THE owner of a Bradford dog training company is celebrating after receiving an award.

Mudge Ali, master trainer, founder and director of Big Dog Fellas, which is based at Regina Mills, on Laurel Street, off Leeds Road, received a Yorkshire Prestige Award in the Dog Training Specialist of the Year category in a ceremony held at Hazlewood Castle Hotel in Tadcaster.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Dog trainer Mudge Ali, who won a Yorkshire Prestige Award, with his dog Max in Lister Park.Dog trainer Mudge Ali, who won a Yorkshire Prestige Award, with his dog Max in Lister Park. (Image: Newsquest)

“With hundreds of dog trainers across the region, to be chosen number one is a huge achievement,” said Mr Ali.

“I’m the first company in Bradford to win the award. There were hundreds of entries.”

He is also celebrating after ThreeBest Rated recognised his business as being a top-rated dog trainer in Bradford.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Dog trainer Mudge Ali who won a Yorkshire Prestige Award.Dog trainer Mudge Ali who won a Yorkshire Prestige Award. (Image: Newsquest)

Mudge said his business is growing, in part, because he presents very popular dog training videos on social media platforms such as TikTok and Facebook.

@bigdogfellas Huge aggressive Cane Corso. #canecorso #italianmastiff #corso #bigdog #aggressivedog #dogtraining #dogs #DogTrainer #viral ♬ original sound - Big Dog Fellas

 

“I show videos of me working with the dogs,” said Mudge.

“I like to make it fun and entertaining. That’s why they’re getting the views. The key is just being myself.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Mudge Ali is presented with a Yorkshire Prestige Award in the Dog Training Specialist of the Year category.Mudge Ali is presented with a Yorkshire Prestige Award in the Dog Training Specialist of the Year category. (Image: UGC)

“We get a lot of good feedback. I now have over 100,000 followers on social media in just seven months – 60,000 on TikTok and 50,000 on Facebook.

Mudge said: “The main thing we deal with is unwanted behaviour in dogs, primarily reactive dogs, and aggressive dogs.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Mudge Ali's dog Max.Mudge Ali's dog Max. (Image: UGC)

“We’ve worked with people whose dogs have come to us and they’ve seen us as their last hope.

“We’ve turned those dogs around and saved many dogs’ lives.

“A lot of times we also get dogs who suffer from anxiety and stress.”

Everything is going well for the business in just over a year that it has been running.

Mudge said: “We’ve been going just over a year, but word has spread and most of our clients come from out of town.

“The next aim now is to grow the business.”

Mudge also spoke about the choice of name for the business – Big Dog Fellas.

“I chose the name simply because I’m big into dogs, but it seems to have just taken off.

“But because of the name we seem to get a lot of people coming to us with big dogs.

“The truth is we train every dog, any size, any age, or any breed.”