In conjunction with Paw Justice (and their massive Facebook fan base!) we offered 20 dog owners the opportunity to feed their allergy suffering pooches a chance to give a raw, natural diet (K9 Natural of course) a chance to work its magic. The challenge is still going on but we’ve been receiving some awesome feedback from dog owners so far including the following story from Andrea Matthew’s about her dog Wiski.

Before I tried Wiski on K9, he had dull flaky skin and was an incessant scratcher. He has always been fed the highest priced pet foods, and we tried all the expensive vet prescribed dried dog foods to alleviate the itching. Though some stopped him scratching for a while, it would eventually start up again. Wiski even started to refuse these special prescribed foods.

We have had great success with K9 through the 30 day challenge. He loves the food, I love how shiny his coat is and I also love how happy he is to eat again. I know what I am giving him is both nutritious and a treat to him. It’s something he should have been eating all along. Thanks to the K9 team, I once again have a happy dog who does not spend all his waking and sleeping hours biting and scratching due to food allergies.

Thanks to Andrea for sending in Wiski’s story. We’d love to hear from others who’ve had similar success or who are looking for a solution to their dog’s allergy problems.

Unfortunately we don’t have a picture of Monty but here is a Red Kelpie that looks just like him!

Recently we had a K9 Natural customer get in touch with us.  She loves writing stories about her dogs (past and present) and wondered if we would like to post some of these on our blog…sure we do!  So here’s the first story about “Monty”, a dog from her childhood who, well the story tells the rest…

A powerfully built chesty red kelpie with intelligent twitching tan eyebrows, “Monty”, was a steely eye dog.  His un-erring determination to dominate even the meanest Merino ram meant he was a valuable asset to the team and earned him lead dog status from a young age.  Unsurprisingly, “Monty” also had a reputation as a ladies man and could detect a bitch on heat from 10km away. 

One morning, as we sped to the bus stop, our neighbour, Mrs Kent, was waiting for us with “Monty”.  A usually composed, elegant and well-spoken woman, Mrs Kent was madder than I had ever seen her.  “Your meandering mongrel has been at my Primrose!” she told Dad.

Dad apologized and scolded “Monty”, but as we drove on I could see this really tickled his funny bone.  He ruffled “Monty’s” fur and said, “ah Monty you meandering mongrel.”  Later that year “Primrose the Poodle” did produce a litter.  No-one needed to guess about their parentage, the pups twitching tan eyebrows were a dead giveaway.

Green Tripe is packed with natural nutritional goodness including protein and probiotics.  To make things simple, here are our favourite characteristics of Green Tripe;

-  High in protein and low in fat which makes it a great, healthy snack or meal supplement.

-  Packed with probiotics and amino acids, both of which are a great digestive aid and enhance your dog’s ability to process food.

-  A settled digestive system from feeding Green Tripe leads to reduction or elimination of skin allergies and irritation.

-  Highly palatable so even the pickiest dogs can’t resist it!  A couple of customer comments confirm this;

• “Tripe is the stuff doggie dreams are made of”
• “You’ve turned my dog into a Tripe junkie!”

To make feeding tripe easier, we produce it in both frozen and freeze dried free flow forms which takes away the ‘yuck’ factor as you don’t need to handle it (unfortunately we can’t get rid of the smell).

To learn more about Green Tripe, you can watch our webinar about it by clicking here.

If you want to track down some K9 Natural Green Tripe, you can find it at your local retailer or through our online store.

We are very fortunate to regularly receive stories from customers about their positive experiences with K9 Natural.  Recently Tracy Rosenberry from Kansas sent us a great story about how K9 Natural had changed the lives of her dogs Cassie and Oscar.

There was one specific comment of Tracy’s really gave us those feel good, warm fuzzies though;

 “I truly believe that K9 Natural has improved the quality of life for my four-legged friends and that to me is priceless.”

It is incredibly inspiring for the K9 Natural family to hear how our products are improving the lives of dogs, cats and their owners around the world.  After all, that was the reason the company was formed in the first place!

If you want to read Oscar and Cassie’s story then click here.

The Last Dogs of Winter is a spectacular documentary about a man’s journey to save the Canadian Qimmiq dog (the rarest registered breed of dog in the world) and is currently screening in New Zealand as part of the NZ International Film Festival.

For the past 40 years in the remote and harsh environment of northern Manitoba, Canada, Brian Ladoon has devoted his life to preserving and breeding the Qimmiq, Canada’s indigenous Arctic dog. The dogs live in their natural but unforgiving environment and we see some incredible footage of them interacting with polar bears. These dogs were once the transport system of the Arctic, with their numbers up in the tens of thousands but now their numbers are down to just a few hundred.

Two Canadian Qimmiq dogs, Clara and Mawson, call New Zealand their home and are owned by a Rose Close and Nigel Voice in Ranfurly.  Rose, Nigel and their team of Malamutes introduced Clara and Mawson into their family recently after bringing them over from Minnesota, USA.

