Excerpted from Dog Food Logic, by Linda P. Case, M.S.

We cannot discuss pet food marketing without examining tactics that appeal to emotions – most specifically to the love that we feel for all dogs in general and for our own dog(s) in particular. Emotional appeals are ubiquitous in the advertising campaigns of all types of products and are especially influential in the advertising campaigns of all types of products and are especially influential when it comes to dogs. In fact, the challenge lies more in finding a dog food advertisement that does not have an emotional component than identifying those that do. The most obvious forms of emotional appeal are those commercials and advertisements that depict happy dogs spending time with loving owners. Depending on the target audience, these ads may show active owners hiking or playing on the beach with their dogs, a child snuggling in to sleep at night with her puppy or a family picnicking and throwing a ball for their dog.

Similar to the appeal to authority, marketing campaigns that are based upon emotions are not inherently misleading or false. However, when an advertising campaign relies only on the emotions that it elicits to convince us that the product is healthful for our dogs (and superior to its competitor), they neglect to provide the actual evidence for why we should believe this to be true. And, of course, your emotional reaction to the advertisement does not necessarily have any bearing on the truth or falsity of the nutritional claims that are being made for that food. Marketing strategies that rely principally upon evoking the “Awww” response are hoping that consumers are so overcome with soppiness that we neglect to examine the actual merits of the food. As we saw in Chapter 2, most of us are not consciously aware of how strongly our emotions affect our decisions. This can leave us vulnerable to being manipulated by clever, emotionally-appealing ad campaigns.

Emotional appeals are not limited to just the love that we feel for dogs. Other emotional responses can also sell dog food. Sympathy and empathy are evoked when pet food companies include shelter or rescue pets in their advertising campaigns. A brilliant example of this was used by Pedigree in a series of shelter dog commercials that aired in 2010. Each opened with a close-up shot of a sweet-looking dog sitting in a kennel at an animal shelter. People visiting the shelter walked by his kennel without speaking to or interacting with the dog. The narrator then states that for very bag of Pedigree purchased they will donate a portion of the proceeds to their adoption fund, which will lead to more dogs (like Muffin, in this commercial) being adopted into loving homes. Again, there is nothing inherently wrong with appealing to emotion, and certainly not with a company’s charitable fund to help homeless dogs. Still, should one’s logical brain happen to kick in, it would remind you that you can directly donate to shelter groups and rescue organizations of your choice (i.e., without buying this particular food), thus freeing you to purchase a bag of food based upon it nutritional value rather than upon an appeal to your sympathies. Another emotional appeal that is used, albeit less commonly, is pride (also called the appeal to snobbery). This is evoked by campaigns that flatter us by telling us how smart, cool, attractive and superior as pet owners we will be (like the people in the commercial) if we feed their food. The bottom line is that almost all effective advertisements appeal to our emotions in some fashion or another. Just be aware that this is occurring, that it is intentional and designed to sell food to you, and often has no bearing whatsoever upon the quality of the dog food that is being promoted.

Need help choosing a food for your dog? Want assistance wading through the ads, labels, hype and information bombarding you every day? Learn what matters most by reading Dog Food Logic. Buy it today from Whole Dog Journal.

Excerpted from Dog Food Logic, by Linda P. Case, M.S.

Like every person who picks up this book, I am a consumer. And like you, though loath to admit it, I am influenced by the advertising and marketing campaigns of products that interest me. Sometimes, despite myself (and especially during the Super Bowl), I am even affected by commercials for products that I have no interest in at all. Oddly, this seems to be most likely to occur if the Super Bowl commercial features a dog. And like many others, I am certain that I am not unduly influenced by the sea of marketing or advertising that surrounds us. When I am being courted, cajoled and wheeled by advertising gurus, I am highly conscious of this and so can still make my purchasing decisions in a clear and rational manner. Yeah, right.

