Nature's Logic has presented us with lots of great information on the benefits of "whole food" nutrition and avoiding synthetic vitamins and minerals.  Now, the founder of the food, has put his money where his mouth is. 

I personally fed our new Nature’s Logic Beef Kibble Formula exclusively to Jack, my 5-year-old Corgi/Australian Shepherd mix for over 30 days. After 35 days on this diet exclusively with no treats or other food or snacks, I made an appointment at Nebraska Animal Medical Clinic with Dr. Megan Ehlers. Blood samples were taken and shipped to the lab. Attached are the perfect results; everything right down the middle of “normal” in the blood chemistry. His vitality, skin and coat depict his excellent health as well.

Similar results occurred from our All Life Stage Feeding Trials in 2006 using the Nature’s Logic Chicken Kibble Formula as the lead diet for substantiation. All results exceeded AAFCO requirements and the historical averages of the kennel.

These blood chemistry results further substantiate our premise that deriving nutrients from real food is better. They are better absorbed and utilized than individual synthetic elements used to fortify other processed pet food. It is also safer to use whole foods than chemically synthesized vitamins and minerals as demonstrated a number of times from recent incidences.

To view the blood results for yourself, you can download them in pdf form.

Beef kibble is now available at Happy Tails.  Come by and pick some up for your dog to try!

Q: I am a puppy breeder and I am having problems with bloody stool and weak puppies. Because I have so many dogs I have to buy the cheapest food I can, so I buy it at Sam's.

A: Nutrition! Nutrition! Nutrition! If a daughter or wife was to become a mother would you advise her to buy the cheapest, poorest quality ntrition she can buy? NO you would not. You know she needs to feed herself and her unborn child quality, well-balanced nutrition. Member's Mark Performance Dog Food from SAMS $20.96 for a 50lb bag. Ingredients: Meat and Bone Meal, (typically 35% ash and 50% protein) ground yellow corn, ground wheat, corn gluten meal, animal fat (preserved with BHA and citric acid), wheat middlings, soybean meal, animal digest. Does this sound like something that would nourish healthy puppies? Compare to Diamond Naturals Beef & Rice, $20.98 for 40lb. Ingredients: beef meal, cracked pearled barley, ground rice, peas, egg product, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols). And better still Premium Edge Chicken and Rice, $30 in quantity of 10 for a 35lb bag. Ingredients: Chicken, chicken meal, ocean fish meal, whole grain brown rice, cracked pearled barley, white rice, oatmeal, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), prebiotics and enhanced with DHA (critical for the development of puppy's brains and vision). The higher the quality of what you put into your dog, the greater the chances of healthy puppies and less complications. And it costs less per feeding. Cheap is cheap. I want the most for my hard earned money.

Nestle Purina has a new product out, with wonderful advertising set to fool the consumer into thinking they're giving their pet quality food. You've probably seen it - Chef Micheal's Canine Creations. The commercial shows the chef leaving his gourmet restaurant and rushing home to create a fabulous meal for his best canine friend. The website asks you to fulfill your dog's desires and let him know you love him by feeding this food. It's all intended to not only fool you into believing that this food is "gourmet prepared" but also tells you that your dog will love you more, or feel more loved, when you feed it. In my educated opinion, all this gorgeous packaging and clever advertising does is cover up the fact that Chef Micheal's Creations is nothing but pure...junk. 

Filet Mignon Flavor with potato and green bean garnishes is the over priced one we purchased -Ingredients:  Beef, soybean meal, soy flour, animal fat, brewer's rice, soy protein concentrate, corn gluten meal, ground yellow corn, glycerin, poultry by-product meal, ground wheat, animal digest and dyes.

The equally overpriced 3oz cans (set to compete directly with Cesar's) are similar. Beef Tenderloin Flavor with barley & carrot garnishes. Ingredients: water, beef liver, wheat gluten, meat by-products, chicken, barley, carrots. Remember, your pet needs quality nutrition just like us. Pet food  is supposed to support your pet through his life. If you purchase this stuff you are buying advertising and feel-good promises. The last 10 to 12 years the snake oil salesman has been turned loose on us not only in the pet food industry but also Wall Street and Congress. Go to our nutrition section for more ingredient definitions.

You usually irritate me but your column last week "really made me mad"!!  I have a bunch of the healthiest cats around and they eat "grocery food".

