[chowder]

So, I was in BJ's Warehouse store the other day and I was browsing the pet aisle just to see if they had any great deals on doggies beds or equipment. And this extremely well dressed lady was next to me and she was loading a 50 pound bag of Beneful onto her wagon.

Now I don't want to jump to any conclusions about her economic circumstances but the brands of clothes she was wearing were a lot higher end then my jeans and t-shirt and she could have spent a lot less down in the bulk meat section and gotten a lot more .....heck, she could have picked up the bag of purina one next to it and gotten a better sack of food, or even a bag of brown rice and some hamburger!

So, my question is, has anyone ever accosted another dog owner in the store and questioned their choice of food when they are buying 50 pounds of Beneful? It took all my willpower not too, but my husband was with me and was not in the mood for a confrontation in BJ's ! Is there a simple way to do it, or should we have little information cards made up that we can just hand to people and walk away ?

 

[malluver1005]

I've never had a person right next to me do that. But sometimes when I'm in line paying for something, the person in the next line will walk out with a 30 lb. bag of Pedigree or 30 cans of Friskies. I mean, I would like to say something but I didn't want to lose my place in line. Another thing is, I don't want to start a nasty argument with the person.

The information card idea is great. I would put in there "Check out dogfoodanalysis.com and rate your dog's food" :wink:

 

[Unosmom]

I know how you feel, I always cringe when I see people loading up beneful or purina at costco, when they can get kirkland which is tons better and costs less! I think just like with a lot of people products/foods, most are driven by brand names, expecting them to be of superior quality. I mean Beneful commercials make it look oh so delicious, except that its not.

Speaking of which, does anyone watch the show Doctors? Since I enjoy medical shows, I tape it time to time and I saw in the description that they are going to talk about raw diet for dogs, so I got all excited, turns out they briefly did a little advertisement for a "dog sushi' place where they make these fancy gourmet raw meals for dogs and one of the doctors took his dogs there, I think it was like $6 for a tiny plate.
So the other doctor saw it and was like " well, I think my dog is happy with his $6 food"... I'm thinking eww, hes probably feeding Ol' Roy for that price.
The doc that took his dogs there said " Well supposedly it helps the dog to shed less and generally have less health issues", but the others docs smirked and moved onto the next topic. They didnt even touch the topic of nutrition.. ugh

 

[Todd]

I've never said anything, but there is one thing I will never understand...

My aunt makes nearly $100,000 per year, yet still feeds her cats Friskies despite the countless lectures I have given her on pet nutrition, and what quality food is and is not. Any suggestions on what I could do?

 

[DaneMama]

Maybe look up all the ingredients in Friskies and find the definition/description of each and show them to her. Do the same thing for a higher quality food and then show her that. I think a lot of people are just ignorant about what the heck is in dog food and not educated in reading dog/cat food labels and what the ingredients listed actually mean.

We always do try and educate people on the quality of food they are feeding to their dogs while doing homehecks for the Dane rescue. They are always amazed and disgusted at what dog food companies put in their food. I think they get the picture when I say that they might as well feed the bag with the food inside it because they are of similar nutrition levels for a dog.

 

[LabbieMama]

I've been a foster parent for Lab Rescue for 3+ years. I've always made it a point to ask the adopters of my foster dogs what they plan to feed their newly adopted dog. I start out by telling them what the foster is being fed, I send home a good-sized Ziploc bag of the food, and depending on where the adopter lives, I create a list of stores near them where they can buy the food. And then I send the dog off. I can only hope that the adopters follow through. Sometimes they don't, but I can't control that. All I can do is educate them and hope for the best.

 

[wags]

I have never accosted anyone but I have said to someone buying Bil Jack to read the ingredients! She actually asked what I would buy instead and she even put the Bil Jack back haha!

But I can remember when I knew nothing about dog food brands (my poor Dalmatian) and I would go by how the bag looked, how colorful it was, if the ingredients(this would be the picture) on the front of the bag looked good to me! I never, until gee a few years back even knew about reading the ingredients list for the dog food! Funny though I knew to read it for my own families food but never even thought about it for dog food! I actually trusted the look on the bag I trusted commercials on television and thought hey if breeders really do have their dogs eating this its got to be the best!
We live and learn even if we get to middle age haha!

Now about really getting in peoples faces ha I do love to chat and I do with strangers, but I am leery now with some folk though haha! I know I can start a conversation with just about anyone but I have had a few folk down the line who just did not want to talk! I always figure what the heck we have only so much time here on earth, might as well be friendly to all haha!:wink: But then again not all want this!:frown:

 

[CorgiPaws]

I have done it passive agressively. lol.
If I see someone looking at a crummy dog food, I'll carry on a conversation with someone I'm with about how I can't believe what the industry gets away with. Sometimes it catches their attention and they ask about it, other times they give me a dirty look and leave. *shrug* If just one dog gets a better food, that's worth it.

I've also stepped in when a PetCo or PetSmart employee is recommending another food. I've been kicked out of both stores, and my P.A.L.S. card no longer "works" because I got in an argument wit an employee trying to sell someone either Eukanuba or Nutro going on about all kinds of crap. The couple ended up buying Wellness for their puppy after my recommendation, and the employee was pissed and had me escorted out of the building.
It was hilarious, really.

 

[chowder]

That's just TOO funny!! I had to tell my hubby about that one! He said he guess's there are 'pet food police' at the Petsmart just watching out for people like us now! I can just picture these guys like Maxwell Smart, hiding behind the aisles with their walkie talkies, waiting to pounce on you next time you enter the PetSmart.....