We are very excited to see this documentary and there are 2 more screening’s available if you live in Christchurch;

Hoyts Northlands – Tuesday 14 August, 8.30pm
Hoyts Northlands – Wednesday 15 August, 11am

We all love the relationships between our dogs and cats.  They bring us spontaneous moments of hilarity and cuteness every day.  The same could be said about the quirks between cats and their owners too!

If you haven’t seen the ‘Simon’s Cat’ videos on You Tube before and you want to brighten your day, put a few minutes aside for a chuckle.  Who would’ve thought that short cartoons about a cat and its owner would attract so much attention, but 270 million views proves this relationship can provide endless entertainment.

Farr

Farr is a Police Dog who lives in Bartlett, Tennessee.  Although he was always a keen worker, poor Farr had a big problem: dog flatulence!  It got so bad that his handler Chris had to stop taking him to work because it became unbearable having Farr in the car due to the stink!

The last thing Chris wanted was keep Farr from the job he loves, so he did some research about how to solve the problem.  Everything Chris read suggested that the cause of Farr’s flatulence was food.  His research led him to K9 Natural which he decided to give a go.

After a short period on the diet Farr’s gas dried up and Chris was able to take him back to work.  We are so pleased that Farr was able to overcome his problem and get back on the front line!

Source: Old Picture of the Day

Last weekend Calvin (our CEO) was Andrew Patterson’s guest during his weekend program on RadioLIVE. Their discussion ranged from the story behind K9 Natural and our dedicated founder Geoff Bowers, through to how our dog food company from little old New Zealand is taking on the world.

Calvin explains why New Zealand is the perfect home for K9 Natural, how the product ‘just makes sense’ and dispels the myth that K9 Natural is a ‘high end’ dog food.

The discussion is intended to look at K9 Natural from a business perspective, but we are certain that K9 Natural fans would love to hear some background behind our company. If you are interested in listening, please click the following link. Calvin on RadioLIVE

Image From: http://old-photos.blogspot.co.nz/2011/10/dog-listening-to-radio.html

Image Source: Cinegeek

I was at a Flight of the Conchords show last week and Arj Barker was the hilarious opening act.  One of his lines was “if you’re a grown man that doesn’t cry you obviously haven’t seen Marley and Me!”  He’s right, there’s just something about that film.  Sure it’s an emotional rollercoaster of laughs and tears, but so are hundreds of other movies.  So why have so many people fallen in love with the movie about the dog?  Bingo, because it’s all about the dog!

Anyone who has owned a dog (especially a mischievous one) can relate to what John and Jenny go through with Marley.  He brings them laughter and frustration (generally in the form of destruction!) but ultimately Marley is loyal, loveable and sticks around no matter what else is going on in their lives.

Even with its heartbreaking ending, Marley and Me is a great reminder of all the wonderful moments dogs bring to our lives.

K9 Natural was fortunate enough to win “The University of Auckland Business School Entrepreneurs Challenge”.  Part of the prize was a two day session with Kevin.  It was a very personal session with only 8 attendees.  I feel like I have completed an MBA in just two days as well as being very inspired but exhausted at the same time.

One point that came out of the session with Kevin was trying to define a “one word equity” for ourselves and our Company.  This is one word that typifies us and our Company.  It sounds easy but it wasn’t.  I kept coming back to the word “trust”.  In my banking career, I believe the legacy that I left, was that people felt they could trust me which is quite a rare quality found in banking these days.

Trust is also a word I have been thinking a lot of lately in the New Zealand Food Industry.  I have attended seminars in New Zealand and I have been trying to define what is lacking in marketing New Zealand Inc from a food perspective to the world.  Our strongest attribute is the word trust.  If you buy a New Zealand lamb rack you can TRUST that it has been farmed ethically, the sheep has had a good life, the animal ended its life humanly and the food safety standards are world beating.  If you buy milk from New Zealand you can TRUST that the milk is not going to harm you, unlike milk from China.

Americans are also losing trust in their own food chain and there is a great opportunity for New Zealand to take advantage of this.  Presently we are not doing a very good job of communicating our story to the rest of the world.

The recent Salmonella outbreak in dog food is a great example of why serious questions should be asked about the food safety standards in the USA.  New Zealand and K9 Natural take food safety very seriously.  Before any batch leaves our facility it is tested for Salmonella and Ecoli O157:H7.  There must be zero traces of these two nasty strains of bacteria before the product can be dispatched.  We also take great care in the sourcing of our products and endeavour to source the highest possible ingredients.  We believe prevention is better than a cure in regards to food safety.

We know New Zealand’s pure image is a key selling point and we must protect it.  We also know that New Zealand’s Food Safety Standards are world leading, especially for exported product.  We need to get better at communicating this to our customers.  These points are key attributes to prove that K9 Natural is a product that can be TRUSTED.

Regards

Calvin Smith

CEO K9 Natural Food Ltd