The Benefits of Natural Dog Treats & Food with Rob Burns

Episode Summary

Rob: You know, I mean, essentially, we set up the business after my partner, Anthony. He used to work in the raw food industry for over 10 years and was a wholesale manager and used to go around to a lot of pet shops and see kind of like how people were actually doing things and noticed that there was kind of like, you know, whilst people were bringing in the natural diet and natural nutrition, there are a lot of people that didn’t actually really understand totally the benefits and what was going on with that. And, there’s kind of like, you know, people will have it in their shop and not actually realise the total holistic approach to feeding your Dog, kind of like natural foods and natural treats.

We thought, “Okay, let’s bring something a little different to light and make it a really nice boutique experience for customers to bring their pets into the shop.” I mean, you know, it’s quite fun because we end up having people come into us and just basically say, I can’t get past it without my dog dragging me in.

Yeah, I think what’s really important about what we do is we appreciate there are lots of different, different aspects and angles and foods that you can actually feed. It’s about giving people the information they need to make their own choices, considering the pros and cons of feeding certain diets, such as kibble or cold-pressed. What we specialise in is raw food and also very natural treats. And I think, whilst raw is probably always kind of like what we would deem to be the best food, because it’s the most natural food that a dog could actually potentially eat. If you think of them, if they were left to their own devices, how would they actually get food?

“They’d actually be looking at getting prey. And that means meat and bone.”

Rob: And that is essentially what the raw diet is. And it’s trying to, because we have so much experience with it, we can kind of like quite easily help people cut through a lot of the information that you find online and give them that focus to turn around and go. Oh, actually, you know, a lot of the myths that people worry about with kind of like bacteria in the products etc. I mean, it is a real worry, but it’s more to do with if you’re actually feeding fresh produce that hasn’t been frozen over, something that’s actually been properly produced and frozen to a certain level, which is basically the freezing is like the cooking.

So yeah, that’s part of what we do. We also look at kind of like as much as possible to try and see how we can be as sustainable as possible and what we’re doing.

And I think kind of like if you turn around and start looking at kind of how products are actually made and what people kind of like look at a little bit is, you know, how green can we actually be when we’re actually turning around and actually, you know, looking after our pets. It doesn’t go for just dogs and cats, everything and everywhere.

Rob: You know, cats need cat litter. You know, can you use kind of like a more sustainable Cat litter, like a wood chipping cat litter that you can get? I got three schnauzers, I go around and try and do a one bag walk, as I call it, you know, so we’re not using kind of like too many bags, etc.

But it’s also sort of like drawn us to actually realise that most of the people that are actually out there, suppliers and competitors and other people, and not really everything’s always in plastics and that sort of like kind of unrecyclable or uncompostable. It is recyclable, but kind of like, you know, obviously degrades over a longer period of time.

So we started with our natural treats, putting everything into kind of like compostable packaging. Which means that our, you know, our customers who come in can kind of like basically know that they can literally, it’s a tin tie bag, you get rid of the tin tie. But the rest of the packaging is basically completely compostable. You can just turn around and throw it, and you know that it’s actually going to degrade.

But the other thing is that also when it comes down to looking at our natural treats, unnatural treats are pretty much bits of body. And when it comes down to looking at that, what you’re doing it there is that it’s sustainable in so many different levels because basically you’re never going to turn around and change the fact that you actually have this food going through the food chain. So, you know, chicken, beef, all these bits and pieces, and there are so many parts of that food that’s actually been thrown away and wasted. And what, what actually happens if you’re actually feeding kind of like natural, kind of like dried foods and treats, you’re actually kind of like lowering that waste, you know, and stuff, going to landfill, etc. Or wherever it tends to go.

And also, what it is, is a very pure and natural treat for the dog, so really, really healthy for them. You know, things like anything with fur on is fantastic, acting as a natural dewormer for the dogs.

You know, if you think about it, in outside in the wild, you don’t necessarily see a wolf scooting its bottom across the floor. It’s probably because he’s actually got a nice diet, which actually has a lot of fur and everything else like that. And so basically it doesn’t have issues that feel like the dogs in general kind of like can potentially get up.

“Similarly with Cats, put some feathers in their diet.”

