Kim Barnett, a well-renowned dog trainer from England, had the opportunity to evaluate Halo Spot’s Stew after we made a significant donation to two shelters that benefit from her services – Adopt a Boxer Rescue, and Save Our Strays. Kim, lead behaviorist of Follow My Lead UK, believes that feeding a quality, natural diet improves behavior and strengthens the human/animal bond.

By Kim Barnett, Follow My Lead IACP

Working as a dog trainer and behaviour consultant for several rescue organizations as well as having private clients, I get to see a broad spectrum of dogs, many of whom are suffering from anxiety based issues to various forms of aggression, and everything in between. In as much as it’s possible with a rescue dog, we like to see them provided with the best possible nutrition for both physical and mental well being. Many rescue dogs have been fed poor diets, and due to either neglect or because they are strays, some have been fed little or nothing and are found literally with just days left to live. In these cases it’s clear to see why the most nutritious and easy to digest diet would help these dogs get back to physical health as fast as possible, but how does it help their mental health you might wonder.

Just as good quality food and a balanced diet helps a person to feel at their emotional best, the same is true of our pets. The old saying You are what you eat is as relevant to our dogs and cats as it is to ourselves. If I’m working with a behaviorally challenged dog, I find that good food, free of unnecessary preservatives and additives helps the dog to achieve emotional well being. Foods that are high in sugars or contain cheap grains and other carbohydrates will not help my anxious or hyperactive dog to be calm and may not give him the quality protein that he needs.

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My dogs favorite is Salmon Adult dry food. I do occasionally mix in different flavors of the canned varieties for a change. I haven’t tried any of the treats, but I’m sure any of them would be LOVED, as I have 3 Labrador Retrievers that will eat just about anything. I’ve used the daily greens which I like and have been meaning to try hip & joint since we have one dog with knee injuries and one with a hip issue, as well as the healing salve. Since I’m a groomer I thought that the healing salve may be good to try on hot spots or the occasional razor irritation.

I will graciously accept anything that you send my way! And if it’s something that I may not use, I always donate products to the Humane Society at Lollypop farm which is around the corner from my house (even if it is something I use, I will likely share with the Humane Society anyway).

Thank you again, I absolutely love your products and started using them a couple years ago, just prior to the package changes/Ellen purchase/PetCo selling time period for my late Border Collie that had issues with seizures. Your food was the only thing she could eat that helped reduce the amount of seizures she had. She was a changed dog with Halo. Sadly we lost her his past Feb 09, but are so glad that she helped us find Halo and discover the great health benefits it has to offer all of our pets.

Here’s an exciting guest blog announcement from Gary Nice, Founder and CEO of the National Canine Cancer Foundation. When Gary lost his loving companion to cancer – “my beautiful Bailey, a loving Golden Retriever” – he swore to himself that he “would dedicate the rest of my life, and resources, to finding a cure.” He immediately went from a successful, respected business leader, to an evangelist for eradicating canine cancer. We’re thrilled to be working with NCCF on this campaign.

By Gary D. Nice, Founder and CEO, National Canine Cancer Foundation

It’s an art, communicating in 140 characters. We’ve all been there, where you type out your tweet, getting the message across just right and it ends up being over the 140 character limit! Now there’s a choice to be made in the editing, stay true to proper grade school grammar or go with Twitter slang. It’s so tempting to change the “for” to 4, “to” to 2. And let’s not forget “our” to R.

Finally after a few minutes we have managed to fit the tweet into the 140 character limit and the message is complete and understood. All that work just to get a simple tweet out. Was it worth it?

Well, what if we made it worth it?

Have you ever dreamed of quitting your job via Twitter? How about popping the question within 140 characters? Just how creative have you gotten with your Tweets? What if, instead of just getting your message across you were able to Tweet for a good cause AND win a MacBook Pro?

The National Canine Cancer Foundation has made that possible! The NCCF has created a Tweet writing contest to challenge you to “Write the Perfect Tweet” while giving you a chance to win a prize. As part of our prizes, the NCCF is thrilled to have Halo, Purely for Pets as a sponsor of this contest. Halo shares our philosophy that real food with real ingredients is one of the best ways to help keep your dog healthy. There is a $250 Halo Gift Certificate, three $100 Halo Gift Certificates, and three $50 Halo Gift Certificates as part of our prizes.

The contest has several categories to challenge you to “Write the Perfect Tweet” in relationship to the subject. You pick the category you want to write and then submit it for a chance to win some great prizes and help fund canine Cancer research.

