Dog Lovers Festival Advance Stage | World-Class Speakers

Daily Timetable

Friday, Saturday & Sunday

10:30 am Discover tips and tricks you can teach your own dog from one of Australia’s leading film & TV dog and animal trainer!
About the Talk

Luke Hura is the country’s leading animal trainer for film, TV and theatre, and easily the most experienced, with 40 years under his belt!

Luke, alongside his Paws On Film colleague Lauren Sellwood, are dropping by with two of their four-pawed movie-star mates: LD, aka ‘Little Dynamite’ the Aussie Terrier starring with Zac Efron in “Ricky Stanicky” a comedy flick coming out this year; and Bodhi, the new –‘Bouncer’ Groodle from the long-running soap, “Neighbours”.

Together, this talented team will show us how to teach our pooches the seven to 10 most-used exercises in film and TV. Scene 1, Take 1… ACTION!
- Read Luke Hura's bio
Luke Hura is renowned as one of Australia’s leading Animal Film Trainers. His incredible career began over 35 years ago and throughout his journey, has worked on some of Australia’s most well-known Films and Television Shows.

Luke’s love for animals began at a very early age where he began to connect with them energetically and intuitively, with this ability allowing him to read and recognise their behaviours and thus he began to work with the animals on a more intimate level. This incredible gift steered him in the direction of training all types of animals for Film, Television and Live Stage Shows such as dogs, cats and birds just to name a few.

Luke is very well respected in the industry and is an obvious choice for any Producer to have as part of the film team. Some of Luke’s career highlights include: “Red Dog” & “Oddball”, being the highest-grossing Australian Dog Films; “Paws”, “Ned Kelly”, “Rogue”, “Neighbours”, “Blue Heelers”, “Rove Live”, “The Flying Doctors”, “Dingo”, “A Country Practice”, “Thunderstone”, “Halifax f.p.”, “Sea Change”, “The Saddle Club”, “Kath & Kim”, “Rush” and “McCloud’s Daughters”.

At present, he is working on the highly-regarded stage production “Wizard of Oz” that is currently playing throughout Australia, where his responsibilities include training and preparing Toto on a daily basis for the live shows, where there is no retaking of scenes! This reinforces Luke’s reputation in the entertainment & film industry.
11:15 am See Bluey and Bingo, everyone’s favourite Heeler pups!
About the Talk

Wackadoo! Bluey and sister Bingo are heading to the Dog Lovers Festival – “For real life”.

In a Festival first, Bluey and Bingo from the beloved Australian animated series “Bluey”, will headline the ADVANCE™ Stage program with daily performances featuring singing, dancing and plenty of surprises for the whole family to enjoy.

Catch this adorable duo and their friends on stage for Live Interactive Experiences Daily at 11.15am and 1.00pm.

Get ready to play Magic Asparagus, Magic Xylophone, Keepy Uppy and more with your favourite Heeler duo.
- Read Bluey & Bingo's bio
Bluey
Bluey is a six-year-old Blue Heeler pup who loves to play. Her parents and teacher give her lots of time to practice, which means she’s become very good at inventing games, helping everyone choose their roles and deciding on the rules. Her favourite games are ones that involve lots of other kids and grown-ups (especially her dad) and she mainly likes to pretend she’s a grown up doing grownup things herself.

Bingo
Bingo is Bluey’s younger sister. She’s four years old, and a red heeler like her mum. Bingo also likes to play but she is a bit quieter than Bluey, so is more likely to be the customer than the shop owner. Sometimes though, when Bluey asks her to be the doctor, rather than the patient, she really enjoys it. When she’s not playing you can find her in the yard talking to tiny bugs or off lost in her own beautiful world.
12:00 pm Discover skills & training techniques to help you puppy-parent like a rockstar
About the Talk

Dr Katrina Warren and Kelly Gill, along with The Wonderdogs, will guide you through all the essentials to raising your new puppy and surviving their adolescent stage.

Dog owners generally find that the period from two to 18 months is the most challenging time for puppy parents, so with the help of the talented Wonderdogs, Kelly will demonstrate some simple techniques for training your puppy.

You’ll get some useful tips to ensure your puppy grows up to be a social, well-behaved pooch, and discover how to solve the most common puppy problems, including furniture destruction, nipping, jumping up and that all-important toilet training.

A new puppy can sometimes be just as challenging as a new baby so this session will provide you with some valuable skills and techniques to help train your fur-baby that they’ll also enjoy learning.
- Read Dr Katrina, Kelly Gill & The Wonderdogs's bio
Popular television vet, Dr Katrina Warren has teamed up with professional trainer, Kelly Gill and the Wonderdogs; a team of impeccably trained chocolate Border Collies and new kid on the block Alex the Papillon!

The Wonderdogs are seasoned performers and have appeared with Katrina on the Today Show, Morning Show, Funniest Home Videos, Saturday Disney and Talk to the Animals. They have also starred in numerous TV commercials and feature films and it’s a very rare opportunity to see them all perform here at the show in Melbourne given the long-trip down from their home in the Hunter Valley.
1:00 pm See Bluey and Bingo, everyone’s favourite Heeler pups!
About the Talk

Wackadoo! Bluey and Bingo are heading to the Dog Lovers Festival – “For real life”.

