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Carol Smeja of The Original Mine Pet Platter
Episode 12 • 23rd March 2022 • Fangs & Fur • Fangs & Fur
00:00:00 01:07:08

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Carol Smeja joins us for this episode, and goes in-depth about the instinctual way dogs should be eating their food…just like their relatives and ancestors, the wolves, do in the wild. 

Carol Smeja's career has focused in the area of psychology and sociology which culminated in her earning a Ph.D. and teaching.  

After leaving academia, she applied these roots in understanding the psychological and social dynamics of eating while working in and improving health & diet with government agencies including the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention).

More recently, she has applied her extensive research and diagnostic training in understanding the eating behaviors of our dogs & cats by studying the natural and instinctive behaviors of their ancestral roots.

And from observing her own dog Pipa, she and her husband developed a solution - The Mine Pet Platter. 

So what is "the feeding equation?" - It's how you combine what you feed and how you feed that food to your pet.

As Carol notes on why pet platters are best for your pets...

Dogs smell in 3-D just like, you know, our eyes bring the two different visions together. They smell in 3-D. And so respecting that nose is absolutely critical. I always say you want to make sure how you're feeding your pet develops a positive relationship with food, not a negative relationship with food. Do that by respecting their nose and not having anything project into it.

How do we create a complete natural feeding experience?

You want to make sure that you have a broad area to feed off of. You want to eliminate any potential issue that they see in terms of perceived threat or or their food being taken away. And you want to try to resemble a carcass as much as possible by spreading food across, but also having different pockets of protein and different varieties of food. Let them sniff out and explore.

During the episode, we talk about a couple of books...

Taming The Wild from Brian Bailey

Dr. Conor Brady's Feeding Dogs Dry Or Raw? The Science Behind The Debate

Carol is the owner of The Original Mine Pet Platter, and specializes in an area that is often overlooked in the pet world: the significant importance of how we feed our pets.

Carol 's Website

Carol 's Facebook page

@minepetplatter on Instagram


Join the Wildside for updates and discounts!

Learn more about Steve's Real Foods.

Learn more about Northwest Naturals.

Learn more about Lifetime Pet Wellness Center.


We are a local, independent, and owner-operated shop that is committed to providing the dogs and cats in our hometown of Columbus, Ohio with the best possible foods, supplements, and gear available. 

Also, we're a little different. Our small shop is not your typical pet food store. We don't carry unnecessary pet supplies like a lot of other shops do. We do not saturate our little space with products that we don't believe in and feel are unnecessary. Our goal is to have a place full of positive vibes that you and your pet feel comfortable in.

We answer a "question of the week" in every episode, so send your question. Either DM us at @fangsfurpets or send us an email at danielle@fangsfur.com. 

Find us on Facebook and Instagram.


Music in this episode thanks to...

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Copyright 2024 Fangs & Fur

Transcripts

Danielle:

:

On today's episode, we have Carol Sumaya, owner and creator

Danielle:

:

of Mind Pet Plotter based in Chicago.

Danielle:

:

We're really excited for this because I will never forget

Danielle:

:

about, gosh, two and a half years ago before fangs and fur,

Danielle:

:

our local shop here in Columbus opened Anthony me.

Danielle:

:

Our two kids, my mother in law, we all went to Chicago for

Danielle:

:

a pet food summit, basically for us to explore the city and

Danielle:

:

Anthony to increase his knowledge and network with

Danielle:

:

everyone. And on the way home.

Danielle:

:

Anthony was so captivated by Carole and her presentation

Danielle:

:

and her pet plotters, and I think it was the first

Danielle:

:

definitive thing he was so excited to sell in our store.

Danielle:

:

It's really taken off. It's become a top seller and

Danielle:

:

something Anthony Anthony truly believes in, so they will

Danielle:

:

have a great conversation today.

Danielle:

:

Stay tuned until the end of the episode where we answer a

Danielle:

:

customer's question.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, I'll never forget, like coming out of that conference

Anthony:

:

and just being your presentation, I just it did.

Anthony:

:

I was just like, wow, like.

Anthony:

:

And it was my favorite presentation, the the whole summit.

Anthony:

:

And there's and that's nothing against the other ones.

Anthony:

:

There are some really good ones, but you know, there's your

Anthony:

:

presentation is just something I had never even thought

Anthony:

:

about before. You know, all the other stuff was

Carol:

:

So appreciate that.

Carol:

:

Yeah.

Anthony:

:

Well, we're so focused on, you know what to feed our dogs

Anthony:

:

and different, you know, issues there.

Anthony:

:

But no one I've never thought about how, you know, you

Anthony:

:

know, as far as you kind of talk about, we'll get into

Anthony:

:

this. But the natural the feeding equation, you know, you

Anthony:

:

don't talk, you don't think about how we're supposed to.

Anthony:

:

We always think about what you're feeding, but not how

Anthony:

:

you're feeding. And yeah, I couldn't buy the platters fast

Anthony:

:

enough. I remember being like, I got to get the first one

Anthony:

:

out of this room before they sell out so I can get so I can

Anthony:

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get some, which I've used literally every single day.

Anthony:

:

The same platters, by the way, for two and a half years.

Anthony:

:

Yeah. Since dogs love them.

Anthony:

:

But anyways, tell us so Carol.

Anthony:

:

Tell us just a little about a little bit about yourself,

Anthony:

:

because I know you have a pretty awesome background and

Anthony:

:

kind of how my my pet platter came to be.

Carol:

:

Absolutely. Well, thanks so much for having me.

Carol:

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It's an absolute pleasure.

Carol:

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And my getting into the pet industry was sort of a

Carol:

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roundabout. I, my academic career always focused on

Carol:

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psychology and sociology.

Carol:

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And I was so in love with it, earned my Ph.D., but I got

Carol:

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into the human food industry and I used my background

Carol:

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understanding why people make food choices and how they

Carol:

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make them worked with global food companies, government

Carol:

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agencies and just really immerse myself in food.

Carol:

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But then one day we have a little dog named PIP, a little

Carol:

:

15 pound haveany who used to let out the most horrendous

Carol:

:

belch after she ate like it was coming from a 300 pound

Carol:

:

football player. In fact, we could not have anybody over

Carol:

:

when she was eating because when people heard it, they had

Carol:

:

tears streaming down their teeth.

Carol:

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Oh my gosh.

Carol:

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They couldn't believe this precious little pup, which would

Carol:

:

let out a burp like that.

Anthony:

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Especially a Javanese like such a little proper little dog,

Anthony:

:

you know?

Carol:

:

Exactly, exactly.

Carol:

:

But she was very proud of it, Anthony.

Carol:

:

I'm sure. Yeah, yeah, they're a proud breed.

Carol:

:

They are. So one day I was making chicken breasts for PIP

Carol:

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and there were scraps and juices left over and my daughter

Carol:

:

Hannah said, Mom, don't throw that away.

Carol:

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Why don't you put it on the floor for PIP?

Carol:

:

So I put it on the floor and for the next 15 to 20 minutes.

Carol:

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I watched this dog absolutely, absolutely immersed and

Carol:

:

circling, licking, and after she was done, she looked up at

Carol:

:

me and was licking her lips like, this was the best thing.

Carol:

:

So when my husband had come home, I told him, he said, Oh

Carol:

:

my God, you're. And from there we understood there was

Carol:

:

something going on here.

Carol:

:

There was a better way to feed our pets.

Carol:

:

So I dove into basically looking at how wolves and wild

Carol:

:

cats eight in the wild to understand instinctive eating

Carol:

:

habits and by observing how they eat.

Carol:

:

Talking to zookeepers working with wildlife professionals,

Carol:

:

I realized that we had taken away their natural feeding

Carol:

:

ecology of hunting, exploring and killing carcasses in the

Carol:

:

wild. To this receptacle called a bull, and that was the

Carol:

:

journey that led us to developing the pet platter.

Carol:

:

Awesome.

Anthony:

:

I I remember from your presentation you talking about.

Anthony:

:

I think it's Brian Bailey.

Anthony:

:

Yes. Taming their wild, I think, is the name of the book

Anthony:

:

right, which I've recommended so many people now.

Anthony:

:

Because I obviously instantly bought that book as soon as

Anthony:

:

you said that. And but he he kind of just going off the,

Anthony:

:

you know? The Wolf Insider dogs, you know, understanding,

Anthony:

:

understanding that they they do have an inner wolf and the

Anthony:

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sooner we kind of understand that and and also appreciate

Anthony:

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that the happier both, you know, we are in the dog is.

