CHEEEEZ PLEASE!

          PIP HIGH ON HIS CHEESE...WATCH AND SEE

FEEDING FRED

Fred here,  I'm on a diet right now and thought I would blog about nutrition since food is on my mind pretty much all the time!  Here is An intro to Dog Food, What should be in it, What shouldn’t:

Understanding dog food labels and using that information wisely can make the difference between choosing a good quality dog food or settling for a dud.

MAIN RULES TO FOLLOW:

1. 1st Ingredient must be a Specific Meat.

2. NO Wheat, Corn or Soy. Preferably No Grain at All.

2. No Mystery Meat (Unidentified “meat”)

4. No Unnatural dye

How to Really Read Dog Food Labels:

Dog food packaging usually includes three sets of information: the front panel, the guaranteed analysis, and the list of ingredients.

A typical guaranteed analysis provides information about crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre, and moisture. You will sometimes see guarantees for other nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, omega fatty acids, or glucosamine. Knowing these other nutrient guarantees can help you compare foods or find a food that meets your dog’s specific needs. The guaranteed analysis, however, does not address the quality or digestibility of the ingredients. To get a sense of the quality of the food, you need to look at the list of ingredients. In the United States ingredients are listed in order based on weight, so items at the top of the list are the main ingredients. A good-quality dog food will have meat listed as the first ingredient.

Another way that ingredient lists can be deceptive is through the practice of “splitting.” If an ingredient list read “Rice, meat, etc.” you would know immediately that there is more rice than meat in the food. However, if the rice content is split into several ingredients, the company can legitimately list meat as the top ingredient, thus: “Meat, ground rice, rice flour, rice bran, etc.” When added together, these grains may actually be present at levels that are higher than the meat.

Other items to note when reading the ingredient list: food dyes, flavorings, and preservatives.

Remember that higher levels of nutrients aren’t always better; there is an optimal percentage depending on your dog’s requirements and lifestage. Most dog foods are formulated to slightly exceed your dog’s nutrient requirements. When choosing an adult dog food, pick a food that has at least 18-28% protein as listed on the label, unless your dog has other specific requirements.

Both canned and dry dog foods are designed to provide a complete and balanced diet for your dog. One 421mL can (13 oz) of dog food has approximately the same caloric content as 1 cup of kibble. Canned dog food must contain about 80 percent water to allow for proper canning, so you will often find water or broth as the second or third ingredient on a can of food. The process of canning preserves the food, so there is no need to have preservatives in canned dog food. However, the high moisture content in canned food also means you are feeding (and paying for) a lot of water. When choosing a dog food, look for one that has a whole meat listed as its first ingredient (e.g. deboned chicken) to ensure adequate protein levels.

Stay away from “mystery” meat (e.g., unidentified-species meat and meal). An ingredient list should always state the species of meat (e.g., chicken, turkey, trout, etc.). If it doesn’t, it is using a mixed source of meat, which can be of questionable origin. Plus, the mixed source will not be consistent from batch to batch and this may upset your dog’s stomach.

Coloring is there to make the product more marketable to you—the dog owner. Choose foods that do not have a lot of dye in them.

Dog foods, like people foods, will spoil over time. To prevent this, preservatives are added to kibble to allow for a longer shelf life. BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin are synthetic preservatives and vitamin E (tocopherol), and vitamin C (ascorbic acid) are natural preservatives. Multiple studies have shown that consumption of preservatives such as BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin are not associated with cancer. In fact, some studies have indicated that they may, in fact, be protective against cancer. However, there has been concern that some dogs may develop allergies to synthetic preservatives. If you are concerned about your dog consuming synthetic preservatives, choose foods that have been preserved with vitamin E or C.

If you are choosing to feed a commercial dog food, one of the best ways to improve your dog’s health and well-being is to feed an appropriate amount of a good-quality dog food. With a good diet, your dog will live a longer, healthier life.

Here are two dog foods we stand behind.  There are other good ones out there, but many more aweful ones so be aware and make smart decisions with what you feed your Fred!

ORIJEN DOG FOODS

BY NATURE, DOGS OF ALL BREEDS AND SIZES ARE EVOLVED AS CARNIVORES — BIOLOGICALLY ADAPTED FOR A DIET RICH AND VARIED IN FRESH MEATS, WITH SMALLER AMOUNTS OF FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND GRASSES.

Formulated to match your dog’s natural diet, ORIJEN ADULT is loaded with the protein-packed meat ingredients (80%) that Mother Nature intended all dogs to eat — including free-run chicken and turkey, whole eggs and wild-caught fish that are farmed or fished within their region of Canada by people we know and trust.