In a Festival first, Bluey and Bingo from the beloved Australian animated series “Bluey”, will headline the ADVANCE™ Stage program with daily performances featuring singing, dancing and plenty of surprises for the whole family to enjoy.

Catch this adorable duo and their friends on stage for Live Interactive Experiences Daily at 11.15am and 1.00pm.

Get ready to play Magic Asparagus, Magic Xylophone, Keepy Uppy and more with your favourite Heeler duo.
- Read Bluey & Bingo's bio
Bluey
Bluey is a six-year-old Blue Heeler pup who loves to play. Her parents and teacher give her lots of time to practice, which means she’s become very good at inventing games, helping everyone choose their roles and deciding on the rules. Her favourite games are ones that involve lots of other kids and grown-ups (especially her dad) and she mainly likes to pretend she’s a grown up doing grownup things herself.

Bingo
Bingo is Bluey’s younger sister. She’s four years old, and a red heeler like her mum. Bingo also likes to play but she is a bit quieter than Bluey, so is more likely to be the customer than the shop owner. Sometimes though, when Bluey asks her to be the doctor, rather than the patient, she really enjoys it. When she’s not playing you can find her in the yard talking to tiny bugs or off lost in her own beautiful world.
1:30 pm Blow your Mind: Discover more sciency-things you did not know about dogs
About the Talk

Dr Karl – the man with all the answers to life’s curly questions, is back by popular demand! Dr Karl has done another deep dive into the science of dogs and will share more barking-mad facts in Doggy Tales Part 2 on the ADVANCE™ Stage.

Dr Karl will blow your mind with more of his own incredible findings about our best friends as there’s just so much we don’t know about them. For example, here’s a few questions with answers you will find fascinating:
- Can dogs predict the future and smell human diseases?
- Do they have a reason for hiccupping?
- Does your dog really have 7 birthdays for each one of yours?
- How come dogs can digest (to some degree) carbohydrates, while their ancestors (wolves) cannot?
- Can dogs really sniff out human diseases?
You’ll never look at your pooch the same way again, so be prepared to be astounded. Dr Karl’s talk is followed by an audience Q&A with Dr Katrina Warren, Kelly Gill and MC Brodie Young – so make sure you have some curly questions about canines, or anything mind-boggling sciency to ask our experts!
- Read Dr Karl Kruszelnicki's bio
- Read Dr Katrina, Kelly Gill & The Wonderdogs's bio
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki (pronounced “crucial-nitski”) is the man with the answers when it comes to Science and Technology.

The Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at Sydney University, Dr Karl spreads the word about science and its benefits.

With weekly Radio shows, regular television appearances, magazine articles, podcasts, and 47 (so far) published books, Dr Karl is constantly in demand by the media and for corporate
appearances.

In 2002, Dr Karl was honoured with the prestigious Ig Nobel prize awarded by Harvard
University in the USA for his ground-breaking research into “Belly Button Lint and why it is
almost always blue”.

In September 2003 Dr Karl was named ‘Australian Father of the Year’.

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki received the Member of the Order of Australia Award in the 2006 Australia Day Honours list.

In 2019 the United Nations awarded Dr Karl the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science at the World Science Forum in Budapest, Hungary. The prize is global recognition of Dr Karl’s gift for science communication. Dr Karl is the first Australian to win the prize.

His enthusiasm for science is totally infectious and no one is better able to convey the excitement and wonder of it all than Dr Karl Kruszelnicki.

‘Dr Karl Kruszelnicki’ appears by arrangement with Claxton Speakers International.’

Popular television vet, Dr Katrina Warren has teamed up with professional trainer, Kelly Gill and the Wonderdogs; a team of impeccably trained chocolate Border Collies and new kid on the block Alex the Papillon!

The Wonderdogs are seasoned performers and have appeared with Katrina on the Today Show, Morning Show, Funniest Home Videos, Saturday Disney and Talk to the Animals. They have also starred in numerous TV commercials and feature films and it’s a very rare opportunity to see them all perform here at the show in Melbourne given the long-trip down from their home in the Hunter Valley.
2:30 pm Discover tips and tricks you can teach your own dog from one of Australia’s leading film & TV dog and animal trainer!
About the Talk

Luke Hura is the country’s leading animal trainer for film, TV and theatre, and easily the most experienced, with 40 years under his belt!

Luke, alongside his Paws On Film colleague Lauren Sellwood, are dropping by with two of their four-pawed movie-star mates: LD, aka ‘Little Dynamite’ the Aussie Terrier starring with Zac Efron in “Ricky Stanicky” a comedy flick coming out this year; and Bodhi, the new –‘Bouncer’ Groodle from the long-running soap, “Neighbours”.

Together, this talented team will show us how to teach our pooches the seven to 10 most-used exercises in film and TV. Scene 1, Take 1… ACTION!
- Read Luke Hura's bio
Luke Hura is renowned as one of Australia’s leading Animal Film Trainers. His incredible career began over 35 years ago and throughout his journey, has worked on some of Australia’s most well-known Films and Television Shows.

