Ruff Refinements

10/09/2025

Enjoying the beautiful weather! ☀️

09/29/2025

🐾 Dogs + Kids = A beautiful bond 💕 But it’s our job as adults to make sure those interactions are always safe, positive, and respectful for both.

Teaching kids how to approach, pet, and play with dogs properly helps prevent misunderstandings and builds trust. Likewise, giving our dogs space, consent, and supervision ensures they feel comfortable and secure.

When kids learn to respect a dog’s boundaries, they grow up with compassion and empathy—and dogs gain a little human friend who understands them. 🌟

Safe, supervised interactions = stronger relationships, happier families, and confident dogs. 🐶💖

✨ Because every tail wag and every giggle should come from a place of safety and respect.

01/08/2025

The Forever Dog - "One of the most obscure mushrooms we use on a regular basis in all realms of life is Chaga🍄, in the form of tea🫖.
Chaga is a strange mushroom because its texture is similar to woody tree bark 🪵(so there’s no sautéing this particular gem). Its hard texture lends itself well to brewing supercharged teas and broths.🍵

We add small Chaga chunks to everything that requires a volume of pure water: from bathwater (Dr. Karen Becker) and hummingbird feeders (to reduce bacteria growth, Rodney Habib disscovered) to homemade batches of kombucha and soak water for seeds we are sprouting. We’ve had fresh Chaga tea in the fridge ever since we discovered this brilliant beverage, and its subtle vanilla flavor is delicious iced or hot (for humans) and can be used to supercharge freeze-dried or dehydrated dog food, in place of reconstituting these foods with plain water.

Chaga’s medicinal properties make it a calming paw rinse for removing road salt in the winter and soothing hot spots in the summer (soak a cotton ball with cooled Chaga tea and apply directly to the sore)."

10/29/2024

09/26/2024

Rainy day, sick baby and puppy cuddles 🥰

09/26/2024

DON’T FEED HOMEMADE PET FOOD!!!!☠️

Most vets say no👎🏻 to homemade pet food because studies shows more than 90% of internet recipes and pet cookbooks have recipes with terrible or inadequate nutrition, meaning meals taste and look good, but don’t meet your animals’ basic requirements for daily vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential fats that are necessary for long-term health and well-being. That’s just a fact.

Feeding recipes you find on the internet (and 99% of most pet cook books in print) is fine for a few meals a week… but how do you know you’re meeting your animals’ OPTIMAL nutrient intake when none of these recipes divulge exactly what vitamins, minerals, fats and amino acids are in their foods?! You can’t. Hence your vet’s rub.

And this is why vets around the world almost unanimously discourage parents from making their own pet food: you’re guessing at nutritional requirements, and guessing incorrectly. And who ultimately pays at that guessing game? Your pet - and their long term health. Don’t do it.

Thankfully, things are changing!

In our new book, The Forever Dog LIFE, we custom-formulated raw and gently cooked meals that meet species-specific🐶🐱 recommended allowances for growing animals, adult animals and less active pets… and it’s never been done before, which is why we’ve done it now💥. It’s time for change.

We can’t wait for you to confidently show our complete nutritional analyses to your veterinarian, because chances are the food that you are feeding doesn’t have one (or the manufacturer refuses to disclose it🤬).

Every single one of our age & activity-level customized recipes (that tempt even the finickiest dog or cat) do not exceed extrapolated FEDIAF maximum nutrient requirements (no copper excesses!😅), and of course exceed current FEDIAF and AAFCO minimums.🙌

So what are you waiting for? Take charge of your pets’ nutrition, and show your veterinarian exactly what is in the pet food you are feeding or making at home… now is the time to advocate for your pet’s nutritional wellbeing, and challenge the status quo.

We proudly show you every nutrient in every recipe…can your pet food brand or recipe say the same? Let’s reclaim animal health now, through pure food.

📘Now available (and 50% off) at Amazon, Target, or your favorite retailer.

09/11/2024

Adolescence occurs between six months and 18 months of age—a time when guardians typically struggle the most with their dogs. Some guardians are so overwhelmed and underprepared for this developmental stage of their dog’s life, they choose to surrender the dog to a local shelter or rescue group. In a recent study published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science found that the majority of the surrendered dogs (47.7 percent) ) were between 5 months and 3 years of age (M.D. Salman,John G. New, Jr.,Janet M. Scarlett,Philip H. Kass,Rebecca Ruch-Gallie &Suzanne Hetts, 2010)

The neurobiology of adolescence is fascinating, with some key events that alter both the structure and function of the brain.

During canine adolescence, changing s*x hormones effect the animals stress responses. Adolescent dogs have a decreased ability to process information they are receiving from the environment including the presence of dogs, vehicles, people, or really anything around them. They behave in ways that might feel frustrating or upsetting for the dog’s person.

The connectivity between the frontal cortex (responsible for decision making) and amygdala (responsible for emotional processing) decreases, resulting in less behavioral control. We see increased risk taking and more sensitivity to fear.

So what does this mean? This could mean that what was once no big deal to the dog now feels scary; what was once easy to do is now stressful; what once made sense is now confusing. At times, the world can feel like ‘too much’ for the adolescent dog.

As your puppy undergoes this transition into adulthood their inner world is intense, even chaotic. Many pet owners experience an increase in undesirable behavior and find themselves becoming increasingly frustrated. In turn, our own frustration and impatience can cause us to act unpredictably. This adds to our puppy’s inner turmoil. When the inside and the outside are both unpredictable it can be difficult for our dogs to adjust.

If you have an adolescent dog, what can you do? You can give your dog the time and space to observe what is going on around them when on leash at a distance away from the activity when possible. You can give your dog long walks to sniff and explore in nature, giving their brain time to decompress. You can offer your dog a quiet space to sleep so that they can consolidate memories effectively. You can continue training various skills, breaking them down into easier steps that can be generously reinforced.

By understanding what our adolescent dog is experiencing we gain greater compassion and understanding. When we approach adolescence with patience we create a world that is predictable and gentle so our puppies grow up to be their best adult selves.

09/10/2024

Welcome, Charlotte and Chelsea!