Have you ever believed something for so long that when you finally realized that it wasn't true - you went through this amazing array of emotions? Disbelief, curiosity, embarrassment, and even guilt?
I remember one of the largest paradigm shifts of my adult life revolved around dog food. It was about 1998. We had our Jack Russell terrier, Jasper for a couple of years and I had been feeding him a premium (so we thought) high priced dog kibble. I thought I was a good owner. He started to develop itchy, raw hot spots on his feet and my vet at the time wanted to do the whole band aid solution approach of treating the symptoms and not the problem. Luckily, I hung out with a lot of competitive dog sports people who were way ahead of their time and fed raw or grain-free diets.
I started to do my research and couldn't believe the pack of lies that I had bought into for 20 plus years. I had been brainwashed to believe that I was a bad, bad owner if I fed anything but sawdusty dry bagged kibble. If I fed human food my dog would get bad teeth. My dog would beg at the table. My dog would get an upset stomach and loose stools And heaven forbid - there was no way to feed a COMPLETE and BALANCED diet unless you fed sawdusty kibble every day, twice a day for 365 days a year. What a load of garbage. Or genius marketing by the dog food companies, which ever way you want to look at it.
Hopefully, all of you enlightened readers have made the paradigm shift about dog food in your own lives. If you still believe that human food is bad for dogs or if you know someone that does - here is an excellent common sense article by a local dog trainer and rescuer, Carol Sumbry of Pooch Pedestrian Dog Training and Pet Sitting that will open your eyes.
Anyways, this blog isn't about dog food. It's about that sudden realization that things aren't always as they seem. That sometimes we've bought into a pack of lies for so long - it becomes really hard to open our minds to a new way of thinking. The marketing has been clever. We've been duped. So - in these next few blogs I'm going to challenge you to open your minds and see if you can start to make a paradigm shift. The one that will lead the way to a No Kill Nation.
Oh, and by the way, Jasper's hot spots cleared up shortly after improving his diet.
Wise people sometimes change their minds - fools never do. -Anonymous
Yes! Can't wait for the next blogs!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post and the others to come. We need to awake up and start looking at where our beliefs come from and question if we need to start looking for more information to develop a more complete picture.
ReplyDeleteRaw, natural food naturally has more nutrition than cooked food. People need more nutrients too -- eat more fresh, raw foods.