An Interview with World Class Agility Trainer and Valued Member of Agility Team GB, Dave Munnings

Natural Instinct has worked with world class agility trainer, Dave Munnings for a number of years, sponsoring his beautiful dogs. As a well-known agility trainer and a valued member of Agility Team GB, Dave is passionate about keeping all canines healthy with a nutritious, raw food diet.

 

We caught up with Dave about his career, his dogs, and his love of Natural Instinct raw pet food.

Dave is a qualified osteopath, for humans, horses and dogs.

‘My career took a different path, and now I spend my days teaching dog agility in the UK, internationally and online,’ he says. With his partner, also a dog trainer, he runs Q-Me Agility, a training centre in Bicester. Q-Me offers training across abilities, from foundational courses through to dogs training to be world champions, and its flexible model offers an online subscription service.

Between them, Dave and his partner own twelve dogs. ‘We’ve got eleven border collies and one border collie cross, some rescue dogs and some bred for agility.’ 

‘I have been a member of the Agility Team GB, supported by The Kennel Club and Natural Instinct, for nearly 20 times now,’ he tells us.

‘Over the last eighteen years, I’ve competed with five different dogs. My most recent dog, Fame, has competed for GB six times now - we’ve travelled to Sweden, Italy, the Czech Republic, Holland, Estonia and more. 

‘In 2019 and 2017, Fame and I won two team medals with our team mates, and one bronze individual medal in 2018, at the FCI Agility World Championships.

To come third in this international competition was a dream come true for us - we were up against over forty other countries. Fame has also won all major events in the UK, including Crufts, multiple times.’ 

In 2014, Dave made the decision to transition his dogs to a raw food diet and he first met the Natural Instinct team at Crufts dog show.

‘I talked to a lot of food companies, but Natural Instinct really stood out to me,’ he says. ‘Their food is amazing quality, using 100% British meat, and there’s loads of meal choices.’ Since then, he hasn’t looked back: ‘my dogs absolutely love it, and if they could talk I know they’d tell you how amazing the food is - they devour it in about ten seconds! It’s great for me too - I order it online and it’s always delivered the next day.’

Dave saw first-hand the benefits a raw diet was having on his dogs’ health.

Their teeth were cleaner, energy levels higher, stools smaller and less odorous, and they no longer suffered from diarrhoea, as they had done on previous diets. 

‘I am so grateful to Natural Instinct,’ he says.

‘Their food is one of the most important factors in my dogs’ training and conditioning programmes, giving them the right fuel to get optimal results.’ 

To find out more on transitioning your dog to a raw food diet, visit our online guide or contact our customer services team who would be more than happy to help on 01276 608 500 or email hello@naturalinstinct.com

For more information on Agility Team GB, visit The Kennel Club website here.