The Naked Dog Box

This post is sponsored by The Naked Dog Box. The pack was compensated with a box of food, treats, and a measuring scoop. All opinions written here are just that: my opinions. This post also includes affiliate links. If you buy something by clicking on a link (you are NOT obligated to, by any means!), the pets and I get a tiny bit of Moolah for Mueller off to the side, and it doesn't cost you anything extra. Not only that, it's much appreciated. 

My dog, Charlie Brown, received a big box last week, addressed to him! The Naked Dog Box arrived in great condition, and was waiting at my doorstep when I got home from work the other day. I have to say, I immediately fell in love with just the box itself, never mind what was inside!

When we opened it up, we literally got a treat (well, a bag of treats). Inside was, like I said, a bag of treats as well as a stainless steel measuring scoop, which was selected just for my dog, based on the profile I had submitted for him. Since Charlie and Cooper are twins, I didn't have to submit two profiles, their profiles are pretty much identical (hah, see what I did there?!).




Facebook Live video of us opening up the Naked Dog Box.

Also inside was a HUGE bag of The Naked Dog salmon and chickpea premium dog formula. It's grain-free and potato free. I don't know why potato free is an issue... I guess because of carbs and weight gain, maybe? I will have to educate myself on that, perhaps some of you reading this could weigh in (oooo, I did it again, sorry! Me 'n' my puns!).  

We eat only grain-free dog food in our house, ever since Hobie developed a terrible allergy to wheat years ago. Therefore, I was thrilled when The Naked Dog asked me to try out their grain-free product.

The company recommends feeding one scoop in the morning, and one in the evening. I usually feed my dogs just once a day, in the evening, so I had to make some adjustments to follow this recommendation, mix it together with our current food to avoid tummy problems, and be sure my dogs don't gain extra weight. 

A perfectly-measured scoop of The Naked Dog salmon & chickpea formula.
Measured specifically for my dogs based on the profile I set up online.

Let me say that the dogs absolutely went ape over this food! That made me feel confident that I am feeding them something really good tasting, as well as good quality. I have to admit, when I opened the bag, and got a whiff of the fish it was pretty strong-smelling. I remarked, "Woo! Smells like FISH!" You can only imagine what two hound dogs thought of that. "Gimme!"

Charlie and Cooper are like, "Mom, that smells so good, we're going to sit perfectly still until you feed us!"

Since we should always be careful when changing our dogs' food, I mixed some of their current brand with the Naked Dog brand. Funny enough, the other brand ALSO sent me a free bag of food in exchange for a blog post this week! Dog food doesn't pay the bills, but getting two free bags of food that I already use and endorse saves me money. So, it's a win-win. You'll be hearing about the other dog food (our regular brand) in a few days.

Nom, nom, nom

Nom, nom, nom, right out of the scoop itself!

Back to The Naked Dog food. Like I said, it's grain-free and potato-free. It's also free of soy and corn. No bad stuff. The large, unmarked bag we received has enough food to feed one of my dogs, two scoops per day, for two weeks. 

The Naked Dog prides themselves on having a small carbon footprint, thus the plain, brown wrapper on their bag, and minimal packing materials inside the box (which I LOVE -- can't stand bubble wrap, air-filled baggies or packing corn!).

The dog food is packaged in a plain, brown wrapper.
Charlie Brown says, "It smells so gooood!"

I just might consider signing up for the regular deliveries. The dogs like this food so much. The company claims you can skip going to your local pet store and shop on their site to include other items like treats, toys and other add-ons.

 


I've taken a picture of the guaranteed analysis and ingredients list for you to check out the salmon and chickpea formula.

They even sent me a cute little cardboard bow tie cutout with instructions and a video! I will have to find a few minutes to cut out the bow tie and put it on one of the dogs. Maybe Cooper.

You can find more details about The Naked Dog Box here.

As a special promotion just for my readers, you can get your first box for just $10 - regardless of the size of your dog! 
Just use the code travelingdoglady10 when you sign up.

First time using The Naked Dog Box? Get $10 off your order with code travelingdoglady10 now!


Have you tried the Naked Dog Box, or any other pet-related "box" service? I'd like to know how it works with your schedule. Tell me about it in the comments, or send me an email at k2k9dogs@gmail.com  

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Changing Your Dog's Food

This week, I returned from being away for a week in pet-friendly Rome, Italy. It's the annual "Yuletide" trip that my company, Passports Educational Travel, takes every year. While it was fun, it was also a lot of hard work, and I missed my pets something awful!

Me, at an Italian winery between Christmas and New Year's, 2016

I had stocked up on dog and cat food before I left, so that my pet sitter would have enough, and I'd have enough for my return, to avoid having to go the store as soon as I got back.

Yesterday, I opened a new bag of dog food, and when I tore off the strip at the top of the re-closable bag, I noticed something was stuck to it, and it looked like a dead bug.  When I tore open the rest of the top of the bag, inside were hundreds of bugs crawling around!  Gross!  I whipped open the back door and threw the bag outside. Charlie went after it, and I had to grab him and drag him back inside. I do not know what kind of insects they were, but it was disgusting. This was a small "extra" bag of food I had grabbed at the grocery store -- the same brand I have been feeding them (FreshPet Dry Grain-Free).  I also had a large, un-opened bag left over as well.  When I looked at the dates on the bags, they were a year old. I do not know why I didn't notice that before.  It said "Freshly packed on 1/26/2016" !!!

Not thinking, I threw everything in the trash, and of course my maintenance guy picked up my trash yesterday, so I have no lot numbers or bar codes or anything like that. I also threw out the receipts when I made the purchase.  I never keep those kind of receipts. It will be difficult to report the problem to the store, or FreshPet, but I will think of a way to inform them of the problem.

So, there I was, with no dog food!

I checked all the bags of cat food, and they seem fine. The insects did not get inside of anything else, thank goodness.

I do not think it was FreshPet's fault.... I think it was the fault of my local store for not clearing or rotating its shelves and stock. I will probably report this incident to them, but the problem is, I don't remember WHICH store I went to. There are two grocery stores near me, both carry the brand, and I did visit both of them before my trip. So, I have a pretty good idea which store it was, but I can't be 100% certain.  Since they are both the same franchise, I will probably speak to the managers at both locations.  One thing is for sure, I will not be shopping at either one of those stores until further notice!

I went to my local pet food store -- a family-owned business -- and bought dog food yesterday afternoon.  This store doesn't sell FreshPet, which is fine with me because I am a little turned off by them at the moment! So, I had to switch my dogs' food, something that should always be done with care and caution.  I decided to switch back to "Taste of the Wild", a product I had once fed to my dogs for quite a few years, based on the recommendation of my former veterinarian.  I stopped feeding TOTW because of a recall a few years ago.  Honestly, you can't win with manufactured dog food! If I had more time in life, I probably would feed raw. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe not. I'm lazy. I'll probably keep going to PetSmart or one of the other pet stores.

New! Pendleton Dog Coats Available at PetSmart.com!

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Switching your dog's food is easy, but you have to be careful. Normally, I mix together some of the old food with the new, for three or four days. Up to a week, if possible. But this time, I had to toss the old food. I was not taking any chances with bugs! So, I took chances with the new food, Taste of the Wild.  It seemed the dogs really liked it, and they did not get "gassy" or anything like that. But I noticed Charlie burped a few times last night!

I will go outside and inspect their poop (yes, we dog people do that!) and see if there are any problems from that end!

Until next time.... thanks for reading!  If you haven't joined my email list, what're you waiting for?  Do it now!  Newsletters and special things are coming soon!

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