Anthony:

:

But yeah, like it's you know, we make this correlation a

Anthony:

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lot on the show that, you know, the dogs are very, very

Anthony:

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similar to two gray wolves as far as their physiology and

Anthony:

:

their anatomy. You know, I think you talked in your

Anthony:

:

presentation, too, like how closely, you know, the DNA is

Anthony:

:

less than 0.2 percent and a difference, but they can also

Anthony:

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produce viable offspring together, which is even more kind

Anthony:

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of telling.

Carol:

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Yeah, it's really amazing because I don't think people

Carol:

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realize that they share DNA up to ninety nine point nine

Carol:

:

percent, depending on the breed.

Carol:

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Mm hmm. And and if you've ever seen a wolf dog, you would

Carol:

:

be hard pressed to tell the difference between a wolf dog

Carol:

:

and an actual wolf.

Carol:

:

Mm hmm. And the fact that they are capable of mating and

Carol:

:

actually delivering offspring shows you how closely

Carol:

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connected that they really are.

Anthony:

:

Yeah. And I have a lot of people who are like, Well, my

Anthony:

:

chihuahua does not look like, does not look like a wolf.

Anthony:

:

And I'm like, Yeah, I totally get that.

Anthony:

:

I'm not saying it is a wolf, but what I'm saying is that,

Anthony:

:

you know, your chihuahua also doesn't look like a German

Anthony:

:

shepherd, you know, but that you consider them the same

Anthony:

:

species. Right.

Anthony:

:

So it's just it's just it's a really interesting topic, but

Anthony:

:

I think it's something that's just like really important to

Anthony:

:

kind of understand as far as you know, when when we're

Anthony:

:

talking about how we're supposed to be, I mean, obviously,

Anthony:

:

we look to the gray wolf when we're looking to try to find

Anthony:

:

answers as far as what we're supposed to feed our dogs.

Anthony:

:

But we never really took into consideration.

Anthony:

:

Like how like, how are these wild animals?

Anthony:

:

How are they, you know, the wild canines eating in the

Anthony:

:

wild? You know, how are they doing that?

Anthony:

:

And that's where the beauty of this product kind of comes

Anthony:

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in. But that's part of the feeding equation, right?

Carol:

:

It really is.

Carol:

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And when you think about it, what really happened through

Carol:

:

evolution is you had the wolf in his basically natural

Carol:

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feeding environment.

Carol:

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They were meat specialists.

Carol:

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They had very low predictability of resourcing their food.

Carol:

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They typically went after large animals to be able to

Carol:

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survive in the wild.

Carol:

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There was a lot of risk involved in that, and they had to

Carol:

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rely on each other in order to bring these animals down.

Carol:

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They had no dependence on human beings at all.

Carol:

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Then you went into the the sort of free range dogs where

Carol:

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they got used to the scatter feeding where they would do

Carol:

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some hunting, but also relied on scraps that were left by

Carol:

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people at different settlements.

Carol:

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But then you come into today, and for the most part, dogs

Carol:

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are eating a combination of meat, grain and starch.

Carol:

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They typically have small meals throughout the day.

Carol:

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They have very high predictability.

Carol:

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They don't have to go hunting.

Carol:

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It's all provided for them.

Carol:

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There's little danger or risk.

Carol:

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And the issue, though, is that they're highly dependent on

Carol:

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us. So basically, what's happened is our whole feeding

Carol:

:

ecology change, and it sort of explains why we're seeing

Carol:

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the patterns we do with dogs today.

Anthony:

:

Have you read?

Anthony:

:

I mean, to put you on the spot, but have you read Dr.

Anthony:

:

Connor Brady's Feeding Dogs?

Carol:

:

Right. Actually, I've spoken with Potter.

Carol:

:

Ok. Nice.

Carol:

:

And yeah, we I I totally concur with his book.

Carol:

:

I have not gotten through all of it yet, but yes.

Anthony:

:

Well, this one thing you said that reminds me of something

Anthony:

:

he pointed out. When you know, he points out a lot of

Anthony:

:

studies in his book, but one of the largest studies done on

Anthony:

:

feral dogs, so not free range or, you know, dogs that are

Anthony:

:

kind of wondering about all day and then coming home at

Anthony:

:

night, you know, to a cooked meal or whatever.

Anthony:

:

But dogs that are actually feral, like living completely on

Anthony:

:

their own away from humans.

Anthony:

:

They did a huge study like 18000 dogs, and they did this

Anthony:

:

with by looking at the stomach contents of these dogs.

Anthony:

:

Right? And there was 97 percent animal matter in their

Anthony:

:

diets.

Carol:

:

Absolutely, which is

Anthony:

:

Yeah, which is really fascinating.

Anthony:

:

You know, if we're not

Carol:

:

Involved, can even share another example with you.

Carol:

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I know, you know, the issue is because dogs are

Carol:

:

domesticated. We think we've taken that instinctive animal

Carol:

:

component out of them.

Carol:

:

And what I like to go back to is there was a case out in

Carol:

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California off the southern coast where a gentleman was

Carol:

:

hunting and fishing in his boat.

Carol:

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He had his dog on the boat and somewhere along that way the

Carol:

:

dog fell out and he couldn't find them.

Carol:

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And for the most part, everybody thought he would obviously

Carol:

:

be dead.

Carol:

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You know, how is he going to get anywhere?

Carol:

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How is he going to survive?

Carol:

:

Quite the contrary, they found him.

Carol:

:

I believe it was six weeks later.

Carol:

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I'm pretty much a deserted island.

Carol:

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There was some, I don't know, sort of forestry people that

Carol:

:

had gone out to this island.

Carol:

:

They found the dog.

Carol:

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And lo and behold, he survived on small rodents and fish.

Carol:

:

Yeah, wow.

Carol:

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And he was perfectly OK.

Carol:

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Jumped in. The truck was ready to go home, but when forced

Carol:

:

to live on their own and this, this is a perfect example.

Carol:

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How instincts kick in.

Carol:

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Mm hmm. And to survive that amount of time without having

Carol:

:

any previous experience in that is a good demonstration of

Carol:

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who they really are.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, absolutely.

Anthony:

:

That's really that's fascinating.

Anthony:

:

So just for people that because I haven't really spelled

Anthony:

:

this out, but the when you when we when we talk about the

Anthony:

:

feeding equation.

Anthony:

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So, you know, we talk about obviously what you feed, but

Anthony:

:

you combine what you feed plus how you feed.

Anthony:

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You kind of get the natural feeding experience, right,

Anthony:

:

which is kind of what what I want to talk about today.

Anthony:

:

Okay. But I kind of wanted.

Anthony:

:

Well, I don't know. We can talk about the kind of what that

Anthony:

:

looks like or we can talk about first, what that doesn't

Anthony:

:

look like, a.k.a.

Anthony:

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the bull and some slow feeders and things like that.

Carol:

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Yeah, no, that's great.

Carol:

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I'd love to start out with the bold because for the most

Carol:

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part, people use it, and whenever I engage in conversation,

Carol:

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I say, Why do you use it?

Carol:

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And really, it's out of habit.

Carol:

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We've always done it.

Carol:

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But for the most part, it's also convenient.

Carol:

:

People don't want dog food all over the place, so they just

Carol:

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thought having sides keeps it in there and the dog can eat

Carol:

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from it. And that's the convenience equation.

Carol:

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The problem is that it is completely counterintuitive to

Carol:

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how a dog needs to eat.

Carol:

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For the first point is the food is located in a small

Carol:

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receptacle and it's piled high.

Carol:

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The problem with that is dogs see the world through their

Carol:

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nose, and when the food is piled high, they really can't go

Carol:

:

in and explore that food at all.

Carol:

:

And then the other issue becomes in order to get it out,

Carol:

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they use the size of the bowl as a collecting wall to

Carol:

:

shovel food in.

Carol:

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So when people are experiencing my dog eats too fast.

Carol:

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The reason is those side shovel food and Erin, which create

Carol:

:

problems with regurgitation, burping gas and even bloat.

Carol:

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The other thing is that they can't control the bowl is so

Carol:

:

small that anybody can kind of come in and get it.

Carol:

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And there's absolutely no enjoyment, no interaction, no

Carol:

:

involvement. Ninety five percent of the wolf's time in the

Carol:

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wild was spent exploring hunting and deconstructing

Carol:

:

carcasses to survive.

Carol:

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And with the ball, all of that takes place in a couple of

Carol:

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minutes flat, basically.

Anthony:

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Yeah, we that's the biggest.

Anthony:

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I think the biggest thing for us is from what what we've

Anthony:

:

seen with customers at the shop is just slowing them down.