SOJOS NATURAL DOG FOOD

Simply water to one of their natural pet food mixes and you have a fresh, homemade pet food in minutes. Some mixes require the addition of a protein.

Sojos foods offer the superior nutrition of naturally- occurring vitamins, minerals and enzymes that you cannot get from a cooked, processed food. No preservatives. Nothing artificial. Just natural, human-quality ingredients.

MORE QUESTIONS?

GIVE US A CALL @ DAWGDOM

518.306.6600



USPS Supports Rescue!

Hi everyone. Pipsqueak here.
I've been very busy patrolling the yard for squirrels and birds as well as rolling in stinky things, but I wanted to take a second out of my busy schedule to let you know of a great product from the US Postal Service. They have a new series of stamps especially for shelter pets!

The Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet commemorative stamps feature photographs of five cats and five dogs taken by veteran stamp photographer Sally Andersen-Bruce. The animlas featured on the stamps are actual shelter animals. I'm happy to report that all ten of them were adopted from a shelter in New Milford, CT at the USPS's Adopt-a-thon event held recently.

So go out and buy some stamps (if you still use stamps). We second-handers can use all the help we can get.
Now back to my important work!
Cheerio!

-pip

"Knot-Me-Not" DOGGIE BANDANAS

DAWGDOM Sweatshop is back in business and hard at work. We started making Doggie Bandanas to help raise money for our local animal shelter and sales have exceeded our expectations so far!

Here is one of our first ones hot off the assembly line:

With the help of our crafty friend Jewels, we came up with a reversable, slip through the collar bandana in 3 sizes (Tiny, Small/Med, Large). We have made em in a bunch of patterns to fit everyone's style...Saratoga horsie patterns coming soon! They are $7/8/10 and $1 of each sale will go to Saratoga Animal Shelter!

We will have limited patterns offered for all Major Holidays...Come in and take a look!

RESCUE DOG MODEL SEARCH

Have your dog featured in our calendar!

Dawgdom, Heather Bohm-Tallman Photography and Lis Designs are teaming up to produce a calendar of local shelter dogs! Proceeds from calendar sales will be donated to Local Animal Shelters and Rescue Organizations.

THE MODEL SEARCH IS ON!

We're looking for dogs who reside within Saratoga (and surrounding counties) and who were adopted from a shelter or rescue organization. The shelter or rescue group the dog was adopted from can be located anywhere within the U.S.

To be considered for the calendar, schedule a session with
Heather Bohm Tallman Photography.

Session fees will be 1/2 off for any shelter/rescue group dog who would like to be considered for the calendar, and includes a free 8 X 10 print! Please contact Heather Bohm-Tallman Photography at hbt@hbtphoto.com for more details. Write "dog model search" in the subject heading and please let us know which shelter or rescue group you adopted your dog from.

*This special is for Dog Sessions Only.
*Weekday Session Dates are preferred.
*Weekend dates are very limited.

While we love all doggies, not everyone will make it into the calendar.

The calendar will be available for sale in late November - Just in time for the Holidays!

Great Blog Post about Dog Puke

So, this a blog post borrowed from another blog bark-n-blog. Considering how much Bodily Dog Function I see at the store I found this wonderfully amusing. I hope all you dog lovers do to!

The Four Types of Dog Vomit

1. YELLOW URKA-GURKAS

Dog runs around the house and hides under furniture while making a prolonged “uurka-guurka, uurka-guurka” noise (the only noise guaranteed to wake up a dog lover who is hungover from a 3:30am post-dog-show celebration). After a mad scramble to capture the dog and drag him outside, the episode ends with an indelible line of slimy yellow froth from the living room rug to the back door.

BLAP DISEASE

Dog exercises hard and

a) eats large mouthfuls of snow (winter blap disease) or
b) drinks a bucket of water (summer blap disease).

Within two minutes of returning inside the dog spews out large amounts of clear, slimy liquid, making a distinctive “blap” sound and sharp percussive noise as it hits the linoleum.

GARKS

Dog suddenly clears his throat with loud and dramatic “gggark, gggark” noises, followed by a prolonged “iiksss” and then loud, satisfied smacking noises. There is nothing on the rug. Don’t investigate, you don’t want to know.

RALFS

Apropos of nothing, the dog strolls into the dining room and waits ’til the innocent dinner guests are all watching him. Then, with a single deep gut-wrenching “raaaallff”, disgorges the entire week’s contents of his
stomach on the rug. Variation: he eats it.

In all of the above events, the dog is entirely healthy and indeed, deeply pleased with himself.

~ Author unknown