Living in today’s world, it is inevitable that our choices are influenced by marketing tricks and ploys. This influence is especially insidious when it pertains to things that are important to us, such as our dogs’ health and welfare. We tell ourselves that we pay attention to ads and promotions for dog foods because we want to learn more about the nutrition and health benefits of the food and to determine if it meets the criteria that we determine to be essential for our dog’s activity level and life stage. And pet food companies make it easy for us because advertisements are, well, everywhere. While you may need to work a bit it find a book (such as this one) or nutrition research article or an article in a dog magazine, you don’t have to do anything at all except turn on your computer and open a browser to be inundated with advertisements for dog foods. Walking through your local pet supply store includes multiple display panels and sales campaigns promoting different (and new) brands and product lines. We read, we digest and we often act. And the action that pet food companies are bargaining on is a purchase of their products. Here’s an example (true confession time).

Mike and I currently live with four dogs and one cat. We have lived with and loved primarily Golden Retrievers since we were in our early 20s. Several years ago we began to expand our horizons a bit. We added Vinny, our beloved and quirky Brittany to our family. Following him, Chip, our gentle, funny and rather loud Toller (if you know Tollers you are certainly familiar with their “voice”) joined the Case clan. Chip has been a true ambassador for the breed both at our training school and within our community. He is a gentle and sweet soul who loves to swim, run, train and has excelled at learning all sorts of silly tricks. He is the first dog that I trained to ride a skateboard, something that he actively seeks to do whenever we walk into our training building. Suffice it to say that we adore Chippy and have loved learning about the Toller breed through him and his breeder, Dan Rode, who has become a good friend. Because Tollers are also still relatively unknown, and because we are identified in town as the training school couple who “has Goldens,” people in our community naturally assume that Chip is either a Golden or a Golden mix. Responding (again) to their queries with “No, he is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever,” often leads to facial expressions that suggest we are pulling some dog-related joke on them, since a breed with such a funny name cannot possibly exist.

Against this backdrop, consider our delight during a weekend grocery shopping trip when we entered the dog food aisle to see that trademark happy smile, gold face and white blaze – a Toller on the front of the popular dog biscuit box! Holey Bat Cave, Batman, the Toller has make it to the big leagues! We were of course thrilled that others too could now enjoy the smiling happy face of a Toller and perhaps learn about this wonderful breed. We were also all happy to purchase a box ourselves. Never mind that we never feed that brand of biscuit or that we pride ourselves on purchasing all of our dog products at a locally owned pet supply store. We capitulated without even the semblance of a cognitive struggle. And, for the next six-month period or so that the box continued to carry this beautiful dog on its cover, we continued to look for it during every shopping trip, as well as to purchase the occasional box. Until, that is, they switched the photograph to a picture of a Chinese Crested. The first time that we noticed the breed on the box had been changed I thought, “Now, for goodness sake, where is the Toller, and who in the world will buy that box?”

Who’s the customer?

The presence in my kitchen cupboard of multiple boxes of dog biscuits, all displaying a smiling Toller on the front panel, bear testimony to the fact it is the owner, not the dog, who is targeted by pet food company marketing campaigns. But then, we all know this, right? Sure we do. Years ago, when marketing psychology was still in its infancy, pet food companies clearly directed their message to dog owners through two very simple messages. These were “your dog will love this food” and its natural extension “your dog will love you for giving him this food.” I remember watching Gravy Train commercials as a kid in which the family dog happily, if not a bit maniacally, chases a miniature [gravy] train into the kitchen where Johnny and Mommy are dishing out a can of the goopy stuff. Rover dives in, Johnny smiles, Mom pats Johnny on the head and everyone is happy. This approach worked well for a long time and continues to be a cornerstone of many dog food advertising campaigns today. We all want to feed a food that our dogs relish and enjoy. Additionally, as we saw in Chapter 1, the love and caretaking that is part and parcel of feeding our dogs is a cherished daily ritual that we share with our dogs.

Need help choosing a food for your dog? Want assistance wading through the ads, labels, hype and information bombarding you every day? Learn what matters most by reading Dog Food Logic. Buy it today from Whole Dog Journal.