Anthony:

:

And it helps so much with we've had dogs that for some

Anthony:

:

reason, no matter what food you feed them, they

Anthony:

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regurgitate. And this seems to alleviate almost I mean,

Anthony:

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most of those cases, which is pretty astonishing, just not

Anthony:

:

having just having that, that flat surface, that large

Anthony:

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surface area for them to work on, just really just that

Anthony:

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just naturally is going to slow them down.

Anthony:

:

But they're not having a wall to shovel food in their

Anthony:

:

mouths, and intake air at the same time is like, we don't

Anthony:

:

even think about. I'd never thought about this until your

Anthony:

:

presentation, but how important that is to alleviate,

Anthony:

:

right?

Carol:

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And that's one of the reasons why I oftentimes get questions

Carol:

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about bloat and whether or not you should have elevated

Carol:

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feeders. And I know this is one of the most controversial

Carol:

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topics. Some veterinarians will say how high feeders

Carol:

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prevent it. Others say it will not.

Carol:

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But when you think about it, once you elevate bowls to a

Carol:

:

higher level, the you're actually making it easier for the

Carol:

:

lower jaw to come in and shovel more food and Aaron.

Carol:

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And I think that's the reason why the Purdue study, if

Carol:

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people want to go to a academic study that was done for

Carol:

:

this, elevated feeders actually increased 20 percent among

Carol:

:

large breeds and fifty two percent among giant breeds.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, you had you had a great video, too, showing a dog

Anthony:

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eating out of glass bowl that was raised.

Anthony:

:

That really shows.

Anthony:

:

I mean, I know it's a podcast.

Anthony:

:

We can't show videos. Not yet, but it really shows how

Anthony:

:

fast, like a dog can eat food out of a bowl that's raised.

Anthony:

:

And those are quite common.

Anthony:

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Those bowls are really common these days, more common than

Anthony:

:

I thought.

Carol:

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But well, and one of the things to think about is dogs have

Carol:

:

a feast or famine instinct in them.

Carol:

:

So if you provide food, however you're serving it, they're

Carol:

:

going to eat it as fast as possible.

Carol:

:

And one of the things we used to talk about at the zoo is

Carol:

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that the act of carrying meat and muscle from bones off of

Carol:

:

carcasses. That's sort of nature's bloat prevention, right?

Carol:

:

It slowed them down, actually.

Carol:

:

Yeah. So that's why natural feeding becomes important.

Carol:

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You need that flat, broad surface.

Carol:

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So the dog has to work at picking up every piece and

Carol:

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licking and going into the the ridges.

Carol:

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You have to slow that down because instinctively, that's

Carol:

:

what they're going to do.

Anthony:

:

Yeah. If you've we've been selling a lot of beef knuckle

Anthony:

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bones to your point and says watching dogs like I could, I

Anthony:

:

says I could watch Maisie chew on that thing for like 20

Anthony:

:

minutes. It's fascinating, but him, just like trying to get

Anthony:

:

all the sinew and the muscle meat and the the tissue

Anthony:

:

ligaments, everything like it's so you're right.

Anthony:

:

Like, I mean, he could he could chew on that thing for 24

Anthony:

:

hours and still not have everything right for there, you

Anthony:

:

know?

Carol:

:

Right? But you know what?

Carol:

:

I don't know if your listeners are interested or not, but

Carol:

:

many of the zoos actually offer an experience to see

Carol:

:

carcass feeding.

Carol:

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And if you're really interested in understanding how they

Carol:

:

ate in the wild, seeing them eat off of these carcasses

Carol:

:

really gives you an idea of why the ball can't deliver on

Carol:

:

that same experience.

Anthony:

:

That sounds fascinating in my birthday's coming up, so

Anthony:

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hopefully someone gives me a front row ticket to that.

Carol:

:

Get ready, Danielle.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, just have one front row ticket to see these.

Danielle:

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Telling me what he wants and don't have to guess.

Anthony:

:

So we used to have we used to have grey or Timberwolves at

Anthony:

:

the Columbus Zoo, and now they have Mexican, uh, Mexican

Anthony:

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wolves at the zoo.

Carol:

:

Okay. African painted dogs as well.

Carol:

:

They are fascinating to watch and they do.

Carol:

:

They do it at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Carol:

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And a lot of the zoos do do it now, so people can better

Carol:

:

understand what these animals are all about.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, that sounds I mean, that's right up my alley.

Anthony:

:

We don't have peanut dogs at the Columbus Zoo.

Anthony:

:

That would be fascinating to something else I want to touch

Anthony:

:

on too. I think that's really important that when I, when I

Anthony:

:

talk to people in the shop is kind of like an aha moment.

Anthony:

:

But yeah, when you always tell, like tell people like if

Anthony:

:

you had to eat like cereal out of a bowl without a spoon,

Anthony:

:

you'd have to put your face into it, right?

Anthony:

:

You know, and you wouldn't see anything that's around you.

Anthony:

:

It just completely blocks out your 360 view.

Anthony:

:

And when we're talking about, you know, the dog, I mean,

Anthony:

:

how many dogs is that leading to, you know, blocking their

Anthony:

:

view? Like, how many dogs is that leading to, you know,

Anthony:

:

aggression or anxiety?

Anthony:

:

Food aggression? What's the other one bowl dumping, I

Anthony:

:

think, was another one to all these different issues.

Anthony:

:

Just because we're blocking out there, they're peripherals.

Carol:

:

You know, I'm glad you brought that up, because the.

Carol:

:

And we're actually delivering you a new piece on this

Carol:

:

talking about one of the worst places you could feed your

Carol:

:

dog is in the corner of a kitchen.

Carol:

:

Ok, and the reason and the reason for that is you're asking

Carol:

:

your dog to put their head into a hole, which is the bloat

Carol:

:

bowl, and that already blocks their peripheral vision.

Carol:

:

But then if they're in a corner, the walls block the

Carol:

:

peripheral vision as well.

Carol:

:

And then they're hearing, which is their second most

Carol:

:

powerful sense.

Carol:

:

Is hearing all these voices that we can hear because they

Carol:

:

hear it much higher and lower frequencies than we do.

Carol:

:

And they can hear it at a greater distance between five to

Carol:

:

eight miles away, so they hear all this noise in the back.

Carol:

:

Their vision is blocked, which increases anxiety, which

Carol:

:

increases them wanting to eat faster.

Carol:

:

But for some dogs, this becomes a terrifying experience.

Carol:

:

So that develops into finicky eating or food dumping where

Carol:

:

they relocate the food elsewhere.

Carol:

:

So where you feed them and how you feed them come together.

Carol:

:

The best thing to do is to take the feeder in the center so

Carol:

:

they they can circle circling among wolves and even dogs.

Carol:

:

If you've noticed that behavior before is a way that they

Carol:

:

can. Control their environment and make sure nobody's

Carol:

:

taking their food away.

Carol:

:

If you inhibit them from doing so, it's going to increase

Carol:

:

anxiety as well.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, it's it's Mozzie circles his platter, which is I think

Anthony:

:

it's really interesting to watch him do it, just working

Anthony:

:

from all the different angles.

Anthony:

:

Foxy, we have to like clear.

Anthony:

:

It's interesting. This is a really interesting point

Anthony:

:

because like with the kids, we have two young kids and

Anthony:

:

they're always just screaming and yelling and, you know,

Anthony:

:

doing all kid stuff. And so it really puts her on edge.

Anthony:

:

Like, I can't imagine her trying to eat out of a bowl, not

Anthony:

:

not being able to see the kids running at her.

Anthony:

:

You know what I mean? At least she has like a warning on

Anthony:

:

the flat surface where it's interesting because she used to

Anthony:

:

be really picky eater. But now, you know, since we since

Anthony:

:

we've transitioned to the platter she just has, she's way

Anthony:

:

more comfortable. You can, you can tell.

Carol:

:

Well, and I think this brings up an important point from

Carol:

:

what you said.

Carol:

:

Dogs have an incredible sensory circuit that's designed for

Carol:

:

survival. Their sense of smell, they have a hundred million

Carol:

:

scent sites.

Carol:

:

Versus our six million.

Carol:

:

They also smell in 3-D, so their noses are constantly

Carol:

:

monitoring. Then you have their hearing and also dogs have

Carol:

:

14 muscles in their ears where they can rotate it so they

Carol:

:

can get better understanding of what the sound is and where

Carol:

:

it's coming from.

Carol:

:

And then with their eyesight, they also detect motion

Carol:

:

better. And so feeding from a bowl, there's food that's

Carol:

:

falling and making noise.

