healthy dogs

(Now you’ve got that song stuck in your head. Sorry about that! )

We know that Freshpet’s fans are our kind of people. You care about your animals like we do…like they’re part of the family! Please tell us why you feed your dogs and cats fresh food on our Facebook page or our Twitter feed.

Feedback, suggestions and photos from people who feed their pets Freshpet foods make our day. We especially love photos and videos of Freshpet pets. We answer every post, often with our dogs sleeping on our feet.

I wish Deucey was asleep, but he’s biting my elbows! Puppies.

Ace the therapy dog's tail wagged whenever he visited patients at the hospital. (Photo by Rod Griola)

When therapy dogs visit with people who are sick, grieving or stressed, the mood of the whole room changes. It’s as if the sun came out from behind a cloud. As a certified therapy-dog handler in a hospice program, I saw dying patients and their family members reminisce about their dogs and laugh together. Therapy dogs are great icebreakers and a nice distraction, but they have physiological benefits, too. Studies show that patients’ blood pressure and heart rates decrease in the presence of a dog, and they just feel better! (Any dog lover could tell you that!)

Any dog can become a certified therapy dog. Every breed is represented, from teacup poodles to great Danes, but temperament is key. Ask yourself if your dog can abide by these simple rules. If not, you can still volunteer, but Kujo stays at home.

• Four on the Floor - Therapy dogs work with very frail patients. If the dog can’t keep his paws to himself, he’s not cut out to be a therapy dog. A jumping dog could knock a patient down.

• Would He Mug an Old Lady for Her Tennis Ball? – It sounds absurd, but many patients put tennis balls on the feet of their walkers to make them slide on hard floors. Dogs must be able to walk past a tennis ball without issue. Sometimes during evaluations they even put a treat in a tennis ball then attach it to a walker! Double trouble!

• Scaredy-Dogs – Medical equipment including canes, walkers, wheel chairs, hospital beds and oxygen tanks are strange for most dogs, but many dogs can adjust. In our evaluation they dropped a metal bed pan on the floor behind Ace to see how he’d react. (He wasn’t a fan, but he didn’t tear my arm off or anything!) Is your dog comfortable around this equipment?

• Plays Well With Others – Sometimes more than one dog is required at an event or a visit. You may find yourself sharing an elevator with another dog/handler team. Your dog must behave when he’s nose to nose with another dog, and he has to know when it’s work time and when it’s play time. A game of “who’s alpha now” isn’t appropriate in the workplace.

• Leave It! – Therapy dogs may encounter pills or bodily fluids (ick!) on the floor in a hospital or nursing home. It’s not only nasty, but ingesting medicines can be fatal. Dogs have to be able to walk past a meat treat (or in my dog, Ace’s case, cheese! He ate a lot of cheese while we trained for this one!) and not pick it up in order to pass the test.

• Who Walks Whom? – How does your dog do on a leash? Does he drag you into the next county or is the leash loose? Therapy dogs have to wait patiently and stick close to the handler. Wanna-be sled dogs shouldn’t quit their day jobs.

• What a Sweet Pea! - Finally, does your dog make people happy? Is he sociable and sweet? Does he like to be patted and stroked? Dogs who growl at people (and that includes “just the mail man”) aren’t ready for therapy work.

If your dog is ready to pass the therapy-dog evaluation, consider contacting Therapy Dogs International or Delta Society. Both are national organizations that evaluate and insure therapy dogs and help handlers find volunteer opportunities.

If you’re thinking about feeding your dog fresh dog food, here are some tips for making a healthy change. Changing your dog food doesn’t have to be a stressful process, but it should be a gradual one.

Consider Your Dog

Freshpet fresh dog food comes in many formulas and flavors including grain-free, meat, poultry and fish varieties, so there’s a Freshpet fresh dog food flavor that’s sure to work for your best friend. Dogs that are still growing should get Freshpet Puppy food. If your pet has allergies, choose a formula that avoids his sensitive ingredients. If you’re currently feeding a specific protein (such as lamb, beef or bison), stick to it for the time being. There’s time to try new proteins after your dog adjusts to the change from dry or canned to fresh.

Pay attention to the feeding guidelines on the side of the package. Our Slice and Serve rolls have markings much like a stick of butter, so you can feed the right amount of food based on your pet’s weight.

Take Your Time 

The switch to fresh pet food should be done slowly and gradually. Start by introducing one part new food to three parts old food then, over the course of a week or so, gradually increase the new food until he’s eating only fresh, natural dog food.

Observe His Preferences 

Try putting the fresh dog food in the same bowl with the dry and see what your dog prefers. We’ve seen many dogs work around the dry or canned food and actively seek out the fresh! It’s easy to tell what they like.

Control the Variables 

Never switch his food, treats, shampoo and schedule at the same time. You’ll never know what’s working and what’s not. Stick to the status quo and change one thing at a time.

Pay Attention to the Results

Are you seeing less “mess” in the yard? It’s probably because your dog is digesting and absorbing fresh food better. Are his eyes clearer? His coat shinier? Because there are no corn or wheat ingredients and no byproducts in fresh dog food (just fresh veggies and meat) they often look and feel better. If your dog experiences diarrhea or stomach upset, likely the transition is happening too fast. Try slowing it down and stretch the transition out over a couple of weeks.