Dawn: I’d say I really appreciate how environmentally conscious you guys are as well. So I think that’s what a lot of companies seem to forget.

Rob: I mean, there’s a difficulty. The thing is, when you look at all the differences, it’s the environment that gives it a rest. This is what happens when you have your hat. Actually, have your own pets. I’ve got three of them.

I mean if you’re looking at food from an environmental impact and kind of like people worry about that kind of like whole element of raw and what raw is coming through and the fact that you know, you’ve got a much increased kind of farming of the meat etc, it’s still going to happen anyway and a lot of the meat comes directly from human grade quality farms. And so that’s always going to be around.

Yes, the main processing of that food involves grinding it down with other ingredients and then freezing it. So, yes, there is a certain aspect of high energy use, but it also involves a lot of inefficient and other bits that will generally go to waste. So you’re kind of like offsetting that balance, like I mentioned earlier, with the drink treats, that kind of like, you know, nothing’s really going to waste.

Rob: The other thing you tend to find is that when you look at things like kibbles, kibbles are produced under really, really high temperatures. So, actually, they’re less green in terms of energy consumption and production. Additionally, you’ve got cold-pressed, which is another food produced under less heat and more pressure, meaning it retains more of the nutrition.

Everything is going to use a certain amount of energy. And from that perspective, it’s kind of like quite interesting. It’s difficult because also packaging other bits and pieces you’re looking into used to be a lot, now that kind of like used to get a lot of polystyrene boxes where the frozen food used to come in. That’s now because of the law changing.

“Everything is coming in cardboard, which is great.”

For us, because it means that the waste in general is just like going down to zero, and it’s all recyclable cardboard waste, and all the plastics and everything else that are used are actually recyclable as well. So it’s getting a lot greener than some of the other elements. And I think that there’s no silver bullet to being kind of like environmental. When it comes down to like anything, really, what you want to look at is, I suppose, it’s what you’re comfortable with because every single thing you’re going to get is going to kind of have some kind of energy usage, CO2, sort of like impact everything else.

And I think it boils down to really the choices you make about how healthy I want to feed my animals and how healthy I want them to be. Similarly, it’s like kids with parents with kids and stuff like that. You know, it’s you, you’ve got to offset kind of like, you know, the balance of, you know, the environment against the better, you know, what’s, what’s best for you for, for your family as well. So it’s very similar to that with Dogs and Cats.

Tell us more about your Natural Treats!

Rob: So in our experience, what we tend to find is that you, you know, a lot of people want stuff where they want their dogs to kind of like, you know, it’s good for the teeth health and gums, sort of like dental sticks. So basically, you end up finding that a lot of people are kind of, when it comes to natural treats or coming in looking for treats that they either want, sort of like training treats, which are kind of like very, very easy little snippets and bits and pieces to give their dogs.

We tend to find the higher value and the ones that they really love are the ones which have kind of like pure meats, etc.

But there are also a lot of inquiries about kind of like, you know, what’s good for my dog’s teeth. Can I. Have you got any dental sticks and things like that? Now you know, you can get the dental sticks. What we tend to find with the dental sticks is they tend to be quite high, high in carbs and carbs can kind of like act a little bit fun kind of as well, they transition into sugar kind of like content which can kind of like add to kind of like dogs kind of like sugar spikes in their blood and stuff over something which is kind of like very natural.

And essentially when it comes down to Sort of like the natural chewing that kind of like element where they’ve got something really chewing at the back of their teeth or, or even if you get sort of like a raw meat bone that actually has some meat on it, like a duck neck or turkey neck, where the fact they actually ripping that meat off with the front teeth, that kind of like gets helped and it helps natur and like deep plaque. There’s a bit of a misnomer around the fact that if it’s crunchy biscuit, it’s actually going to turn around and make my teeth my dog’s teeth cleaner.

And I think what I turn around sort of. I tend to say to people it’s like, well, what happens to your teeth when you eat a biscuit? You know, and dogs’ tongues go one way, back and forth. They don’t have a dexterous tongue like us where we can turn around and sit there and pick stuff out of the toilet.

“They can clean their mouth quite well with something they can hold in between their paws and actually chew on.”

Rob: It tends to be the more natural kind of like sticks and. Or the better thing for them is actually things that are very, very natural. As I said, when it comes down to kind of like keeping them.

