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Photography project puts working dogs in the spotlight
Laura Wiggins hopes her work will encourage support for charities

The bond between working dogs and their handlers has been explored in a new photography project by Laura Wiggins, a student at the University of Northampton.


Magic, a diabetes alert dog from Medical Detection Dogs alerting his owner to changes in her blood sugar levels.


Laura graduated in July, after completing her final year project, Dedicated Dogs. She hopes to raise awareness of the positive impact working dogs have on their owners’ lives and encourage people to support working dog charities.

“Dogs deserve recognition for their lifelong commitment to people and my project was a great opportunity to do this,” Laura explained. “I’m hoping it raises awareness of the passion, dedication, and intelligence of working dogs and their relationship with us humans.

“Inspiring a single person to donate any spare change, sponsor a working dog or volunteer their time for a working dog charity themselves, for instance, will ultimately be the best accomplishment for all the hard work, perseverance and effort that I have and will continue to commit to this series.”


Nursing home residents interacting with Max the therapy dog, from Pets as Therapy.

Kirby an urban search and rescue dog alerting he had found his handler, who had been acting as a casualty on a training session.

Cathy, a guide dog on a shopping trip with her owner waiting patiently for her next command.

PC Olly, a police dog for Northamptonshire Police, perfecting his heel work with his handler.
 
Images © Laura Wiggins

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Annual submission deadline small pet animal exemptions

News Story 1
 Companies marketing medicines for small pets exempt from authorisation must submit their annual return to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) by 30 November 2026.

Submitting this annual return ensures continued compliance with regulatory requirements for products marketed without a full Marketing Authorisation. The exemption specifically applies to products intended for animals, cage birds, terrarium animals, small rodents, ferrets and rabbits.

For further details and submission guidelines, visit the gov.uk website.  

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Bluetongue RZ extended across Scotland

The Scottish Government has announced an extension to a Bluetongue Restricted Zone that is in place in south-west Scotland.

From 3 October, the Restricted Zone will be extended to cover the whole of Scotland. The Animal, Plant and Health Agency (APHA) says this is in response to further disease spread, as well as simplify trading conditions ahead of the autumn.

Since the whole country will share a disease status, it will no longer be necessary to have a movement license to move susceptible livestock around the country. Restrictions on germinal products remain.

As of 1 October 2026, there were 1,979 cases of BTV-3 in England, 389 cases in Wales and 40 cases in Scotland.