The categories are:

1. Write the Perfect Tweet for quitting your job.
2. Write the Perfect Tweet for raising money for canine Cancer.
3. Write the Perfect Tweet for a marriage proposal.
4. Write the Perfect Tweet for telling your kids there is no Santa.

You can enter as many “Perfect Tweets” as you want. The cost to enter a tweet in the contest is $5.00 for each time you submit a new tweet. The $5.00 goes to the National Canine Cancer Foundation to fund canine Cancer research. Many of the contest partners have also created a way to enter for free also!

Get creative and go to www.perfecttweet.com!

The National Canine Cancer Foundation is a nationwide, contribution funded, non-profit corporation dedicated to eliminating Cancer as a major health problem in dogs by funding grants for the scientific efforts of Cancer researchers who are working to save lives, find a cure, find better treatments, find more accurate, cost effective, diagnostic methods in dealing with Cancer, and diminishing dogs’ suffering from Cancer through research, education, advocacy, and service.

Find out more about the Foundation on www.wearethecure.org.

This post comes to us from Lisa Whitted. Thanks for writing in with this wonderful story!

I first saw Roscoe while browsing the internet looking at pets for adoption. I wasn’t particularly looking to find a cat to take home, it had been 8 years since I had a cat, but when I came across Rosoce’s picture I knew I had too. When I inquired about him, I was told he was in quarantine and too sick for adoption. I persisted knowing that all he needed was lots of love and nutritous food. After about 10 days the shelter agreed to send him home with me.

He had upper respiratory problems. I immediately started him on Halo’s Spot’s Stew and began making the homemade recipes in Andi’s book. Each day he was getting better. I’ve included a picture from the day I took him home (the others are just cute!) I also started to give him Halo’s Daily Greens vitamins and Halo’s powdered vitamin C.

When I made the homemade recipes, I wasn’t sure how he would do with the vegetables. Without any encouragement he found the new food to his liking. The first time I made Spot’s Stew everything was in the pot cooking and my husband walked in the kitchen and had a taste of the stew and asked if it was dinner. I said no it’s the cat’s food! He had another taste.

Roscoe has been with me now for 9 months and will celebrate his first birthday this week. He continues to eat the homemade food as well as Halo’s Spot’s Stew canned and dry. He is a happy, healthy, energetic, social critter with personality that steals your heart.

Here’s a wonderful guest blog from Angela Coulombe, whose wonderful photos you have seen here, on halopets.com, and in our email newsletter. Angela was so thrilled to be able to support her local shelter. Sometimes, it’s the little things that count! Enjoy.

By Angela Coulombe

The Animal Welfare Society (AWS) in Kennebunk, ME.

It’s not every day I get a chance to do support all the local organizations I’d love to help out, but just don’t seem to have the time to. Luckily for me, Halo Purely for Pets made it very, very easy for me to give back to one organization in my community in a way that touches my heart profoundly.

I recently had done a photo shoot for Halo Purely for Pets; as well as shooting some new products, I also photographed some of their most popular cat and dog food products. This meant that Halo Purely for Pets had sent me 3x all the products I needed to photograph. When I finished the shoot, I asked what I should do with the products. True to Halo’s mission of giving back, I was told I could either keep the products, or give them away to an organization of my choice! Now, as much as everyone in my family would love to have a dog, we don’t have enough space in our yard to properly exercise a dog, something we think of every time we think how wonderful it would be to have a dog as part of our family. However, via my family and friends, I was aware of a place in Kennebunk, Maine, the Animal Welfare Society, that would love to receive such a donation. With 53 kennels, the shelter supplies refuge to not only dogs, but on the day I arrived, they had 290 cats, several birds, and a few other exotic animals I didn’t recognize. The shelter’s mission statement reads like this: “The Animal Welfare Society exists to provide humane shelter and care to animals temporarily in need of housing, and to further the cause of responsible animal adoption and ownership through education and public awareness. The society actively promotes kindness, the elimination of cruelty and neglect to all animals, and the lifelong commitment of people to their pets.” With their mission so in line with Halo’s, I knew I had found an organization with integrity and love of animals at its core.

The outside of the offices of the AWS, Kennebunk, ME.

One of the boxes of food and grooming products kindly donated by Halo Purely for Pets to the Animal Welfare Society, Kennebunk, ME.

Rosa, one of the many dogs at the shelther, poses with some of the Halo Purely for Pets dog foods and treats.

Rosa out front of the Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk with some of the Halo Purely for Pets foods and treats.

One of the volunteers at the Animal Welfare Society accepting the donation of dog foods, treats and grooming products from Halo Purely for Pets.