Carol:

:

It all comes together to create that anxiety, fast eating

Carol:

:

and food aggression.

Anthony:

:

Interesting point because dogs, you look at their kind of

Anthony:

:

their physiology like their eyes are set in the front of

Anthony:

:

their heads, like like most carnivores and most predators,

Anthony:

:

you know, so they don't have these, you know, their eyes on

Anthony:

:

aren't on the side of their heads like, you know, deers or

Anthony:

:

dear, dear, dear or wolves or horses, things like that, you

Anthony:

:

know, that can are more prey animals and can see, you know,

Anthony:

:

if things are coming at them. You know, dogs don't have

Anthony:

:

that because they're the predator.

Anthony:

:

Right. And so, yeah, being able to clear out as much

Anthony:

:

peripheral as you can, right?

Anthony:

:

And then the scent thing.

Anthony:

:

What I really like to is is with a platter like I can put,

Anthony:

:

you know, I can put, you know, maybe there if I'm feeding

Anthony:

:

like answers, pet food, I can put that in one corner.

Anthony:

:

I can put some kefir on another corner, maybe some green

Anthony:

:

juju. You know, sometimes I'll blend it all in.

Anthony:

:

Sometimes I kind of let them have their preference if I put

Anthony:

:

like, especially if I put like a chicken foot or a duck

Anthony:

:

neck, like I kind of make a what do you call it, like a.

Anthony:

:

Not a good secretary board.

Anthony:

:

The how you pronounce it, yeah, yeah, I kind of like the

Anthony:

:

smorgasbord. Yeah, something like that.

Anthony:

:

You know where I can allow them to have their presence,

Anthony:

:

which is really kind of cool to see what their preferences

Anthony:

:

are, but allow them to use their scent to, you know, and

Anthony:

:

figure it out, which is really fascinating.

Carol:

:

Well, and dogs smell in 3-D just like, you know, our eyes

Carol:

:

bring the two different visions together.

Carol:

:

They smell in 3-D.

Carol:

:

And so respecting that nose is absolutely critical.

Carol:

:

And that's why I always recommend to people when you're

Carol:

:

trying to slow your dog down, don't have things that are

Carol:

:

projecting into their nose and face.

Carol:

:

Yes, it's like when you try to go up to a dog and touch

Carol:

:

their nose, they'll immediately pull back.

Carol:

:

They have to protect that.

Carol:

:

And the reason for that is they have mucous glands on the

Carol:

:

inside, which have to stay moist for them to be able to

Carol:

:

smell. So if you have a slow type theater that's poking

Carol:

:

into their nose, it's swells, but it also dries out.

Carol:

:

And it inhibits them from smelling, and that goes into

Carol:

:

aggressive behavior then.

Carol:

:

So as a psychologist, I always say you want to make sure

Carol:

:

how you're feeding your pet develops a positive

Carol:

:

relationship with food, not a negative relationship with

Carol:

:

food. Do that by respecting their nose and not having

Carol:

:

anything product into it.

Anthony:

:

And that includes two.

Anthony:

:

Like, I've even seen videos of the spiral slow feet or so.

Anthony:

:

I think I used to believe that that was just like the

Anthony:

:

there's some slow feeders that have like literal tentacles

Anthony:

:

that come out and like, go up the dog's nose, essentially.

Anthony:

:

But even the spiral ones are still.

Anthony:

:

You know, hitting your dog in the nose while they're trying

Anthony:

:

to get food. I think you've seen you showed videos of this

Anthony:

:

too, but there's a lot of dogs that will just walk away

Anthony:

:

like they're like, This is too painful for me.

Anthony:

:

I'm not. It's not even worth right.

Carol:

:

Yeah, right, exactly.

Carol:

:

And the other thing that I'd like to point out is whenever

Carol:

:

you are, whatever you're feeding from.

Carol:

:

I know.

Carol:

:

Had parents like to slow.

Carol:

:

Feeling down, but you should never have anything where the

Carol:

:

dog cannot get to the food because of the power, the power

Carol:

:

of their nose.

Carol:

:

They are able to smell a teaspoon of sugar in an Olympic

Carol:

:

sized swimming pool.

Carol:

:

That's how powerful it is.

Carol:

:

So if you have any sort of map type thing where food is

Carol:

:

getting caught in the cracks and the dog can't get to it.

Carol:

:

That leads to compulsive looking.

Carol:

:

Which actually leads to a negative relationship, but also

Carol:

:

sort of aggressive behavior as well, because they're

Carol:

:

programmed to get to the food for survival, but they can't

Carol:

:

get to it. Right?

Carol:

:

So bear in mind these instincts going on in your dog.

Carol:

:

And if you ever see compulsive behavior going on where it's

Carol:

:

highly repetitive and fast, you know something's going on

Carol:

:

and you you shouldn't let your dog have that.

Carol:

:

Gotcha.

Anthony:

:

One more thing I wanted to talk about the bull, too, and I

Anthony:

:

think it's important because I notice a big difference with

Anthony:

:

my dogs. Is the stance like the rigid stance they have when

Anthony:

:

they're feeding out of eating out of a bowl rather than

Anthony:

:

just like a flat surface or the pet platter?

Carol:

:

No, I'm so, I'm so glad you brought that up.

Carol:

:

That's one of the first things that I really noticed.

Carol:

:

Out of all, my observational data is that when wolf and

Carol:

:

wild cats are eating carcasses, they eat over it, pulling

Carol:

:

food up, and the whole position of the dog's stance changes

Carol:

:

eating from a bowl because they're using the lower jaw to

Carol:

:

scoop. Mm hmm.

Carol:

:

So instead of their necks being curved, they bend and.

Carol:

:

And that's why there's a tendency for food to get caught

Carol:

:

into their in their throats and to cause regurgitation and

Carol:

:

choking.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, exactly.

Anthony:

:

It's just a much more relaxed stance like they just look

Anthony:

:

more natural, like it's a hard thing to, I guess, envision.

Anthony:

:

But if you if you looked at it like from a side to side,

Anthony:

:

you see it, it's pretty clear.

Anthony:

:

Right?

Carol:

:

Right? And the other thing, and I'm sure a lot of your

Carol:

:

listeners know this is dogs don't have, excuse me, dogs

Carol:

:

don't have amylase in their saliva, digestion starts in the

Carol:

:

stomach. So if they're taking in large amounts of food, the

Carol:

:

digestive enzyme isn't there to start breaking it down.

Carol:

:

So when that food comes into the stomach and plops in

Carol:

:

there, you can get what is called food bloat.

Carol:

:

It's it's not gdzie, but because a large volume of food and

Carol:

:

air is sitting in there, it causes stomach distress.

Carol:

:

Know that's the importance, watch how fast and the pace and

Carol:

:

volume with which your pet is eating.

Carol:

:

That's why we recommend spreading food all over the

Carol:

:

platter, including the surfaces, give it everything and let

Carol:

:

your dog engage and interact with it.

Carol:

:

Interaction is good for them.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, it's it's.

Anthony:

:

Are they having a meaningful interaction with their with

Anthony:

:

their bowl or with their not with their bowl, but with

Anthony:

:

their with their food? You know, I think it's a really

Anthony:

:

important thing because if you watch your dogs eat off

Anthony:

:

these platters, you notice like it's there's a lot of

Anthony:

:

interaction going on, you know, a lot of positive

Anthony:

:

interaction. As a matter of fact, before we came here,

Anthony:

:

we're, you know, I fed the dogs and I just left it like, we

Anthony:

:

kind of I just made their platters real quick and set it

Anthony:

:

down and like, left. But he's probably still licking that

Anthony:

:

thing, you know, like, you know, I smeared on there and

Anthony:

:

I'll put some goat milk. And it's it's really interesting

Anthony:

:

because he uses he uses a lot of his like his incisors, but

Anthony:

:

also his tongue.

Anthony:

:

So it's almost it's also too like a giant licking mat.

Anthony:

:

Which is awesome, because, you know, obviously the whole

Anthony:

:

motion of looking for them or the whole practice of looking

Anthony:

:

actually releases endorphins to calm them down.

Anthony:

:

So it's a great I mean, it's just where it's like, where do

Anthony:

:

you stop with this thing? There's a lot of great

Anthony:

:

characteristics about it, but.

Carol:

:

Well, that's one thing I'd like to highlight.

Carol:

:

People oftentimes ask, why do you have the scoops in there?

Carol:

:

Yeah. And in all actuality, those are supposed to represent

Carol:

:

the end of bones.

Carol:

:

Yeah, but the important thing is they go downward, they

Carol:

:

don't project up.