Sorry 'bout that. I have been irritating my wife for 43 years now and I think she still loves me. Check the ingredients in your cat's food. If you're happy with them, fine. In my educated opinion, if they contain the following ingredients you are doing your cats and your pocketbook an injustice.

Cheap ingredients with little nutrition: brewers rice, corn products, soybean meal, wheat flour, cereal food fines, beet pulp, soybean mill run, peanut hulls, wheat middlings.

Bad ingredients: All dyes, red blue, yellow, titanium dioxide (the only purpose is to fool consumers into thinking there are veggies and meat in the product), sugar, corn syrup, glutens.

Bad, unidentifiable sourced ingredients: meat and bone meal, meat meal, meat by-product meal, poultry by-product meal, animal fat, BHA/BHT.

Example: Friskies Seafood Sensations (Nestle-Purina) Ingredients: Ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, meat and bone meal, 11.5% animal fat, soybeal meal, animal liver flavor and ingredients numbers 11 to 16 are seafood meals followed closely with dyes to make the food pretty for you.

Canned friskies is not much better. Mariners Catch ingredients:  liver, poultry by-products, meat by-product, artificial flavors and dyes.

All leftover crap from the human processing industry and unidentifiable rendered junk. Cats and dogs are carnivores. They need identifiable meat proteins from beef, chicken, egg, cheese, etc & veggies.

Pet Food Ingredients 101: It's a big time for advertising and you may be receiving lots of coupons from various pet food companies.  As always, please make sure you are carefully checking the ingredients list on any food you may be given an incentive to try. "Cheap" food is just that, made up of mostly poor ingredients and fillers.  Here are some ingredients you should avoid, and why.

Glutens (corn, wheat, soy) are used as fillers to boost protein content. The only reason these ingredients exist in pet food is to artificially raise the protein content to acceptable levels. Protein in pet food should come from MEAT sources, not grain. Dog food recalls last year were due to contaminated gluten. The question should not have been why is there contaminated gluten in the food, but why is there any gluten in there at all?

Unnamed meat sources are unnamed for a reason - because we are not sure what kind of "animal" is in there. Not only is this ingredient poor quality, it can be extremely dangerous.  In 1985 the University of Minnesota did a study about the survival of sodium pentobarbital (used to euthanize animals) through the rendering process and the FDA found low levels of the stuff in some brands of dog food*.  Now, while the traces are not significant, it once again begs the question...why is it in there at all?

Avoid the various dyes commonly used in pet food.  Their only purpose is to make the food look more like various vegetables in an attempt to play to human sensibilities. VEGGIES should be in the food, not dyes. Some dyes have been found to be linked to cancer and birth defects in lab animals. Dyes do not make the food more enticing or palatable to pets, and they certainly don't make the food healthier.  So why are they in there at all?

Grain fractions are used to fool the consumer into thinking there is more meat in the food than grain by "splitting" ingredients. (ie: rice, rice flour and rice bran. Together they would appear much higher on the ingredient list.) Brewer's rice is the floor sweepings and broken pieces leftover from the rice industry, commonly sold to the brewing industry.  It should be called "brewer's dust" not "rice".

*For more information on what exactly goes into rendered products visit these websites:

Where Do Euthanized Animals Go
Outcry Over Pets In Food
Food Not Fit for a Pet
Horrifying - Laboratory Animals rendered into Pet Food

August Sales!  Just click the coupon to print a larger version.  Bring it with you for instant savings!

If you have been waiting for summer vacation to end and for classes to start, the time is here!  We are registering dogs and families for obedience classes starting in August.  Our first class is Tuesday August 18th and it's filling up FAST!

We require a $35 non-refundable deposit to hold your place in class.  To sign up, you will need to come by the shop and fill out some paperwork, or you can download and print this form and bring it with you.

Just as a reminder, the upcoming class dates are:

August 18th (Tuesday) @ 7PM
August 27th (Thursday) @ 7PM

Hope to see you there!

I know some of you have been waiting for the dog lifejackets to arrive, and after a lengthy backorder...they're finally here! Available in Teacup through

large, these are quality flotation jackets that are perfect for trips to the lake. If you plan to take your dog with you on a water vacation, you definintely need to check them out!

Teacup - $19.98
XX-Small - $21.98
X-Small - $21.98
Small- $24.98
Medium - $31.98
Large - $36.98