Luke’s love for animals began at a very early age where he began to connect with them energetically and intuitively, with this ability allowing him to read and recognise their behaviours and thus he began to work with the animals on a more intimate level. This incredible gift steered him in the direction of training all types of animals for Film, Television and Live Stage Shows such as dogs, cats and birds just to name a few.

Luke is very well respected in the industry and is an obvious choice for any Producer to have as part of the film team. Some of Luke’s career highlights include: “Red Dog” & “Oddball”, being the highest-grossing Australian Dog Films; “Paws”, “Ned Kelly”, “Rogue”, “Neighbours”, “Blue Heelers”, “Rove Live”, “The Flying Doctors”, “Dingo”, “A Country Practice”, “Thunderstone”, “Halifax f.p.”, “Sea Change”, “The Saddle Club”, “Kath & Kim”, “Rush” and “McCloud’s Daughters”.

At present, he is working on the highly-regarded stage production “Wizard of Oz” that is currently playing throughout Australia, where his responsibilities include training and preparing Toto on a daily basis for the live shows, where there is no retaking of scenes! This reinforces Luke’s reputation in the entertainment & film industry.
3:00 pm Meet some K9-stars HOT on Instagram right NOW (move over Kim & Kylie!)
About the Talk

The new-look InstaPooch, MC-ed by Brodie Young & Lara Shannon, is coming in 2023!

Dozens of high-maintenance paw-madonnas will strut their stuff down the 20-metre blue carpet, and visitors will be able to meet, cuddle and snap a selfie with these ‘Fur Stars of Instagram’ as they’re interviewed and interact with their adoring fans.
- Read Lara Shannon's bio
- Read Brodie Young's bio
As a pet behaviourist, TV presenter, producer and author, Lara Shannon is one Australia’s most well-known animal welfare advocates and canine experts, reaching millions of Australians each year through her education work to help improve the lives of companion animals.

Starting her career in radio and television in the early 90’s, Lara has been the media spokesperson for a number of high-profile animal welfare and conservation organisations in Australia and the UK including the World Wide Fund for Nature, Planet Ark, Keep Australia Beautiful, The Orangutan Project, Wildlife Asia and others, and currently presents Channel 10’s Pooches At Play and features in Channel 9’s The Pet Rescuers (Series 1).

Lara’s early television work included regular appearances on Saturday Disney, Totally Wild and Cheez TV, teaching children about wildlife and environmental conservation issues in a fun and engaging way, while her debut documentary Ecochick Adventures: The Trans Borneo Challenge aired on Channel 9 to raise awareness of the plight of the Orangutan in 2015.

As a certified dog trainer, behaviourist and pet food nutritionist, Lara is both the Executive Producer and Host of Pooches at Play, now in its seventh series, promoting responsible pet ownership for the benefit of both pets and the people who love them. She was also co-producer and feature talent in the observational documentary TV series, The Pet Rescuers on Channel 9 in 2021.

Lara is the Author of World of Dogs released in October 2021 and Eat, Play, Love (Your Dog), released in June 2020, both published by Hardie Grant Books and available where all good books are sold across Australia, USA, Canada and the UK.

She is also regularly featured in TV, radio, press and online editorial and advertisements, works as a Brand Ambassador for companies including PETstock, and is a sought-after MC and speaker for events, pet expos and seminars including the Australian Dog Lovers Festival, the Cat Lovers Show, Pets in the Park events and more, with her cheeky rescue dog ‘Dynamite Darcy’ by her side. Vindi, her latest rescue dog, is also well on his way to become a bona fide TV star too!

An Ambassador for Second Chance Animal Rescue, Companion Animal Network Australia and the Companion Animal Rescue Awards, Lara’s mission is to help reduce the needless euthanasia of adoptable shelter animals to zero.

Recent Awards

B&T Women in Media Awards 2019 – Finalist: Journalist/Presenter and Finalist: Entrepreneur Category

Australia’s Top 10 Female Entrepreneurs List 2018 – My Entrepreneur Magazine

Brodie Young is returning to the Melbourne Dog Lovers Festival in his role as MC of the ADVANCE Stage.

Brodie has developed a reputation as a vibrant, energetic and enthusiastic MC by securing TV hosting and acting roles, spots as an on-ground sports host, television commercials and radio announcements all around Australia.

Sadly, he does not barrack for the Bulldogs…
4:00 pm Discover more about Guide Dogs and if volunteer Puppy Raising could be so rewarding for you!

About the Talk

At eight weeks of age, Guide Dog puppies are placed in the community with volunteer Puppy Raisers. The Puppy Raisers ensure that the new recruits get the best possible care in a loving home environment whilst receiving all the necessary training required.

In this highly informative session, you can meet some of the awesome team at Guide Dogs to learn more about the training journey of Guide Dog puppies and how they will go on to help Guide Dogs Clients live a life without limits.

It’s also a great opportunity to discover whether becoming a volunteer Puppy Raiser could be an incredibly rewarding experience for you.

Feel the doggy love from 4.00pm – 4.30pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the ADVANCE Stage.