Are you Feeding Your Dog Better Than Yourself?

   When you read the title you may have thought that the idea sounded kinda funny. Who would feed their dog better than themselves? So you might be surprised how common this is or how often I see this. Of course, most dog food comes from a can or from a bag. So I don't want you to think about the preparation or how "appetizing" the food is. I want you to think along the lines of quality. 
   I have always joked that there are three industry's that price gauge. Those categories are the Baby category, the Wedding category, and the pet category. These are three areas in life that you can plan on spending more on a product than it is actually worth. Meaning a similar product in a different category would be a lot less but because it falls in to one of these categories you will be gauged for it. If you have ever planned a wedding or had a baby you know exactly what I am talking about. The pet industry is one of them. The lady at the pet store 2 weeks ago while I was buying a crate for my dog didn't seem that interested when I was explaining this to her. But this was a perfect example of what I am talking about. I was buying a new crate for my dog because the old one wasn't large enough anymore. There were plastic ones, and there were metal ones. The plastic ones looked like they were two laundry baskets put together, one flipped upside down and put on top of the other, with a gate on the front. I hope you can picture what I am talking about. It literally was the same quality of plastic, maybe even the same hole designs on the side as laundry baskets I have seen before. They are probably made at the same place! But where a laundry basket may cost you $3 at WalMart, these dog crates were $140. Because it is made for a dog. The metal ones same thing, You could go to HomeDepot and get the raw materials for practically nothing but these were $89. All because it is meant for a dog.
   So what do these 3 categories all have in common? What makes them special compared to others? What gives companies the power to charge us whatever they want for products that fall in to these categories? It's a very simple answer, it is because we are crazy. When it comes to these 3 categories we are absolutely crazy. Weddings? Crazy. For what we pay for flowers, for a dress, for food for people we don't really care about that much, crazy. For one single day we will spend 30k, 50k, even 100k. That is a nice size down payment on a house! But remember we are crazy in this category. There is no rational thinking involved. Ever had a baby? Same thing, you will buy so much crap that is completely unnecessary or useless, and you will be happy while you are doing it! Cuz you're crazy. There is something in my living room right now called a MamaRoo that certifies me as crazy, so you are not alone. 
   So back to my original thought, are you feeding your dog better than yourself? You know how many people feed their dog organic and they eat like crap? Food that contains wild caught salmon from Alaska yet they eat farm raised Tilapia themselves. Or grain free dog food, I guess your dog is on the Paleo diet? But you eat Cheezits. Or there will be something floating around Facebook telling you to not use these certain dog food brands because they come from China and the quality in compromised. But you have no idea where your food came from. I met someone one time that juiced regularly for their dog. I kid you not. They juiced fresh fruits and veggies daily for their dog. Now I am not a vet but I started thinking, I don't think dogs are meant to eat fruits, vegetables, and wheat grass. But do you think this person did it for themselves? Nope. Crazy right? I saw this crazy in full action when I went to a dog expo in Dallas a couple of years ago. The clothes for dogs, cameras to keep an eye on your dog while you are at work, crazy. But the quality of food was a major concern to every one there. And there were plenty of vendors to prove it. We are very concerned about what goes into our dog's mouth. Are we as concerned about what goes in to ours?