Carol:

:

But more importantly, you can see their smooth.

Carol:

:

So while the dog has to lick in these different areas to

Carol:

:

get the food, they can get to the food.

Carol:

:

And that's the important thing, and that that causes

Carol:

:

positive looking versus negative looking, which is just

Carol:

:

highly repetitive to try to get to the food that they can't

Carol:

:

get to. So the smoothness, even the ridge going around the

Carol:

:

pet platter, the pet tongue does fit in there and they are

Carol:

:

able to pick up that food.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, I guess that kind of goes into like I kind of want to

Anthony:

:

talk to just about the general design of it because there's

Anthony:

:

a lot of cool aspects of the platter.

Anthony:

:

Know if you want to jump in.

Anthony:

:

But like, I don't know where to start.

Anthony:

:

I mean, I'm talking about from the from the divots that

Anthony:

:

you're just talking about to the moat to the even the

Anthony:

:

temperature of the platter, like all of that kind of plays

Anthony:

:

into it.

Carol:

:

The design. Yeah, actually, we tested out a lot of different

Carol:

:

sizes, and we knew that we had to have something after

Carol:

:

after studying circling behavior with wolves.

Carol:

:

It had to be large enough for them to be able to curl their

Carol:

:

bodies around so they have that sense of control.

Carol:

:

So that's why we got the actual shape of the platter, the

Carol:

:

ridge going round is the way of substituting for pulling

Carol:

:

meat from the bone, having to dig in something a little bit

Carol:

:

more and the sides representing sort of the edges the shape

Carol:

:

of the bone as well, OK?

Carol:

:

And the material we use cellulose fiber, which comes from

Carol:

:

tree pulp, which is the most naturally occurring organic

Carol:

:

molecule, but it's got a bit warmer temperature than

Carol:

:

artificial things such as plastics or metals have.

Carol:

:

So it's just everything we did try to imitate as close as

Carol:

:

we could.

Carol:

:

How they ate in the wild.

Carol:

:

Get even going down to the material, trying to get

Carol:

:

something that was new to them and had a completely

Carol:

:

different feel and smell.

Carol:

:

So it is designed to be a natural feeding territory.

Anthony:

:

What I one of the things I remember too, about the

Anthony:

:

presentation was just how passionate you were about where

Anthony:

:

that was sourced, like where the cellulose was sourced from

Anthony:

:

and how you did everything you could to keep it produced

Anthony:

:

here in the United States just to ensure that there's no

Anthony:

:

toxicity. And it's such a hard thing to find like I finding

Anthony:

:

even a stainless steel bowl that's, you know, made here in

Anthony:

:

the states that's non-toxic is extremely difficult.

Anthony:

:

And you know, all these platters or all these other, you

Anthony:

:

know, slow feeders or bowls that were feeding our pets out

Anthony:

:

of our one hundred percent toxic, you know, so it's like

Anthony:

:

that's almost reason alone to use the platter.

Carol:

:

But you know what? You brought up such an important point.

Carol:

:

And when we took this journey on, we said we're not going

Carol:

:

to come out with it unless it 100 percent benefits the

Carol:

:

health and well-being of our pets.

Carol:

:

And we are 100 percent USA manufactured sourcing material.

Carol:

:

Everything my manufacturing facility is in Wisconsin.

Carol:

:

They are my second family.

Carol:

:

Yeah, and everybody there uses the pet platter as well.

Carol:

:

And this is almost like a complete family orientation.

Carol:

:

The people we've met along the way are phenomenal.

Carol:

:

And given the fact what really drove us to look for over a

Carol:

:

year and we're continually evolving the pet platter of

Carol:

:

material wise, we found out that the cancer rate among dogs

Carol:

:

and cats are literally doubling every year.

Carol:

:

Yes. Yep.

Carol:

:

And it's not only from what we feed, but it's also how we

Carol:

:

feed. And one of the things that I do want everybody to

Carol:

:

understand is we do independent lab testing, third party

Carol:

:

for food safety to prove to our customers that this is 100

Carol:

:

percent safe.

Carol:

:

And you never have to worry about anything leaching from

Carol:

:

this product.

Carol:

:

Um, and we stand behind it, and I know that it would be

Carol:

:

more cost efficient to do elsewhere, sure, but we are one

Carol:

:

hundred percent USA always will be sourced and manufactured

Carol:

:

and that is our commitment to all the pet parents and our

Carol:

:

retailers.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, I remember when you talking about it and not really

Anthony:

:

knowing how hard it was at the time until opening fangs and

Anthony:

:

fur, I really had no idea how hard it was to source U.S.

Anthony:

:

made bowls.

Anthony:

:

Platters like even just like water bowls is the last.

Anthony:

:

My last kind of my mission I was on is I think there's like

Anthony:

:

one company out there that's doing it one or two, but

Anthony:

:

that's it. Like all the all these people are paying like,

Anthony:

:

you know, $80 for a stainless steel bowl and thinking that

Anthony:

:

it's American made, but they're all made in China, are made

Anthony:

:

in foreign countries.

Anthony:

:

Right? Without without all the restrictions.

Anthony:

:

And you know.

Carol:

:

Right. And and you really do want non-porous and you want

Carol:

:

independent lab testing for for food safety, because that

Carol:

:

way you can make sure nothing is leaching from the food

Carol:

:

receptacle or water receptacle because when you think about

Carol:

:

it, our dog's face and tongue is in that multiple times

Carol:

:

during the day, right?

Anthony:

:

Every day.

Carol:

:

Yeah, exactly.

Carol:

:

So it's up to us to be the screeners for for them to help

Carol:

:

them with that.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, I think it's a really important point because I think

Anthony:

:

our pets are exposed to so many different toxins.

Anthony:

:

Most of that we don't even know of, you know, become the

Anthony:

:

candles or chemical cleaners we're using, you know, year

Anthony:

:

round flea and tick meds.

Anthony:

:

All these things are really just weighing heavy on their

Anthony:

:

their liver and their endocrine system and their kidneys,

Anthony:

:

everything. So doing what we can to limit that is, I think,

Anthony:

:

just especially that just such an easy way to do it because

Anthony:

:

they're using this every day, you know?

Anthony:

:

So that's one thing, one major factor that you can take out

Anthony:

:

that I think could have a huge impact.

Anthony:

:

Um, yeah, but they're non-porous, they're all.

Anthony:

:

I don't know if you mentioned this, I don't think you did,

Anthony:

:

but they're dishwasher safe too, which is.

Carol:

:

Yes. And that that was that was really hard to find.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, I'm sure.

Carol:

:

I mean, putting all of this together.

Carol:

:

But yeah, you never have to worry it.

Carol:

:

I think you said you've already been using yours for

Carol:

:

several years.

Carol:

:

Yeah, we've been using art since we began the business and

Carol:

:

still use that same platters.

Carol:

:

So but part of that is to help also with raw feeding,

Carol:

:

because I know when we talk to customers, a key concern is

Carol:

:

about bacteria, you know, things spreading.

Carol:

:

And so the notion that you can just pop it in the

Carol:

:

dishwasher and it's clean and you don't have to worry, it

Carol:

:

helps promote better and better feeding.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, we we should probably put ours in the dishwasher more

Anthony:

:

often. I usually just spray it with hot water, leave it

Anthony:

:

outside, let the sun kind of hit down on it.

Anthony:

:

But yeah, they're incredibly durable.

Anthony:

:

We've had, like I said, we haven't changed ours either for

Anthony:

:

two years, two and a half years.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, but that's a really common question we get in the

Anthony:

:

shop, too, and I think people really like to hear that this

Anthony:

:

is it's non-porous, you know, which is really important.

Anthony:

:

So it's not collecting all these, this bacteria and that

Anthony:

:

it's dishwasher safe, you know, so they can easily if

Anthony:

:

they're really concerned about their bacteria, they can

Anthony:

:

easily just clean it off, pop it in the in the dishwasher.

Carol:

:

Right.

Anthony:

:

I also like to mention too, like if you're if you're feeding

Anthony:

:

dry food on this platter, too, you're not absolved from

Anthony:

:

contamination, clearly just from the right.

Anthony:

:

You know, I think 98 percent of the recalls that come from

Anthony:

:

from dry pet food. So for multiple for a multitude of

Anthony:

:

reasons for salmonella, E.

Anthony:

:

coli, listeria, aflatoxin, glyphosate, all sorts of things.

Anthony:

:

So it's just a little reminder that whether you're feeding

Anthony:

:

kibble or whether you're feeding raw, like, definitely,

Anthony:

:

definitely. You just want to be cleaning your surfaces.

