK Enterprise Awards 2024
• Dog Trainer and Behaviourist of the Year – LUXlife Pet Products and Services Awards 2024
• Animal Behaviourist of the Year – Global 100 Awards 2024
• Global Recognition Award 2024
• Quality Service Awards

Mudge was also recognised earlier this year when Big Dog Fellas won a Yorkshire Prestige Award in the Dog Training Specialist of the Year category and ThreeBestRated named him as a top-rated dog trainer in Bradford.

Mudge said: “After I won my first award, I was amazed to get shortlisted for a few others, then I ended up winning a few more. They were not only regional, but I’ve now won a national award.”

Mudge spoke about how training a dog is as much about getting an owner up to speed about what their dog has learned.

He said: “It’s easy to get a dog up to speed, but then you have to transfer that skill set onto the owner. So, not only do I train the dog, but the owners as well. And that’s the hard part.

The old adage ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ – that’s nonsense. As long as a dog is breathing and it has a brain cell, it can be trained. They may be set in their ways, but it really doesn’t take long at all to change their thinking.”

He added: “Dog training was a hobby of mine as a kid, so training dogs now is a dream job for me. I started out when I was 10 years old with a rough collie which looked like Lassie.

My friend and I took into under our wing. No one in my family knew about it, as I wouldn’t have been allowed to bring it into our home as we didn’t have the room for it. I spent my school money to buy dog food for it and taught it tricks.

My friend ended up keeping it and we called it Lassie. It was my first insight into the mind of a dog. It was a natural thing for me. I’ve always loved animals.”