Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, and ocean fish meal, are the first four ingredients you see on the back of a bag of Chicken Soup Dog Food (Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul). This is good start for a food that has gotten several great reviews.

Oatmeal, millet, rice, and barley are the grains in the food. (This is unfortunate for those of us with grain allergic dogs.) These are a good source of quality carbohydrates and even extra protein. Potatoes help round it out, as an additional source protein and carbohydrates. It also has flaxseed, a good source of Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential fatty acids.

I found many positive reviews for Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul. Many agree that the manufacturer has their priorities in order by putting the meat first and reducing the amount of fillers like wheat, soy, and corn. Some people also said the food is very reasonably priced.

When our Labrador Retriever was eating the Chicken Soup puppy food, we got great results. When he was 11 months old, we switched him to the adult dog food. Within a few weeks, he started having problems with losing hair around his eyes and muzzle. After taking him to the vet, they recommended we try an antihistamine to see if the allergy effects went way.

The good news is that the allergy effects dissipated in a few days after giving him the antihistamine. Unfortunately, once we stopped, the symptoms came back. A friend of ours knew a lady who owned a specialty pet store and she recommended we talk to her as she was very knowledgeable regarding dog food allergies.

When we went to her store, the lady started by asking what we were feeding him. She said that she had heard some really good things about Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul and even sold it, but that he might be allergic to some of the ingredients. She recommended we try a grain free food made specifically for dogs with allergies. We bought a bag that day and got him started on it.

It takes around six weeks after you start a dog on a new food to notice any real change. It’s very important to try a food with little to no ingredients that they’ve ever had before. That way you can rule out any of the ingredients in their current food. Another vital factor is to make sure the dog does not eat anything other than this one food during the time of the trial.

I’m happy to report that after six weeks, Shadow’s allergies are doing much better. The hair around his eyes has grown back as well as around his muzzle. It turns out he was allergic to the grains in Chicken Soup Dog Food and switching him to a grain free food helped his dog food allergy a bunch.

I really think Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul is a high quality food. As long as your dog does not have a grain allergy, it’s an excellent choice.

Shadow with spots

Shadow is almost a year old and maybe the chocolate coat is just a bit too plain. What do you think of a chocolate lab dyed purple with white spots? Do you think he’ll be all the rage on the next trip to the dog park?

Dog Dying

Dog dying has become a growing trend in certain parts of the world. Ex-Danity Kane singer Aubrey O’Day has recently been in the news with her Maltese, Ginger dyed pink, green, and orange. According to Aubrey, she does the dye job herself with foils and paint.

The Perez Hilton site also gave their opinion on the pup’s new colors.
Here are some great examples of dye jobs from Flickr.

The dogs can come in a wide range of colors.

According to the comment on Flickr, this dog was even died pink with Koolade.

Is it safe?

The process of dying your dog may cause them stress and the dyes can sometimes irritate their skin. It is important that you purchase dies that are made specifically for dogs and not those for humans.

I found these sites online that offer a wide variety of colors.

Paw Palace Online

Posh Pet Glamour Boutique

By the way, I was just kidding about Shadow’s dye job. Its amazing what you can do with a graphics editor these days. The only change in Shadow’s beautiful brown coat will be when he turns gray like me.

[ad#GA-336-EndOfArt]