Anthony:

:

So. Something else that's really cool with that question we

Anthony:

:

also get people is ask, like, can I dog like, give me

Anthony:

:

kisses or like, can they lick me after eating their food?

Anthony:

:

I'm like, Yeah, of course. And that's because they have

Anthony:

:

they have a lot of antibacterial properties in their

Anthony:

:

mouths. So you were kind of talking like they don't have

Anthony:

:

amylase, an enzyme that breaks down carbohydrates in their

Anthony:

:

mouth. But they do have some really cool properties that

Anthony:

:

are characteristic of carnivores like like lysosomes that

Anthony:

:

will actually are antibacterial.

Anthony:

:

They actually attach to pathogenic the walls of like

Anthony:

:

pathogenic bacteria and disable them.

Anthony:

:

So, yeah, my dogs have been giving me kisses for years.

Anthony:

:

I've never gotten sick.

Carol:

:

Well, and you know, when you study, wolf's more and more

Carol:

:

during the winter months, they would definitely take

Carol:

:

leftovers from carcasses and bury them.

Carol:

:

Mm hmm. Because if they were without food for a long period

Carol:

:

of time, they would go back to that food.

Carol:

:

And while we would get sick eating it, they have a highly

Carol:

:

acidic stomach.

Carol:

:

Yes. So most of the bacteria that they're exposed to

Carol:

:

doesn't faze them at all.

Carol:

:

So there's a big difference between our digestion and their

Carol:

:

digestion and the foods we can eat.

Anthony:

:

Yes, one hundred percent, I think there is can get as low as

Anthony:

:

one, which as I think as low as two at best.

Anthony:

:

But. Yeah, really interesting point.

Anthony:

:

So. So looking at like the whole picture, how do we create

Anthony:

:

like the complete like natural feeding experience?

Carol:

:

Sure. Well, first and foremost, you want to make sure that

Carol:

:

you have a broad area to feed off of.

Carol:

:

It's important that a wolf or that a dog or a cat feels

Carol:

:

that they have control over it and never speed in a corner

Carol:

:

or up against a wall so they can circle, because that

Carol:

:

really does reduce the anxiety.

Carol:

:

Remember that sensory circuit is always operating, so you

Carol:

:

want to eliminate any potential issue that they see in

Carol:

:

terms of perceived threat or or their food being taken

Carol:

:

away. The other thing is you want to try to resemble a

Carol:

:

carcass as much as possible by spreading food across, but

Carol:

:

also having different pockets of protein and different

Carol:

:

varieties of food.

Carol:

:

Let them sniff out and explore.

Carol:

:

Let them make the choice, because even in the more formal

Carol:

:

studies that have been done looking at both how wolves and

Carol:

:

dogs do, they have food preferences?

Carol:

:

They will always go for the hardcore meat over everything,

Carol:

:

even tofu.

Carol:

:

Okay.

Anthony:

:

Yes, you

Carol:

:

Study that used tofu, and it was like, No, I'll wait to get

Carol:

:

to the meat. So they do search for their nutritional needs

Carol:

:

on that, which is

Anthony:

:

Interesting because I think the tofu actually had higher

Anthony:

:

concentrations of protein.

Anthony:

:

So it kind of showed that they're not so much, so much

Anthony:

:

interested in that as they are to their preference of meat.

Carol:

:

Right, exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Carol:

:

Exactly. The other thing is, you never want to have

Carol:

:

anything blocking the their peripheral vision at all.

Carol:

:

Ok. And for if you have a finicky eating dog most times

Carol:

:

than not, it's due to them feeling anxiety about when and

Carol:

:

how you're feeding them and where you're feeding them.

Carol:

:

So sort of assess is, is there too much noise going on?

Carol:

:

And am I blocking their ability to protect their food?

Carol:

:

Is it a high traffic area?

Carol:

:

Can they get to the food?

Carol:

:

All of those things play in.

Carol:

:

But when you use the platter, there was a lovely woman that

Carol:

:

I met at at the Dogs Naturally Summit, the raw natural

Carol:

:

summit that I met you at.

Carol:

:

And she said, My dog has to be handset.

Carol:

:

There is no way he will ever eat out of anything else.

Carol:

:

And so I said, OK, I am giving you this platter.

Carol:

:

You don't even have to pay for it.

Carol:

:

I'm challenging you.

Carol:

:

So she said challenge on.

Carol:

:

So the next day, she came back and she said, my dog ate off

Carol:

:

the platter.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, I believe it.

Anthony:

:

100 percent. Yeah.

Anthony:

:

I mean, because our our dog, one of one of our dogs, is

Anthony:

:

super finicky with anything that's happening around her is

Anthony:

:

she's super like she used to not eat like she could go days

Anthony:

:

before without eating.

Anthony:

:

And now it's every now and then she doesn't.

Anthony:

:

And it's more because just gut issues.

Anthony:

:

But I mean, she eats almost every single day now.

Anthony:

:

You know, it's just just by changing that.

Anthony:

:

The way we feed, it's it's pretty awesome.

Anthony:

:

So I, yeah, it makes sense to me.

Carol:

:

It's fun. But the other thing is, make sure that you do

Carol:

:

promote more licking.

Carol:

:

And with the pep platter, you can fill the scoops with food

Carol:

:

and liquids. Pop it in the freezer.

Carol:

:

And it makes little cones.

Anthony:

:

I was going to ask 'cause

Carol:

:

The dog loves to lick that, and it's both relaxing and

Carol:

:

rewarding. So part part of the natural feeding experience

Carol:

:

is them controlling them, being able to explore, sniff out,

Carol:

:

hunt them there.

Carol:

:

But also, the licking provides that relaxed environment

Carol:

:

where there is utter enjoyment and they can taste their

Carol:

:

food as well.

Carol:

:

While taste is not their strongest scent, it nonetheless

Carol:

:

does exist.

Carol:

:

And just like with us, the more we taste our food.

Carol:

:

So the last we want in terms of volume.

Carol:

:

But if you're spending all of that good money on raw food

Carol:

:

and they're inhaling it, they're not getting the enjoyment

Carol:

:

out of it. Right?

Anthony:

:

Which is important.

Carol:

:

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Carol:

:

So that's sort of the the feeding dynamic on all of this.

Carol:

:

And what we tried to do was to take those elements of the

Carol:

:

carcass. And make sure that the platter replicates those

Carol:

:

instinctive feeding behaviors, and we address all of the

Carol:

:

instincts, but more importantly, we're also addressing

Carol:

:

their sensory circuits to make sure everything is tamped

Carol:

:

down for a healthier eating experience.

Anthony:

:

Awesome, and I'd also want to say don't hover.

Anthony:

:

I have a lot of customers that hover over their pets,

Anthony:

:

especially when trying out a new food or transitioning to

Anthony:

:

Raw that can cause some more inside the pets.

Anthony:

:

Kind of looking at them like, What are you?

Anthony:

:

Why are you standing there watching me?

Carol:

:

Yeah, you're going to take my food away.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Anthony:

:

And you're cutting off peripherals like, you know, just

Anthony:

:

just pack away, just let them do their thing, you know?

Anthony:

:

Right? There's so many benefits to to the platter I kind of

Anthony:

:

wanted to I kind of wanted to end by just going over them.

Anthony:

:

I want to make sure we didn't forget anything.

Anthony:

:

So we talked about how the platter encourages foraging, so

Anthony:

:

it encourages them to use their instincts, right?

Anthony:

:

So they're hunting and foraging instincts and going around

Anthony:

:

the platter, circling the platter like finding different

Anthony:

:

things, finding their preferences.

Anthony:

:

Which is just fascinating to watch once you once you see

Anthony:

:

it, it's really neat to see.

Anthony:

:

We talked about the little scoops and how they did the

Anthony:

:

divots in there that really promote licking and the large

Anthony:

:

surface area that helps slow them down, which is probably

Anthony:

:

the number one need.

Anthony:

:

I think people are looking for a different, you know,

Anthony:

:

feeder. It's to slow them down.

Anthony:

:

Right? And it's I mean, the platter is great because it's

Anthony:

:

not. I think you said this in your presentation, too, but

Anthony:

:

like, you know, the the slow feeders are literally you're

Anthony:

:

hitting your dog in the face, like if you're trying to eat

Anthony:

:

and so much is constantly hitting you in the nose, like,

Anthony:

:

would you? You wouldn't want that either, you know, so

Anthony:

:

everything.

Carol:

:

Exactly. And I tell people, you know, the way that you're

Carol:

:

feeding your dog, ask yourself what I want to be said like

Carol:

:

that?

