Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul is a strange name for dry dog food. But it’s good stuff. My dogs think so — of course they will gobble up all kinds of junk, too — but more importantly, I am pretty happy with it as an affordable dry dog food.

Let me explain. When we lived in Mexico for several years, we could get some American dog food. Most of it was quite conventional, as was all the Mexican dog food I ever saw — most of that was brands you would recognize. The best of what was available was a Diamond brand lamb and rice, so we used that in combination with homemade dog food I made based on recipes from a terrific book by veterinarian Dr. Richard Pitcairn and his wife. That link takes you to my blog entry, complete with a Youtube video I made, about that approach.

Well, now we are back home in a rather remote town in Colorado. Read the rest of this entry

Do you just grab a bag of dog food from the supermarket when you’re doing your grocery shopping? After all, you probably get good people food at that store or you wouldn’t use it. They probably have quite a few shelves of dog food, all proclaiming how healthy they are. But are they?

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There’s a lot of interest in feeding our dogs a better quality diet. I’ve written about it some on this dog training website, since what you feed your dog can affect his behavior. Many people have become more aware of what ingredients are in the dog kibble they buy, while others are feeding a totally homemade and often raw diet. Read the rest of this entry

Do you have a copy of Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats? Do you pull it out when one of your dogs or cats shows a worrisome symptom? Do you read the reference sections for fun? Do you cook from its recipe section? Do you refuse to lend it out because you might need it all of a sudden?

If you say yes, then you and I are on the same page.

If you don’t have it, I’d like to suggest that it is a very worthwhile book for your collection. Admittedly, I am a book lover, but this is the most essential of my whole collection of dog books… Read the rest of this entry