Excerpted from Dog Food Logic, by Linda P. Case, M.S.

The ingredients that make up a dog food are (and should be) of great concern to dog owners and pet professionals. A food’s ingredients have the job of providing all of the essential nutrients and energy (calories) to the dog who consumes the food, as well as contributing to the food’s flavor, texture and appeal. As a result, when dog owners are selecting and comparing dog foods, the first place that they typically look is the label’s ingredient list. We naturally expect this list to tell us what we need to know. Unfortunately, while the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act requires that pet food labels (like human food labels) are truthfully labeled and must include all of the food sources present in the product, current FDA and AAFCO labeling requirements fall far short of what is needed to allow informed and well considered choices by consumers.

It is not the purpose of this book to provide yet another list of AAFCO ingredient definitions or to describe the differences between various pet food ingredients. Rather, since the purpose of this book and this chapter in particular is to provide dog owners and professionals with the skills and knowledge that will support smart decisions, let’s start with identifying what exactly you can know about the ingredients in a food, what you can find out with a bit sleuthing, and what unfortunately you will never, ever be privy to (if the pet food introductory continues its current practices). Let’s begin with ingredient information that is readily available to all consumers. . .

. . . The final rule, the 3% rule, has to do with a seemingly simple and innocent-sounding word: “with.” If a pet food label contains that word in its product name, the product is required to have only 3% of the ingredient in the formulation at the time of processing. If you measure out 100 pieces of kibble from a food labeled “with salmon” and then remove three pieces of kibble from the pile, those three pieces are equivalent to the amount of salmon that is found in that pile of kibble. Not much. Yet consumers are expected to know, understand and differentiate between the 95% Salmon Food, the 25% Salmon Dinner, and the 3% Adult Dinner with Salmon foods. This rule is by design imprecise (from 95% down to 25% for food versus dinner, really?) and in practice misleads (and possibly even deceives) consumers. If you wish to feed a salmon (or chicken or turkey or venison) based food, look for one of AAFCO’s qualifying terms (dinner, recipe, formula) and avoid brands with the term “with”. Then, keep reading.

Need help choosing a food for your dog? Want assistance wading through the ads, labels, hype and information bombarding you every day? Learn what matters most by reading Dog Food Logic. Buy it today from Whole Dog Journal.

Excerpted from Dog Food Logic, by Linda P. Case, M.S.

While today many pet professionals are aware that the company that owns and sells the brand they feed may not actually be manufacturing the food, many dog owners do not. A substantial number of companies “co-pack” their foods, which means that the pet food company gives their formulation (recipe) to a manufacturing company that produces, bags, labels and ships their food. The manufacturer mixes ingredients according to the specified formulations and produces a wide variety of pet foods that are sold under different brand names. So while you may think that P&G or Nestle Purina make the food you feed your dog, in some cases the company that actually puts together the final product is a business you have never heard of such as Ohio Pet Food, CJ Foods and Simmons – none of which would qualify as household names.

This process becomes even more convoluted when one considers that, like many consumer goods today, the supply chain of ingredients may be outsourced to several different middleman companies (consider the sequence from the 2007 disaster – Chinese supplier to ChemNautra to Menu to Pet Food Brands). In addition, pet food companies also may contract food production to several different factories, some of which are located in the US, while others are not. One of the reasons that the Menu Foods recall was so extensive was that Menu Foods specialized in producing wet (canned) products. While many of the large pet food companies own and operate their own dry food factories, there are only a handful of factories that operate as canneries and produce wet pet food. As a result, many companies, including the large corporations, contract the manufacture of their wet foods to another company, typically referred to as a co-packer. Another example is chicken treats, many of which, until the 2012 recall anyway, were completely sourced and produced in China.

Need help choosing a food for your dog? Want assistance wading through the ads, labels, hype and information bombarding you every day? Learn what matters most by reading Dog Food Logic. Buy it today from Whole Dog Journal.