Anthony:

:

Yeah, exactly.

Anthony:

:

Yeah. I mean, imagine trying to eat like with like, you

Anthony:

:

know, obviously not using your hands and trying to eat out

Anthony:

:

of a slow feeder like with tentacles or all these other

Anthony:

:

gizmos and gadgets they have now.

Carol:

:

Right, right. It's it also improves digestion.

Anthony:

:

Yes.

Carol:

:

Yeah. It actually reduces gas burping and regurgitation.

Anthony:

:

And I can attest to that.

Anthony:

:

Like, I have seen that on so many different dogs.

Anthony:

:

Now it's I don't even know how many, but it has corrected

Anthony:

:

that in a lot of dogs that we, a lot of customers we have

Anthony:

:

in the shop.

Carol:

:

Yeah, overcomes food aggression.

Carol:

:

And one thing I didn't talk about is that.

Carol:

:

The pet platter resembles the a feeding territory, and the

Carol:

:

dog and cat will bond with that feeding territory.

Carol:

:

And the reason why we use different colours is if you have

Carol:

:

multiple dogs, the color that you first feed a dog on, they

Carol:

:

adopt that as their personal territory and they will not go

Carol:

:

over and try to take food from another dog feeding

Carol:

:

territory. So we use colors that they can actually see and

Carol:

:

differentiate because dogs have a very limited color

Carol:

:

spectrum. They see yellows and blues, and then the reds are

Carol:

:

often seen as grayish or brownish.

Carol:

:

And if you're outside that color spectrum, your dog really

Carol:

:

can't see that color.

Carol:

:

And so if you buy a new toy and the dog isn't into it, part

Carol:

:

of it may be because you can't really see it.

Anthony:

:

It's so sad to think about.

Anthony:

:

I mean, it shouldn't be, but it is kind of.

Anthony:

:

The kind of colorblind. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, so if you

Anthony:

:

have two different dogs, should you use the same color on

Anthony:

:

those dogs, like every day?

Carol:

:

So there that is the better thing to do, especially if you

Carol:

:

have food stealing or food aggression between dogs.

Carol:

:

I know a lot of people have contacted us.

Carol:

:

They have to feed their dogs in separate rooms.

Carol:

:

Yeah, and with this, you no longer have to do that.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, we feed our dogs in the same room.

Anthony:

:

No, she's.

Carol:

:

God. Yeah.

Carol:

:

Yeah. Another benefit, it stops food transferred to another

Carol:

:

location. Remember if your pet is relocating their food

Carol:

:

where you're feeding them or how you're feeding them?

Carol:

:

Probably the combination is causing high anxiety.

Carol:

:

And so they're going to a place where they have better

Carol:

:

control and less anxiety over that area.

Carol:

:

So they're communicating with us all the time.

Carol:

:

We just have to pay attention to what they're trying to say

Carol:

:

to us.

Anthony:

:

So if they move something off of out of their bowl or off

Anthony:

:

the platter into somewhere else, should we move?

Anthony:

:

Should you try to move to that location to feed them?

Carol:

:

Um, I would definitely consider that.

Carol:

:

Ok. Yeah, it's right.

Carol:

:

I've never heard of a dog taking food off the platter

Carol:

:

because usually they they can position themselves in a way

Carol:

:

where they have control.

Carol:

:

Right. But if they're really blocked in somewhere or it's

Carol:

:

really noisy, yeah, they're going to be relocating that

Carol:

:

food all the time.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, I mean, maybe with the exception of the couch, you

Anthony:

:

should look to other places.

Anthony:

:

Yeah. Um gosh.

Anthony:

:

What else is there? Well, we talked about the the warm to

Anthony:

:

the touch, so it kind of invites the the licking habit,

Anthony:

:

which is awesome.

Carol:

:

It increases their involvement.

Carol:

:

They're much more involved.

Carol:

:

Feeding takes a lot longer.

Carol:

:

I have a lot of people who said they went from a minute and

Carol:

:

a half to 10 to 15 minutes.

Carol:

:

Wow. And I think what's really important is it also

Carol:

:

stimulates their thinking when you serve from a bowl and

Carol:

:

it's piled high.

Carol:

:

And you referred to that, that video that I showed of the

Carol:

:

dog eating out of the bowl is just inhaling the food.

Carol:

:

There's no thinking.

Carol:

:

There's no fulfillment.

Carol:

:

It's it's rote behavior.

Carol:

:

And what's so sad about this, and this is an area that I'm

Carol:

:

working on now, is happiness for our pets.

Carol:

:

We have taken their holy feeding, their whole feeding

Carol:

:

ecology. And.

Carol:

:

Took the ball and are using the bowl because it's a

Carol:

:

convenience for us.

Carol:

:

But when you think about it, they spent their life in the

Carol:

:

wild, ninety 95 percent of their time foraging, exploring,

Carol:

:

hunting, deconstructing carcasses, so they are programmed

Carol:

:

as hunters.

Carol:

:

And if you want to do one thing to bring happiness to your

Carol:

:

pet, give them what they treasure most.

Carol:

:

Which is their ability to feed naturally, it's who they

Carol:

:

are.

Anthony:

:

It's so true, I think that's my favorite thing about the

Anthony:

:

platter is that just how engaging it is and if to your

Anthony:

:

point about, you know, wild canids and wolves, if you talk

Anthony:

:

to any wolf biologist or follow any of those counts like I

Anthony:

:

do, you'll see that the happiest they are is when they're

Anthony:

:

eating. Um, yeah, it's supposed to be like the happiest

Anthony:

:

times in their lives is when they're actually eating a good

Anthony:

:

meal. So we're kind of taking that away from them by

Anthony:

:

feeding out of a bowl, but by giving them that experience.

Anthony:

:

I mean, it can really.

Anthony:

:

It can really change your dog behaviorally.

Carol:

:

Well, and I think I think what's so interesting is people

Carol:

:

somehow think if my pet gets excited while I'm preparing

Carol:

:

their meal. Mm hmm.

Carol:

:

That's a good thing.

Carol:

:

Yeah. Let them have that moment because eating is an

Carol:

:

emotional state for them.

Carol:

:

They get excited.

Carol:

:

There's anticipation.

Carol:

:

It's what makes them who they are.

Carol:

:

And when you watch them deconstructing carcasses in the

Carol:

:

wild, do you see those same behaviors occurring?

Anthony:

:

Yeah, we we sell.

Anthony:

:

Actually, I think I sent you a video of this, but we sell

Anthony:

:

like dehydrated quail, like full quail and Mozzie just

Anthony:

:

completely dissected one like on the platter.

Anthony:

:

And it was fascinating, just him dissecting it and then

Anthony:

:

eating his favorite parts first and kind of just slowly.

Anthony:

:

I guess it sounds weird to most people, but just him slowly

Anthony:

:

dissecting it and going for every part and like just kind

Anthony:

:

of figuring out like what is preferences were?

Anthony:

:

And it was so aggiunto he was so engaged and so like he

Anthony:

:

was, he was thinking hard about what he was doing, you

Anthony:

:

know? And also

Carol:

:

So excited. My favorite video?

Anthony:

:

Good. You know, you send a video like that to someone and

Anthony:

:

you're not sure what the response will be, either terrified

Anthony:

:

or or equally enthusiastic.

Anthony:

:

I don't know.

Carol:

:

I know I like the news to say what we were at.

Carol:

:

Parties don't talk about deconstructing carcasses.

Carol:

:

Okay? Yeah.

Anthony:

:

I mean, when you walk into the shop, it's we have a big

Anthony:

:

table of just animal parts, so it either can go like you go

Anthony:

:

one or two ways. For most people, they're really fascinated

Anthony:

:

or they're really turned off by it.

Anthony:

:

So yeah.

Anthony:

:

Yeah. But.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, I think, you know, in conclusion, I think, you know,

Anthony:

:

kind of where we started off and beginning to this is

Anthony:

:

celebrating that that inner wolf in your dog let your dog

Anthony:

:

be a dog. You know?

Anthony:

:

Not forcing them to eat out of a, you know, a receptacle

Anthony:

:

that's kind of holding their food hostage, you know, and

Anthony:

:

that was built out of really our convenience, just like

Anthony:

:

kibble, you know, both these things are built out of

Anthony:

:

convenience and not aren't really doing our dogs.

Anthony:

:

Much, much good as far as health and their well-being.

Anthony:

:

Right.

Danielle:

:

But I think, yeah, I think for me, like this whole

Danielle:

:

conversation has been so fascinating.

