Colorado’s last days of summer at A Taste of Colorado featured new this year the Pro Plan Rally Across America Tour. That’s right. Along with all of the great festival food, including Colorado roasted corn on the cob, and amazing bands were rescue groups featuring their pets needing forever homes. Don’t forget to check out Viola’s interview on Colorado and Company on Friday.
Viola, my dog and the Pro Plan Rally to Rescue Mascot, was also a big festival hit. We demonstrated some basic obedience commands that ever rescued dog should know with loads of pet lover’s watching. When Viola was not showing off her special traits and tricks she was relaxing on our table and still drawing a crowd. The most asked question over the weekend was what kind of dog is she. Well, as a rescue dog goes our best guess is a Cattle Dog mix. Many responses were boy she is just the right size. Viola just loves meeting and greeting pet lovers and helping us reach our Pro Plan Rally to Rescue mission of finding 400,000 homeless pets a forever home by the end of the year.
As the 7th stop on the tour the voting booth was buzzing all weekend long. The Colorado community welcomed the Pro Plan Rally Across America Tour with open arms and one of our most successful voting stops. Don’t forget to tell all of our friend to vote at or main page, www.rallytorescue.org, until Oct 1 and help feed homeless pets.
The sampling tent was a big hit with the Denver crowd, especially with our newly reformulated Pro Plan Select formula diet for dogs. This diet is formulated to be a great choice for dogs needing a more hypoallergenic diet, as it leaves out the top three allergens in dogs which is corn, soy, and then wheat for dogs. Our newly reformulated Pro Plan Select (in the white bag with the green seal) is also more easily digestible diet for dogs with a sensitive digestive tract with the smaller kibble and two whole meats in the first four ingredients. So, don’t forget the try the newly reformulated Pro Plan Select Turkey or Salmon diets for your dog in pet speciality stores.
As a dog trainer of performance dogs here are a few tricks which I learned about feeding your dog.
- Dogs who eat fast…try adding a lot of tap water (make it soupy) to your dog’s food, cool water in the summer and warm water in the winter, to slow down your dog’s eating. Dogs do not typically chew all of their food, as they are scavengers and tend to woof their food down. Don’t worry as long as the dog eats the food within 15 minutes the food will still stay crunchy. With this method you can not free feed, so try feeding twice a day. The faster the dog eats the more water I add. Trust me it does slow them down on their eating.
- Here is a trick I learned about helping a dog lose weight. One, increase your dog’s exercise. Two, subtract 30% of your dog’s dry dog food diet and substitute baby carrots, chopped up apples, or no-salt green beans. Just remember to not add more then 30% of your dog’s dry diet daily and also place these nutritious veggies in their bowl with their dry kibble and try adding water and feeding right away.
- If you dog has a lot of gas try feeding a more hypoallergenic diet like our newly reformulated Pro Plan Select diet of Turkey or Salmon which offers no corn, soy, or wheat. You should usually see a decrease in their digestive upset and gasyness. If you do not then you might want to consider taking a trip to your vet and have your dog checked out.
- Here is a great way to teach your dog to come when called….If you feed your dog twice a day then place one meal of dry kibble in your pocket, and while going for a walk with your dog on a leash, use their own kibble as treats and teach them to walk with you for their food. In the wild wolves hunt (work and learn) faster when they are hungry. So, do not waste your training opportunity by placing both meals in their food bowl for free. If you have any food left after your walk then place that in their food bowl when you return.
Good luck and don’t forget to vote for your favorite pet rescue story and help choose the winner of the Doing More for Pets, Pet Rescue Stories contest.
Signing off for now,
Melissa Heeter and Viola
Pro Plan Rally Across America Tour
