Food & Health
david swank
Heart Worm Drama

In honor of National Heartworm Awareness Month, I wanted to shine some light on heartworm prevention. The average pet owner is unaware of just how perfect the conditions have to be for a dog to get heartworms. The process involves 5 separate stages of development between the mosquito and the dog. A strong immune system is the key for prevention of this disease. Dogs that die from heartworm are the dogs that have been vaccinated, fed low quality processed pet food, and are being treated with suppressive drugs for every little symptom that comes along.
 

Heart Worm Drama
Food & Health
david swank
How Commercial Pet Food Is Killing Your Dog

Would you feed your family a meal made with condemned beef? Or spray the children’s tea with rancid fat collected from a deep-fat fryer? Or serve biscuits made with empty grain hulls swept from a factory floor? 

How Commercial Pet Food Is Killing Your Dog
General
david swank
I Don't Want a Show Dog, I Just Want a Pet.

This is one of the most pervasive sentiments that puppy buyers, especially families, express when they're looking for a dog. What they really mean, of course,

I Don't Want a Show Dog, I Just Want a Pet.

Food & Health

Heart Worm Drama

Heart Worm Drama

In honor of National Heartworm Awareness Month, I wanted to shine some light on heartworm prevention. The average pet owner is unaware of just how perfect the conditions have to be for a dog to get heartworms. The process involves 5 separate stages of development between the mosquito and the dog. A strong immune system is the key for prevention of this disease. Dogs that die from heartworm are the dogs that have been vaccinated, fed low quality processed pet food, and are being treated with suppressive drugs for every little symptom that comes along.
 

3 Puppy Vaccination Mistakes: Too Early, Too Often, Too Much

Any vaccine given at any point in a dog’s life has the ability to kill him or cause serious harm. If pet owners want to avoid vaccine-related dangers, then the best option would be to not vaccinate at all. This is a viable option for many who would gladly trade the risk of vaccine related damage for the risk of acute infection from puppy diseases.

Why I Have a Change of Heart About Neutering Pets

  • Scientific evidence is mounting that gonad removal can deliver serious consequences to a dog’s future health. Among those consequences: shortened lifespan, atypical Cushing’s disease, cardiac tumors, bone cancer, abnormal bone growth and development, CCL ruptures, and hip dysplasia.

Why dog breeder Denise Flaim began feeding raw dog food to her Rhodesian Ridgebacks and has stuck with it through the years.

Why dog breeder Denise Flaim began feeding raw dog food to her Rhodesian Ridgebacks and has stuck with it through the years.

Like many people, I started feeding raw reactively, not proactively. I had a new dog, my first show dog and first Ridgeback, who just wasn’t thriving on kibble. I remember setting down Blitz’s first raw meal with great fear and trepidation. And then – anticlimax – he didn’t choke, die, or even look at me cross-eyed. He ate, he thrived, and off we went and never looked back. Three more adult Ridgebacks followed, and dozens of puppies, who in turn had puppies of their own. All got their start in life on raw-food diets.

Starting Your Puppy On A Raw Diet

Starting Your Puppy On A Raw Diet

Before I start, I would like to address the issue that many people have with feeding large breed puppies raw. I’ve raised every litter and puppy in the last fifteen years on raw and have never had one of my puppies fail his hips and elbows. Yes, it is important to balance the calcium and phosphorus content in the food, but it’s easy to do with raw food – and in light of the dog foods that were recalled due to excesses of some nutrients, the ability to monitor the nutrients in raw food makes it a safer option than kibble in my opinion.