|
Boulder County's
"premier"
dog training service
Colorado's only distributor of Nature's Advantage & Majestic Raw Meat diets for dogs & cats.
|
|
Two Bears Dog Training
In the Community
Article as seen in the Erie Review
|
4/18/2007
To the dogs
Pricey pet foods find new buyers
By Leslie Wilber
Colorado Hometown Newspapers
The cost of higher-grade pet food is becoming more palatable to owners in the wake of recent food safety recalls.
| 
Diann Yandrich sits with her German
Shepherds Ursa and Cheyenne and
the raw-meat dog food that has the
dogs faces on the wrapper.
Colorado Hometown
Newspapers/Leslie Wilber
|
"The trust level is high among pet-related businesses," said John Hendershot, whose Erie business, Two Bears,
distributes raw-meat dog food.
Because pets can’t speak for themselves, their owners trust experts to provide high-quality care, products and advice.
The recalls may have breached the trust in the pet-food industry.
In recent weeks, Hendershot has seen increased orders for the Animal Food Services raw meat dog food he sells.
"People are looking for an alternative," he said.
Louisville resident Lauren Alexander operates Colorado Pet Chef from a Denver office.
The recall also has boosted her business, Alexander said.
She delivers the natural dog food to Boulder County homes weekly.
"Everything we use is human grade," Alexander said. She sells food and treats for dogs and cats.
Her dog, Cash, and her fiance’s dog, Monroe, have important jobs as taste testers for treats.
Cash’s favorites are chicken strips, while Monroe prefers Elk jerky.
"It actually smells really good," Alexander said.
The same cannot be said for Hendershot’s food.
The ingredients include tripe and lots of blood — AFS might not be for the squeamish, Hendershot said.
But dogs love the meat, which comes in loaves and patties that must be defrosted for about a day before it is fed, he said.
Cheyenne, an almost 12-year-old German shepherd owned by Hendershot and his wife, Diann Yandrich, remains active. He enjoys playing Frisbee and going for walks, Yandrich said.
Cheyenne has eaten a raw meat diet most of his life.
He and Ursa, another dog the couple owns, appear on bags of "Majestic," a raw-meat food Hendershot and Yandrich developed for AFS.
Some pet owners are concerned about the safety of raw meat, Yandrich said. Dogs are carnivorous, so their digestive track can handle most bacteria, she said.
There is a strain of E coli that affects dogs, Hendershot said. That bacteria is found almost exclusively in feed-lot cattle, he said.
AFS does not use feed lot cattle, he said.
Hendershot and Alexander both say the food they sell is more expensive than what is bought in the grocery store.
A 20-pound bag of Colorado Pet Chef dog food is $25. An 8-pound bag of cat food is $17, Alexander said.
Hendershot said AFS is comparable to the cost of high-quality dog food, plus supplements. He also offers discounts for high-volume purchases.
|
|
|
