Listen to Season 1 – 4 of The Big Bark now

Season 5 launching April 3rd 2024

The Big Bark is Ireland’s leading volunteer led canine podcast series bringing you all the latest news, tips and reviews from the canine world. Each episode, we chat to different professionals working in the canine industry.

We chat with everyone from behaviour specialists, canine physiotherapists, groomers, dog walkers, vets and many more. Each episode, our panelists and regional correspondents discuss hot topics and review the best products, food and treats, the best places to take your dog on a day out and most dog friendly venues in Ireland.

We have lots of fun along the way and of course we chat with dog owners as well about their dogs to find out more about the bonds that make a dog man’s best friend.

The Big Bark has quickly grown to become a fan favourite podcast. Throughout the first 4 seasons, 52 out of 60 episodes went straight in at Number 1 of the Itunes Pets & Animals charts in Ireland. The podcast has achieved over 200000 downloads and streams since launching in 2019. We are preparing to launch into our 5th season in April 2024, and we look forward to meeting with canine professionals and dog owners alike throughout 2024

We work closely with animal welfare groups across Ireland and for 2024, promoting and advocating for better animal welfare in Ireland will become a core element of our show. We’re big into charity fundraisers too and since 2020, we have raised funds for many animal charities including Limerick Animal Welfare, Haven Rescue, DSPCA, MADRA, SARDA and more. In December 2021, we launched our first ever Charity calendar for 2022 which was a sell out. We  success with our 2023 calendar also selling out in December 2022 and our 2024 calendar selling out in December 2023.

  • Newsroom - Latest news from the K9 world

  • Animal Welfare conversation series - Advocating for positive changes in Animal Welfare legislation

  • Wellness with your Woofer - How your dog can benefit your mental health

  • Health Hub - Health and Vet advice

  • Clever Canines - Best advice from Ireland’s leading dog trainers

  • Furry Feeding - Pet Nutrition advice

  • Your New Best Bud - Doggies looking for their forever home

  • Dogs of the week from Social Media

  • Big Bark shout out to your birthday dog

  • Social Media Competitions - For 2024, we’ll be working with top canine brands, giving away some awesome prizes.

The host of The Big Bark is dog lover Darragh, a dog owner with a passion for canine Psychology and behaviour. Here’s a bit more about Darragh in his own words:

I’m Darragh and I’m that crazy dog guy you hear about. In 2019, I decided I wanted to understand what my dogs were telling me, and I embarked on a crazy journey to obtain my diploma in Pet Psychology which has opened up my eyes to the extraordinary workings of a dogs mind. I wanted to share my knowledge with others and wanted to create a platform where dog owners could hear from all pet professionals in one place and thus, The Big Bark was born.

I have three beautiful dogs, who you see pictured with me here – Milly is a Golden labrador who loves attention more than anything – we call her the princess and then Bruno a Bloodrador (black Lab X Bloodhound) who can be a bit of a shy fellow but has a complete heart of gold.

We recently introduced the newest member of our family – Roxy. She is a golden labrador who is 4 months old – all she wants to do is jump around so I think that should be her theme song when she comes into the studio. She chews everything, she digs the lawn, I call her a contractor because she starts digging up the weeds in one place and then jumps to another spot without finishing the first job. To say she is hard work would be an understatement but we’re having lots of fun along the way and Bruno and Milly have made a new best friend too.

I’ve been following a number of practices and training methods while training Roxy and the one piece of advice that I can offer is that patience is the most important aspect when training a puppy. It’s all starting to pay off now and Roxy has really become a wonderful member of our little family here.

For me, the bond that comes with having loyal companions such as Bruno, Milly  and Roxy is something that is irreplaceable. The loyalty, love and friendship that I share with these two beautiful souls is just wonderful. I’ve always been the type of person who values the friendship of dogs over that of humans and they have been a source of comfort to me in some of the worst times that I have experienced. I’m a strong believer that our dogs really do make our lives and our hearts feel whole.

As the host of the podcast, My goal is to share my experiences with my dogs to the world, have some great fun along the way and make friends with every dog out there. I’ll talk about how these dogs have guided me through days where I felt hope was lost. I’ll discuss with others, the positive impact that dogs have on your mental health and well being. I’ll also share of course, the happy moments and funny moments. I’ll bring you the best advice from the top canine professionals and will meet with business owners to discover what motivates them to work with dogs. As we enter our 4th season, we will have lots of new features coming to the show including a little feature called “What Roxy did” where I talk about the antics Roxy got up to the previous week.

Over the next year, I plan to take The Big Bark to new heights and make sure this show is recognised in every home, kennel and pet business across Ireland and beyond as the best doggy podcast on Spotify and Itunes. As always, The Big Bark will continue our abundant efforts to fundraise for as many dog related charities across Ireland through our annual Christmas campaign, bi annual raffles

Get ready, because Season 4 of The Big Bark podcast is going to be the best yet. I have a funky new theme song being written and a lot more to tease before the July 3rd launch date. Follow our insta and facebook for more.

Meet the team of Volunteers

Meet our amazing volunteer team

Darragh Bourke

Darragh Bourke

Production Manager, Host & Dog Whisperer
Méadhbh Murtagh

Méadhbh Murtagh

North West Correspondent & Social Media Manager

Aoife Breslin

Eastern Correspondent & Social Media Advisor

Tanya Booth

Dublin Correspondent

Are you interested in taking part?

We’re getting ready for our 4th season, and we’re looking to chat to pet owners and pet professionals from right across Ireland. Each episode of Season 4 will include a unique feature where we chat to pet owners about the positive impact dogs have on their mental health.

Are you a dog owner, pet professional, pet business owner or are you just simply Barking mad about dogs just like us? We’re always looking for people who love dogs to take part in upcoming episodes of the show.

If you’d like to take part, click on the button below.

Click here to express your interest in taking part

Become a friend of the show

Subscribe to our mailing list to get all of the details for upcoming episodes as well as competition news and your dog will also get a birthday greeting on their big day.

Support the Show

The Big Bark is run by volunteers. Support our show so that we can buy new equipment, soundproof our studio or just buy a cup of coffee when meeting with our amazing guests.