Drs. Goldstein, Silver, and Billinghurst
For years I’ve been spreading the word about healthy lifestyles for dogs. I’ve tried to impress upon you the importance of healthy diet, exercise and mental stimulation for your dogs. Together, we have been making progress, but it’s not fast enough.
Every day I hear of another dog that’s been diagnosed with Cancer. I hear it so often in fact, I am starting to become desensitized to it. And I suspect because of the nature of the products we sell and endorse in our store that we probably hear bad news less often than most. If you want a statistic to drive the point home about the state of things, here’s one:
1 out of every 1.6 dogs in the USA have Cancer*.
I have three dogs – does that mean at least one of them is going to get Cancer? Which one? Pebbles? Kingsley? Grizz? I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure that doesn’t happen.
The truth is that our companion dogs are in a health crisis. We are losing the war on Cancer. If we don’t do something NOW, we may lose the greatest gift we’ve ever been given. Dogs make us physically and mentally healthier. They give us unconditional love. We need to change the way we’re raising our dogs. NOW.
This past weekend I was in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Canada for the most transformative and inspirational weekend where I spent time with other business owners and pet parents ready to learn and make a BIGGER difference in the world of pet health. The Raw Pet Health Conference was hosted by Carnivora, and we were honoured to have four amazing speakers attend the event to teach us about pet health and wellness.
- DR. MARTIN GOLDSTEIN D.V.M.
- DR. IAN BILLINGHURST B.V.SC., AAGR., DIP. ED.
- DR. ROBERT SILVER D.V.M. MS, CVA
- DR. PETER DOBIAS D.V.M. (visited us via webinar)
I learned a lot, and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away and changed to the degree that I was. I cried with despair, and then felt hopeful, and then felt motivated to make a bigger difference. A lot of the information covered I already knew and have been recommending and practising, but my personal insecurities about creating controversy and conflict have prevented me from being as blunt about it as I should be when it comes to sharing it with you.
Going forward, I will continue to educate and share the message of dog health to pet parents. However, I will no longer be avoiding the controversial and uncomfortable topics. I suppose I’m going to go out of my comfort zone and be a little more blunt with you. Some of what you hear from me, you may not like. We just don’t have time to dick around anymore you guys!
I’m also going to stop calling my own thoughts and ideas about pet health “conspiracy theories” and start calling them what I truly believe they are – intuition. I have been right about a number of “hunches” I’ve had over the years, so it’s time to accept that maybe I know what I am talking about! I have an obligation to start sharing my experiences with you.
My plan is to wade through the FACTS about dog health in a non-sensational manner, and then pass them on to you in easy to understand bites that enable you to immediately and easily take action with your own dogs. I’m not sure where I’m going to find the time to do this, but I’m going to have a bit of faith that that will all work out somehow!
I don’t want to scare you, or make you feel guilty or hopeless, but to instead empower you to come along on this journey with me and make a difference. You may be able to help your dog, or a friend’s dog, or maybe you are a pet professional and you can positively affect the lives of dozens of dogs!
I ask that you be generous with this information I am gearing up to provide you with in the upcoming months, and to share it far and wide. We have the means to get information to the masses quickly in our day and age – let’s take advantage of that! If you love dogs – it’s your duty! (that was my first attempt at being blunt – how’d I do?)
You can also help by putting your money where your mouth is because change is driven by dollars. Look what we have done for the pet food industry so far! We have forced companies to improve if they want our hard earned money. It works! If you have the power of knowledge, you can demand that things change and they will get better. It could be as easy as simply asking for what you want. That’s what we are going to do together.
I am building an army of change agents. Will you join me? (sign up below!)
Me, Dr. Billinghurst, Lindsay, Dr. Goldstein and Dr. Silver
*Derived from Dr. Martin Goldstein’s lecture at the Raw Pet Health Conference.
