When I told people what I wanted to do, I was met with equal amounts of “huh” and “That sounds epic, my dog really needs something”.

I grew up on a farm in South Africa. We have had six dogs for as long as I can remember. Dachshunds, Weimaraners, Rottweilers, Spaniels, Labradors, Vizslas, Ridge-backs, runaways and SPCA rescues, we have had them all as a part of our family. We fed all our dogs the same food. They all had a mixture of dry food and home cooked - a variety of chicken, beef, offal, raw meat and veggies. 

All of our dogs have been on highly recommended dog food. They have always led a very active lifestyle, yet we struggled with their weights. Our labrador, Ike, is marked at the vet as the second fattest Lab in the valley.  We have had three of our dogs die of various cancers in recent years. Lucy our Ridgie, Fudge our Spaniel and Maggie our Vizsla. Losing Lucy really broke me, she was my absolute babe of babes.

You can’t have this happen in your family and not start looking into what could possibly be affecting their health. These were all different breeds of different sizes, but they were all struggling with illness. Being the chef in the family, I started looking into their nutrition and tried to approach it the same way I was approaching my own.

Food does so much more than just fuel us. It can literally make or break our health. This is the same for dogs. 

We have incredible dog food and kibble options in the UK, unlike in South Africa. So what could I bring into the world that could help a dog, even if the food they are eating is lacking? My first thoughts were treats. Could we supplement their treats? Yes - as many treat suppliers already do. Companies like Pooch and Mutt make amazing treats for dogs that are focused on specific issues such as anxiety and skin and coat. These are abundant in the UK, again, not in places like SA. 

Diving further into understanding what it was that I really wanted to achieve (epic health for dogs), one thing kept coming out of the research and the questions. Why can’t one thing do all these things? 

And so began the deep dive into educating myself on what my family's dogs need. After chatting to lots of dog parents, I realised this is not only an issue for my family and our dogs. It is so much bigger than that. The quest changed from ‘how can we help our dogs’, to ‘how can we help everyone's dogs’.

* I am not a Vet and have huge respect for Vets, this is an opinion piece and is based on my own experiences and studies