Shadow and the Beef Lung Treats

I stopped over to visit some friends recently and brought along a bag of our Happy N’ Healthy 100% Organic Lung Treats for Shadow, their 8-year-old German Shepherd. I’ve known Shadow since she was a puppy and she’s a sweet dog. Big – and her bark can be intimidating – but sweet.

Before I even managed to get into the house, Shadow was jumping on me because she smelled the bag of Treats! I guess I probably shouldn’t have opened the bag until I got inside, huh?! Shadow has been trained not to jump on people, but she apparently couldn’t resist.

Once we gave her one, she settled down and happily munched on the Treat, which is packed with protein and is delicious to dogs.

We wanted to see if she’d hold the bag in her mouth for a photo op, but nothin’ doin’! Instead, she situated the bag between her two front paws and proceeded to try to get her nose into the bag. I’m not sure, but I suspect at that moment, she wished she had opposable thumbs in order to pull out another Treat! When she couldn't get another Treat out of the bag, she put her paw on the bag to show us they were hers. And she didn't move from that spot for the duration of my visit.

I felt good giving Shadow a bag of our Treats and her owners were happy knowing that she was getting 100% organic Treats with nothing artificial added. They are 100% organic. Plus, they are sold at Whole Foods – and the closest store is only about 5 miles away at 3670 W. Dublin-Granville Rd. in Columbus, OH.

Yeah, This is MY Dog Bone – Gimme the Word and I’m On It!

So I just heard a good story from one of our customers I wanted to share with you.

He gave his dog, Belle, one of our Happy N’ Healthy Meaty Y Knuckle bones, which are pretty humongous bones meant for large dogs. Belle qualifies as she’s about 70 lbs. So, following the directions on the label, he put the bone outside on the deck for Belle to enjoy. And then he stood back and let her have at it since she was pretty intensely focused on that dog bone!

After she enjoyed the treat for a while, he called her name, which she knew meant he wanted her to come back inside. Well, being the Lab/”hound dog” mix she is, she wanted to make sure no other dog or human had access to her bone. So she ran off the deck with the partially chewed dog bone in her mouth.

Curious, her owner walked around the deck to the back of the yard to find out where Belle was. He saw her furiously digging in the dirt beside a large tree so she could bury her bone.

I always thought that was pretty much a cartoon thing – that dogs took their treasures – bones and treats and such – and buried them in the yard for safekeeping. But, no, it’s evidently not a cartoon thing. Or a myth. After all, there was Belle, dirt flying out in an arc behind her, digging a hole for her bone!

She had been a stray and the vet had estimated that she’d been on her own for a couple years before her owners adopted her, so she knew how to hunt for her own food. And she clearly recognized the value of a good dog bone!

Belle was so good at burying that bone, her owner couldn’t easily extract it from the ground. Heck, he couldn’t even find it for a while! Not only that, but had he not seen where Belle was scratching in the dirt, he wouldn’t have known where to look. Why? Because she’d not only dug up the hole to hide her Happy N’ Healthy dog bone – but she’d patted all the dirt back in place over her hiding spot. Good dog!

Hmmm…maybe they could hire her out to work with a gardener planting trees and bushes? Perhaps it would be a workable plan if they also offered her some bones and treats as incentives.

Anyway, he dug up the bone and brought it inside and washed off all the dirt. And then stored it in the refrigerator for her to enjoy another day. And, don’t you know – ol’ Belle planted herself in front of that fridge and refused to budge!

We love to hear good dog stories – especially ones with happy endings! So, if you have any dog stories you’d like to share, please do. We’d love to hear ‘em!

A Dog Treat Story

A few weeks ago my husband and I were asked to take care of our friends’ dog while they went on vacation. We immediately said yes. Not ever having a dog as a pet, I gladly let my husband handle the feeding, watering and poo-picking-up duties, but I was right there when it came to giving her love, affection and dog treats.

Alas, I didn’t have any of our Happy N’ Healthy Organic Beef Dog Treats on-hand, but our friend had left some sort of dog treat stix for his pet. Figuring that I’d get points for giving her treats, I enthusiastically called her to me and made a big production of giving her a daily treat. She loved the stix, but we noticed that she seemed to choke on the treat with alarming frequency. She never had a bad enough reaction that we felt a trip to the vet was necessary, but it concerned us enough that we stopped giving her the treats.

When we reported our concern to our friend upon his return, he said he gives her the treats regularly and never noticed that she choked on them. But it would only take one time for him not to notice her choking for tragic consequences to occur.

This situation brings home the idea that all dog treats on the market are not equal. A Google search of dog treats sold at one national pet store chain revealed over 400 varieties of dog treats. However, there are many artificial products out there in biscuits, chews, rawhides and the like. Many are filled with artificial ingredients and flavorings. That’s not to say that dogs won’t love these treats – but the question is: are these the best products for dogs?

I may be a little biased, but I think our Happy N’ Healthy Organic Beef Treats are the way to go. They are strips of 100% Organic Beef Liver or Lung (two varieties) and have absolutely nothing artificial added to them. No flavorings, no artificial preservatives, no added anything. Just pure organic beef. And, I might add, I have not met a dog who doesn’t love them!

I remember when we were researching the Treats and they hadn’t even been packaged yet, I brought some samples to my brother-in-law’s dog. The dog, by the way, usually barked ferociously at me – until he smelled the treats. And then he was my new best friend. Imagine that?!

The only thing to remember when feeding our treats is to match the size of the treat to the size of the dog. Small dogs under 20 lbs. should be given ½” to 1” piece of the treat; medium dogs weighing 20-50 lbs. should be given 1”-2” pieces and larger dogs can be given 2” or more of the treat.

Oh, and also – don’t give the dog as much of the treats as he wants at one time. He might eat the whole bag, but that wouldn’t be good for him, would it? Just as it isn’t good for dog’s best friend to eat an entire bag of, well, anything – even if it’s a healthy treat!