Ask for Help

Don’t hesitate to ask your vet about your dog’s specific food needs. The vet can help make the transition easier. Also, our customer care team can provide lots of great tips for changing your dog’s diet to fresh dog food and can help you choose the fresh pet food that will work best for your dog.

Here’s one we’re playing over and over. I just want to hang out with this dog. He already knows that the best dog food is in the fridge. Love him!

Fortunately, all the recent health news about obesity, America’s latest health crisis, comes with a silver lining. People are becoming more aware of what they eat, and they’re choosing fresh, healthy food over things with empty calories, additives and preservatives.

Farmers’ markets have become community gatherings where chefs and home cooks shop side by side and the menus in restaurants and homes feature the ingredients that are fresh that day. Children are growing peas and carrots on farms in the suburbs and even in big cities. Television chefs are revamping school lunches to include more fresh vegetables and meat. It’s a trend that’s going in the right direction!

Now that we’re finally cluing in about the importance of eating fresh foods, it’s time to extend the healthy benefits to our pets and offer them fresh dog food and fresh cat food. Instead of feeding them dry or canned food that’s full of wheat, corn, fillers, artificial colors and preservatives, it’s time to give them a fresh alternative.

Keeping food fresh without artificial preservatives protects the nutritional integrity of the ingredients. That’s why all fresh dog food and fresh cat food must be refrigerated, just like the fresh groceries we buy for ourselves and our kids.

People who have been feeding their animals fresh pet food tell us that their animals are healthy and vibrant with shiny coats and bright eyes. We hear stories almost daily about how sick and old pets have renewed appetites and energy after they switched to feeding fresh pet food.

Buying fresh pet food in the grocery store is convenient, too. (Face it, most of us are there more frequently than we’d like to admit!) Fresh pet food has come a long way since the days when concerned pet owners had to cook it themselves.

Feeding pets a healthy diet of fresh meats, veggies and brown rice is simply the next step in improving the whole family’s eating habits!

Ace, Kristen and Deuce on Deuce's Adoption Day. (Don't worry. Ace warmed up to him quickly!)

If you’re anything like me, sometimes you’re more interested in pets than people. So, meet my guys, Ace and Deuce.

Ace was a golden retriever we adopted from a shelter when he was just 8 weeks old. A certified therapy dog who visited hospice patients, he was our practice baby, a much-loved hospital volunteer and my firstborn child…just the best boy. Sadly, he was diagnosed with lymphoma when he was 6, then he fought the cancer for 10 months. He died in May 2011. He was just 7.

When we learned that Ace was dying we thought we’d adopt another puppy, and we just had to call him Deuce. Though Deuce will never replace Ace, we’re not the same without a dog and we hoped it would make the loss a bit more manageable. Eventually I would need a new therapy partner and I wanted to start training the puppy as I had trained Ace.

Deuce (at 10 months old and 60 pounds) proves that dogs really do bury bones...not just in cartoons!

When Deuce came home (from a high-kill shelter in Georgia) he was 10 weeks old and weighed 4.8 pounds. We called him the Teacup Labrador. He was the smallest puppy in the litter, probably because he had several parasites hitching rides in his coat and his belly. With lots of TLC, several visits to the vet, and consistent, loving training he’s become a cherished member of the family. Fortunately he had Ace, who was always polite and well mannered, to teach him the ropes.

Deucey is almost 1 now and he’s a 65-pound handful. He eats Freshpet puppy food — and shoes. He gets into trouble in two shakes of a puppy’s tail. This week’s casualties include one pair of my sandals, numerous rope dog toys (his favorite to shred) and several action figures, toy train cars and stuffed animals. Hopefully, Deuce will chill out enough to pass his therapy-dog evaluation in a year or so. (Or two years. Or nine. Fingers crossed.)

Deuce loves to come to work with me at Freshpet. He has his own bed and dozens of refrigerators filled with healthy, fresh dog food. It’s doggie Nirvana! Now I just have to teach him not to mount the CEO’s leg.

I must say he’s smart as a whip and he picks up tricks and commands immediately. He’s strong as an ox and likes to prove it on our walks, but we’re working on that every day. He has mastered the sit, stay, wait, down and leave-it commands and he sleeps through the night and rings a bell to go out. I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

He’s a cute little bugger, don’t you think?

Sweet Deuce when we adopted him at 10 weeks old

Ohhh! It’s so cute! May I pet it?

Sure. It is cute, but it still pees on the floor and it just chewed up my new black sandals. That’s kind of how we feel about our new website and the brand-new blog that came with it. We’re working the kinks out but we are so excited to have a place to share our pets, our laughs and our rants with people who are as obsessed with their dogs and cats as we are.

I’d like to introduce myself, too. I’m Kristen and my dog, Deuce and I work at Freshpet. We have an incredible network of dog lovers, cat people, vets, trainers, rescuers and pet-product folks who will all pop by to add their perspectives to our little conversation. If you know someone we should know, shoot us an email.

We want to warn you…we might get a little “fresh” around here. I tend to get fired up about pet issues and I tell it like it is. Deuce is a member of my family and I’m one of those gals who meets the dogs at the party before I meet the people. If you think pet hair on your clothes just shows people that you’re loved, you’ve come to the right place!

It’s exciting, isn’t it? Try not to piddle on the floor, but if you do, it’s OK. We always have lots of paper towels on hand.