Danielle:

:

I can totally now understand Anthony why he talked.

Danielle:

:

I don't know how long that car ride was, but a lot of it

Danielle:

:

was about you and your presentation and just hearing it

Danielle:

:

live. You know, I can only relate it to like my experience

Danielle:

:

with food like Anthony knows this.

Danielle:

:

Like, I love going out to eat.

Danielle:

:

I love dinner parties and having people come together

Danielle:

:

because food.

Danielle:

:

I just think it brings such a great experience with people

Danielle:

:

that you care about. So like, kind of like the big AHA for

Danielle:

:

me was, you know, it's such an impersonal thing when you're

Danielle:

:

just scooping this dry food and this bowl and then throwing

Danielle:

:

it in the corner, you know, like and how many dogs

Danielle:

:

experience that. So hopefully I know that there's going to

Danielle:

:

be a lot of people that are like, wow, like when you really

Danielle:

:

think about it, like they should have that joy, they should

Danielle:

:

have that happiness, that experience as well.

Anthony:

:

One hundred percent.

Carol:

:

So well, and the interesting thing, Daniel, is that we've

Carol:

:

had a lot of people contact us saying that it's helped them

Carol:

:

bond with their dog more because they're more engaged in

Carol:

:

the eating in the food preparation process now.

Carol:

:

And like Anthony was referring to the charcuterie board,

Carol:

:

people are using it as such, but they feel closer to their

Carol:

:

pet and they get enjoyment by creating these recipes and

Carol:

:

trying new foods.

Carol:

:

So it's not only good for the pet, but the pet parent is

Carol:

:

more involved now, which I think is a great benefit,

Danielle:

:

And I can attest to that.

Danielle:

:

I sometimes forget that that brings so much joy to Anthony

Danielle:

:

and all like, you know, get distracted and let the kids go

Danielle:

:

in and he's like, No, like, this is my time with Mozzie and

Danielle:

:

Foxy.

Anthony:

:

It's a bonding time.

Anthony:

:

I really enjoy it.

Anthony:

:

You know, the dogs just sit there very, you know, as

Anthony:

:

patiently as they possibly can.

Anthony:

:

Mozzie will kind of whimper because he's, you know, can't

Anthony:

:

wait for it. It starts at seven.

Anthony:

:

I mean, he just, yeah, he just stares at me until it's

Anthony:

:

ready to go. But yeah, it's such a just a positive.

Anthony:

:

Experience for them, and it's also really easy to use.

Anthony:

:

We didn't really talk about that.

Anthony:

:

It is I mean, we're we talk about it being a bonding

Anthony:

:

experience and the preparation.

Anthony:

:

Everything and people do make some really pretty platters.

Anthony:

:

You know, if you go to Instagram, they make some really

Anthony:

:

cool ones. It's not you don't have to do that every single

Anthony:

:

day, even if you're feeding dry food, you know, just

Anthony:

:

putting a dry food with some water, a bone broth or spilt

Anthony:

:

milk on top. The platters like a beautiful way to do that.

Anthony:

:

You know, that's still going to give them a lot of

Anthony:

:

stimulation that way.

Carol:

:

Yeah, it works just as well for kibble.

Carol:

:

And I would say, you know, it's kibble is heard because

Carol:

:

when it's piled in a bowl, it's just easy to gulp that down

Carol:

:

quickly. So you could even see more enjoyment with kibble

Carol:

:

and the pet platter because it's the pet is more engaged,

Carol:

:

they're more involved in it.

Carol:

:

They have to work at it.

Carol:

:

So it's tapping into those instincts, which is like, Wow,

Carol:

:

this is kind of fun.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, you could. You could possibly argue that it's even

Anthony:

:

more important if you are feeding a dry food, you know what

Anthony:

:

I mean, just to at least make sure they're getting some

Anthony:

:

stimulation out of eating.

Anthony:

:

And also, you know, those pellets are really hard for them

Anthony:

:

to digest. So, you know, slowing them down while they're

Anthony:

:

eating those is really important.

Anthony:

:

Right, so.

Danielle:

:

Yeah, awesome. Well, we do have one customer question.

Danielle:

:

I would love Carol if you can when you actually already

Danielle:

:

have, but I think it's really important, you know, just

Danielle:

:

people like having that exposure to hearing this, and maybe

Danielle:

:

they didn't, you know, grab this in the episode.

Danielle:

:

But should we feed in one place or different places?

Carol:

:

Um, the it's not a matter, I don't think if feeding at

Carol:

:

different places, it's where you're feeding them from.

Carol:

:

Make sure that they have control.

Carol:

:

Good peripheral vision and there's not a lot of activity.

Carol:

:

Because just remember that sensory circuit that's engaged.

Carol:

:

So that would be my my key recommendation.

Carol:

:

It's important, obviously, not to serve the same food all

Carol:

:

the time because food monotony kicks in.

Carol:

:

But in terms of location, it can be the sort of the same

Carol:

:

area. But if that area changes to become higher traffic or

Carol:

:

noisier or something's now blocking them, make sure they

Carol:

:

have access to their feeding territory.

Anthony:

:

Um, we didn't talk about food monotony, but it's important

Anthony:

:

because it's it's so essentially when animals are fed the

Anthony:

:

same thing over and over over again.

Anthony:

:

There's just no stimulation, which can lead to poor

Anthony:

:

nutrition and refusal to eat.

Carol:

:

And you know what, we have the zoos struggle with that as

Carol:

:

well. Their diets are constructed to make sure that there's

Carol:

:

variety in their menus because the zoo animals will stop

Carol:

:

eating if you're serving the same thing over and over

Carol:

:

again.

Anthony:

:

Interesting.

Carol:

:

So it's a real phenomena and any little thing you can do.

Carol:

:

You obviously want to change proteins up, but different

Carol:

:

flavors go smells, bone broth, you know, just adding little

Carol:

:

bits and pieces here.

Carol:

:

Just remember they see the world through their nose,

Carol:

:

entertain that nose, make it want to get more information,

Carol:

:

and you are delivering a wonderful benefit to your pet.

Anthony:

:

How about feeding?

Anthony:

:

So sometimes like when the weather turns and it's getting

Anthony:

:

nice outside, I like to bring the feed the platters out

Anthony:

:

there and let them, you know, it's a quiet day.

Anthony:

:

It's outside, the weather's nice.

Anthony:

:

I'm like, Well, they seem to enjoy it.

Carol:

:

Yeah, absolutely.

Carol:

:

Yeah, you can take the platter anywhere with you.

Carol:

:

Yeah, it's been in the mountains, it's been in the snow.

Carol:

:

They've had it anywhere.

Anthony:

:

I've had it in quite a few different states now.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, well, that's awesome.

Anthony:

:

I think that answers to that question.

Danielle:

:

Yeah, thank you so much.

Danielle:

:

We'll definitely hopefully chat again soon.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, I'm sorry.

Anthony:

:

I'm going to miss you this weekend.

Danielle:

:

Or I know. Let us know how it goes.

Carol:

:

I will definitely let you know how it goes and thank you so

Carol:

:

much. And I have to say I know a lot of pet parents are

Carol:

:

feeling the same way.

Carol:

:

Thank you for bringing education to all of us.

Carol:

:

We are a community that are working to benefit our pets,

Carol:

:

and you guys being an educational resource for us is very

Carol:

:

important. So thank you for all of your efforts as well.

Anthony:

:

Thanks, Carol. We're doing our best and I think it's it's

Anthony:

:

also really.

Anthony:

:

I don't know, motivating that there's there's so many

Anthony:

:

passionate pet parents out there now, like a new

Anthony:

:

generation, I want to say a pet parents that really want to

Anthony:

:

do they want to do the best they can for their pets.

Anthony:

:

So that's yeah, it's great to see.

Carol:

:

And we're all in this together, and we're making a better

Carol:

:

world each and every day, I love it.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, I think our pets are.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, they're doing just fine now.

Anthony:

:

They're they're getting a lot of a lot of good things

Anthony:

:

coming their way these days.

Anthony:

:

Yeah, and a lot of ways, I mean, you should hear.

Anthony:

:

I mean, I think our dogs eat better than our kids do

Anthony:

:

sometimes.

Danielle:

:

That's a fair statement.

Anthony:

:

It's a fair statement. Yeah.

Anthony:

:

Yeah.

Carol:

:

So that's great.

Carol:

:

That's great. Well, thank you so much.

Carol:

:

I appreciate your time today.

Anthony:

:

No, we appreciate yours. Thank you, Carol.

Anthony:

:

Carol: Good talking to you. Okay. All right.

Chapters