What’s great with anything with fur and you can use. And I know people can get a little bit squeamish about this, but if you feed your dogs something with hair once or twice a week or supplement it into their diet, etc. They don’t digest the fur at all. So it kind of like almost goes through their system like a brush. And so it’s internal. It’s also super hyper allergic, hyperaller, really great as a digestive aid as well.

But you know, I’ve never given my three dogs any worming tablets. You know, I only really tend to give them flea treatment because we, we’re surrounded by so many dogs and when you get to that certain point in the season where everyone’s coming in with fleas that they tend to.

Dawn: No, that sounds amazing. I think. So, like people tend to forget, is that, you know, pets do have very specific needs similar to humans. You know, you can’t just kind of chuck some stuff in the bottom like, yeah, that’s fine. Or even just giving them loads of table scraps off your own plate, because a Lot of stuff for them, won’t work for them. And kind of getting stuff that’s really beneficial to their needs, you know, like you said with, with the fur and like with the actual natural bits, where they can kind of chew at it and it can help maintain their teeth is it makes such a difference as well to their health and their happiness.

Rob: I mean, you know, there are lots of different things that you can turn around and feed them just from your fridge and stuff like that. You know, carrots and pieces are sort of great. But the only thing you’ve got to realise is that they’re not, they are pretty much carnivores. They’re not kind of like they don’t have a system, and that their whole insides are kind of like very acidic, and they don’t really chew anything. So basically, if you turn around and put a carrot in, it comes out looking like a carrot.

Do you know what I mean? So, which is why with certain sorts of foods, the vegetable content’s actually been pulped. When you see a food that’s sort of like showing you that it’s got peas and everything else in it, it’s got nothing nutritionally advantage that’s advantageous to the dog as such. It’s really kind of like boils down to the fact that it’s us looking at it and going, oh, isn’t this lovely? Isn’t it good what I’m doing for my dog? So then they need some help when they’re turning around and kind of like getting that stuff and digesting that stuff. At least that’s in my opinion.

Dawn: No, I think we’ve had previous guests who’ve actually said similar things as well. So we’ve had, you know, twin chefs that came on. They actually do, you know, a dog cuisine business. So they do actually work a lot with that. Very similar with Dog food.

What’s a funny memory you’ve had whilst looking after and owning Dogs?

Rob: I mean, I’ve got mums, dads and daughters. So I mean like, you know, daughter’s gonna be the one that’s gonna kill me. But you know, now we’ve had our shops for about five years. We’ve got a couple of them, one in over Rochester. We do daycare from time to time, and what would end up happening is that they remember. They remember so much that when they come running in, they do what I call glee, excited. And it’s just like, oops. I don’t know whether you can get 10 pairs of pants for dogs, but I mean, sometimes I need them.

And I think every single breed has a personality, and it’s mad, and we just see it, and we know just from doing the stuff we’ve done. I mean, Ollie just wanders around and chews the girl’s ears. He just sits there, and you go to stroke one of the girls. It’s like, you’ve got wet hair again. Oh, thanks!

Dawn: It’s one way to show affection!

Is there anything else you’d like to add before we wrap up the episode today?

Rob: Yeah. So, our business is the Hound Hut; everything, including all of our social media, is about the Dogs. Our website is TheHoundHut.dog.

Our social media is TheHoundHut Dog. Our telephone number ends in 364, which is Dog love that pretty. We’re not in the States, but, you know, we provide kind of like a pretty much a 360 kind of like approach not only to Dogs but also to Cats. About like nutrition diet, the best sort of like things that owners can turn around and provide their dogs, and there’s no need to go for the most expensive food, actually, you know, we’re trying to kind of like create an environment where it’s value for money as well.

And you know, outside of the shop where we have the nutrition with all the toys, we have a big toy chandelier because there’s nowhere else to put the toys. So everyone comes in and goes, Where are the toys? And you go, look out. And we also do grooming, we do daycare. We do have a full service for all of that in both our shops. We have one in Oval in central London and one down in Rochester in the Medway area, so.

Dawn: Well, thank you so much for coming on today and sharing your knowledge and experience.

Rob: Dawn, lovely to meet you. Lovely to speak to you. Look forward to hearing from you.