 

[rannmiller]

I have done it passive agressively. lol.
If I see someone looking at a crummy dog food, I'll carry on a conversation with someone I'm with about how I can't believe what the industry gets away with. Sometimes it catches their attention and they ask about it, other times they give me a dirty look and leave. *shrug* If just one dog gets a better food, that's worth it.

I've also stepped in when a PetCo or PetSmart employee is recommending another food. I've been kicked out of both stores, and my P.A.L.S. card no longer "works" because I got in an argument wit an employee trying to sell someone either Eukanuba or Nutro going on about all kinds of crap. The couple ended up buying Wellness for their puppy after my recommendation, and the employee was pissed and had me escorted out of the building.
It was hilarious, really.

Haha I've done way too much of both of those things. I love the passive aggressive way. I've also just started conversations out of the blue if i would see someone hovering around dog foods, I'd just be like "There's just way too many options aren't there?" or just a simple "Is this what you're feeding?" "What kind of dog do you have?" or if they're looking hesitantly at the best food in the store, I'll just reassure them, "Oh man, this brand is the best! Do you use it?"

My favorite is converting people to raw inside of Petsmart and Petco though. Sure it loses them a sale, but it saves that dog's life (hopefully), so I'm perfectly fine with it :biggrin:

 

[JayJayisme]

I've never accosted anyone, and I likely never will. Nobody wants to hear it. The only people I mention PMR to are people who ask what I feed my dogs, and family members who, while visiting, express curiosity at the amount of meat in the freezer/fridge or wonder why our dogs don't stink or have bad breath.

But I have BEEN accosted, by a Hills rep at a PetSmart no less. All I will say is, that was probably the worst day of her life. :biggrin:

 

[Todd]

I've never accosted anyone, and I likely never will. Nobody wants to hear it. The only people I mention PMR to are people who ask what I feed my dogs, and family members who, while visiting, express curiosity at the amount of meat in the freezer/fridge or wonder why our dogs don't stink or have bad breath.

But I have BEEN accosted, by a Hills rep at a PetSmart no less. All I will say is, that was probably the worst day of her life. :biggrin:

Tell us about that! Sounds very interesting!:biggrin:

 

[Oz'sMommy]

i've been looked at crazy by food reps. what i usually try to do is talk to the people after the rep walks away. i HATE that there is always a nutro rep on petsmart. my oz gets groomed there and i buy his kong stuff there since its so close but he eats sojos now.

granted there is not a great selection at petsmart but they could be buying blue buffalo or even by nature which at least haven't killed any dogs or had any recalls (from what i know). i think it is often commercials and colorful packaging that take people in. and doesn't beneful make their kibble in cute little shapes and differenent colors?

friends or family who ask will get an earful from me though. and they are often shocked at what some companies make dog food from.

 

[malluver1005]

BB did have a recall back in 06, 07 or 08. Don't remember exactly. But the recall was for their health bars, not the kibble... :smile:

 

[CorgiPaws]

i think it is often commercials and colorful packaging that take people in. and doesn't beneful make their kibble in cute little shapes and differenent colors?

Yeah,I think this is true.. and what gets me is the dog foods (beneful is a good example) that have pictures of corn and wheat right there on the label!! Like they're bluntly advertising that they have the worst ingredients possible, and the general public is too ignorant to give it a second thought!!!

 

[Todd]

Yeah,I think this is true.. and what gets me is the dog foods (beneful is a good example) that have pictures of corn and wheat right there on the label!! Like they're bluntly advertising that they have the worst ingredients possible, and the general public is too ignorant to give it a second thought!!!

Exactly! Why would you directly advertise something bad for dogs? Just goes to show you not only how ignorant these dog food companies are, but how ill-educated many pet owners are about correct dog nutrition, which I mainly blame on these companies like Beneful, Iams, Purina, etc with all their phony advertising.

 

[DaneMama]

I've never accosted anyone, and I likely never will. Nobody wants to hear it. The only people I mention PMR to are people who ask what I feed my dogs, and family members who, while visiting, express curiosity at the amount of meat in the freezer/fridge or wonder why our dogs don't stink or have bad breath.

I will agree to an extent with you here. I have come to learn that someone has to have the urge to learn or be helped. The ones that don't want help (even tho they may need it) wont listen to one thing I say.

Like I said, we always discuss raw feeding with our homechecks and foster families about it....most express an interest in it. I think since we are there in authority in representation of the rescue helps a lot too! So I think we do our part :wink:

 

[rannmiller]

Man, I cannot wait until I get accosted by a food rep in Petsmart. In fact, I really hope to every time I go (which isn't too often). I think i should start making this a priority on my weekends since that's the only time they're there.

 

[DaneMama]

Maybe I will just purposely go to start a debate and watch the sales rep trip over their words because they cannot figure out why they are wrong...maybe even get kicked out of one of the box stores :biggrin:

 

[Oz'sMommy]

do it! i totally recommend having debates with sales people AND dog food reps. the nutro people i have talked to really don't seem to be too knowledgeable about their dog food at all. and once the food reps find out what you are feeding your dog is better than nutro (i.e..wellness, instinct, origin, etc.) they will run the other way though.

i actually had a sales rep tell me the best thing i could feed my shih tzu was royal canin shih tzu...and this was at a pet food store that sold merrick, wellness, instinct, nature's variety raw and numerous other good foods.

and i totally forgot bb had their health bars recalled! my dog tried the apple/yogurt ones before, but he wasn't a big fan