A Trying Day in for Independent Pet Stores
February 10th, GoodDog will turn 9 years old. I had retired from the Coeur d’Alene School District and ended up working for a nice woman who knew how to research dog food and treats. I learned a lot from her. When she decided to that she needed to close, our family ended up starting GoodDog.
One of the reasons that we jumped into the retail dog business is because of our dog, Josie, and a certain dog food: Champion Foods – Orijen and Acana. This company only used locally sourced meats, produce and botanicals and was very specific on amounts to help keep pets healthy. If they ran out of a certain type of meat, they would postpone production for a short time rather than ordering meat or produce from China or some other unreliable source. They waited until they could provide a safe and reliable product. I loved this company.
In the last year, there has been a lot of talk about Champion Foods selling to Nestle Purina PetCare Company…which is a marketing firm. A very large marketing firm, but still a marketing firm. The rumors have been running around for most of 2018 and today, we found out that Orijen and Acana will be sold soon in Petco and on Amazon. We do not have all the facts so we will get more details to you as they come out.
What does it mean to YOU and your pet?
This is JUST MY OPINION
Champion Foods are changing from providing pet foods for smaller independent pet stores to supplying food to every PETCO and to Amazon users in the United States. The rumored amount of the sale of Champion Foods was 2 billion dollars. Nestle Purina PetCare Company will need to recoup that amount by selling A LOT of food. Can they purchase the same quality meats, produce, and botanicals to keep it safe and exactly the same as it has always been? I don’t know.
Am I sure that the purchase has gone through? No. I have not gotten the official word on the sale, however, I don’t know how Champion can fill up all the Petco’s and Amazon by March 4th without making a change.
IN MY OPINION, there’s not enough regionally grown, reliable sources to maintain the excellent quality that Champion Foods has been known for. For me, this is not about money. This is about the health of our pets.
Our mission statement at GoodDog is that we will sell only products that are ‘safe and beneficial’. I have loved Champion Foods for more than 10 years, but I cannot, in good faith, sell them in the future. We received our last batch of Champion today and are looking at some fine foods that we would be proud and happy to bring to GoodDog.
We are sad to see Champion go, but when we started GoodDog, we made a promise to ourselves and OUR pets that we would always provide them with quality foods and treats that would not only allow our pets to live, but to thrive. That is what we will do. There are some wonderful companies that we have been contacting and researching and will be bringing to GoodDog in the next couple of weeks. We hope that you will try some of them out and let us know how you feel about the new foods. We will provide samples from every company we are seriously considering. It is about our pets and to help them live a longer and healthier life.