Dear Fellow Dog Lover
Twenty years as a Doctor of Chiropractic, four years of nutrition training, more than fifteen years adjusting animals from dogs, to horses, and a lifetime as both a dog owner and animal lover has left me with an interesting perspective about pet nutrition. Despite years of having home cooked for my pets, I allowed myself to be persuaded by vets and breeders, to feed commercial pet food. I thought with all the research available to the large companies, that I could find a quality food, that was better for them than what I had been feeding. When you find products labeled "Organic" or "Natural", and you are paying premium prices for them you think you are giving your pet the best. Wrong!
The bottom line is that there are few, if any dog foods on the market that do not contain either by-products or meal. If you don't mind discovering the shocking and somewhat gory truth please follow the link to Scary but True. Pay special attention to the information on "meal" and "rendered products."
When is a dog food not a dog food? When it is made with nothing but the finest ingredients. Lucky dog came to be as an act of love for my own dogs. I believe in eating wholesome, natural, unprocessed food. My dogs are part of my family so I feed them the same quality foods I eat myself.
I am passionate about my dogs! They are a wonderful part of our family. I also love to cook (and to eat!). So as a labor of love, I chose to cook for my dogs. Being a chiropractor, I have always believed that we should live as naturally as possible. In addition I understand the need for good, balanced nutrition.
In 1995 I had a two year old standard poodle named Storm, diagnosed with Addison's disease. At the time, in addition to conventional veterinarian therapies I was looking for any additional help I could give her. I researched what was in dog food and had an eye opening experience. I would not want myself nor my family to live on processed food, so why would I have my dogs live that way? I once again started to experiment with home cooked recipes looking for that canine balance of protein and carbohydrates. Storm became my personal study. Within months of changing her to my home cooked recipe I noticed a number of changes in her as she seemed to regain her pre-diagnosis energy and vitality.
The ultimate watershed moment occurred about six months after we started the home cooking program. My beautiful black Standard had turned very grey after the onset of her disease. I sent her to the groomer one day and she returned with her coat a dark beautiful black again. All of the grey had grown out and she looked great. I actually cried I was so excited at her return to health. Stormy lasted 10 more great years before she passed away. A wonderful full life for an Addisonian dog.
Research, research and more research has gone into formulating Lucky Dog. I have been feeding my own dogs some variation or other of Lucky Dog for the past twelve years. The correct balance of protein and carbohydrates is a great start but in addition I also incorporated a proper mixture of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Lucky Dog is also low in fat. It is made only with wholesome ingredients that you could find at your local grocery. At least you could if you shopped at a really good grocery store.
Brown rice, lean ground beef, ricotta cheese, pureed mixed vegetables, tomatoes, wheat germ, organic flax seed meal, sea salt and garlic all made with filtered water and plenty of love. Sounds like a great dinner for the people of the house but formulated in perfect balance for your dog. As you can tell, my dogs are family members. I refuse to feed my dogs anything that I would not eat myself.
Just to illustrate that point, a couple of years ago my daughter, one of my other passions in life, came home from University for Thanksgiving dinner. Like most moms I love to send food back with her while she is away from home. I made her up a large Tupperware container full of Turkey, Dressing and all the trimmings. That was great except for the fact that she grabbed the wrong container out of the refrigerator and jumped on her plane back to school with about ten pounds of dog food.
I was disappointed because I had to make another batch of food for the dogs and also because I had wanted Meghan to have the turkey for her and her friends. She, on the other hand was delighted. When she opened the container and saw what she had done she immediately invited all her friends over and they ate all the dog food. They put it in tacos, mixed it into spaghetti sauce and even ate it straight out of the container. Oh well, at least I knew they were getting their vitamins and omega fatty 3 acids.
The idea of making Lucky Dog available to the general public was long in coming. My butcher, Jeff Scott at Scotts Meats in Old Bluffton was adamant that other people around here really needed this product. He was so impressed with it that he is even offering Lucky Dog for sale at his store. Next time you go in you can pick up a nice juicy steak for you and some Lucky Dog for your best friend. The name, by the way, came naturally. Every time someone asked me about what I feed my dogs and I told them what was in it the response was always, "Wow, what Lucky Dogs!"
Watching Stormy recover and live a quality life was one indication that I was on the right track with my home cooked food. Another was when Storm's vet asked if she could buy food from me for her own dogs. I provided her with food until about five years ago when my I relocated to the Low Country of South Carolina.
A third indication of the power of my food was when a local vet gave me a sample of a product designed for "Hot Spots". I had to tell her that I didn't even know what they were and she was absolutely amazed. "Don't you know you are in the South now she asked? We have all kinds of allergies, skin infections and hot spots down here." "Sorry Ms. Vet. Not my dogs." Hmm, I guess they are Lucky Dogs indeed.
I am honored to be able to share "Lucky Dog" with you and I wish you long life and much love with your best friends.
Sincerely,
Dr. Janice Elenbaas & Bugsy
President, CEO and Dog Lover
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Why Feed Lucky Dog
~ "Remember, Health comes from the inside out!" ~
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