7 Reasons to Add Life's Abundance to Your Pet Service Business

In the past, I've made several posts sharing ways for you to become part of this great pet business community.

Over the years working in the pet product industry, I've had the great fortune of meeting many pet service related business owners. These are people that have taken their love of pets and made a business out of something they already loved to do and enjoyed. Whether it was starting a dog walking business, pet sitting service or as a trainer.

The pet community in any city is made up of many great small businesses that begin with local independent retailers and include groomers, breeders, and pet services. These are the businesses that have turned their love of pets into a rewarding business.

A challenge for any pet service business is that you income is directly connected to you showing up for work that day to provide that service. If you don't show up one day to walk your client dogs, you don't get paid. If you are sick or want to take a vacation and need to close up shop, your income stops until you return or get over your flu.

This is where I come in as a retail consultant. Everyone involved in pets finds ourselves talking about pet food, treats and grooming products at some point.

As a pet service business owner, making recommendations about pet foods, treats or pet care products becomes a common function.

Let me ask you this. If you recommend pet products to your clients, do the companies who's products you recommend compensate you for this referral? As a business owner, you are providing a valued service to your clients and you are growing the business for the companies who's products you recommend. Is this right?

If you provide a valued service to clients by recommending foods, treats or pet care products, wouldn't is be only fair that you be compensated as a business for that recommendation?

Life's Abundance thinks you should be compensated and it's easy to get started.

By recommending HealthyPetNet and Life's Abundance products to your clients, you can also create a solid residual income for your business.

The video below explains the entire concept. After you watch the video below, GO HERE to learn more about how you can include a HealthyPetNet and Life's Abundance referral based income in your pet service business.

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Is Your Pet's Food AAFCO Approved?

As I spend my days in pet stores or at pet events, my purpose is to assist and educate pet product consumers about how to understand pet food labels and what to look for and avoid when selecting a food for their dog or cat.

With increasing numbers of people looking for some assurance that the foods they are buying meets some standard or some guarantee of quality, it's become important for pet product consumers to be aware of what does and does not give them that assurance.

I often point out that it's their education and understanding that is going to be the foundation of their comfort with the foods and treats they are using for their pets.

Looking at any commercial pet food you will find in the store, you will see that it has been approved by AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials).

I feel compelled to explain to them that simply using a food that is AAFCO approved is NOT going to give them the assurance that that food will not contain ingredients that I suspect they would not want.

Would you want to feed your dog a food that contains other dogs as a protein source. How about feeding your cat other cats? Sounds insane, I know.

If you have any doubts, watch the video below and then ask yourself if just choosing an AAFCO approved food is what you really want or is building a good base understanding of how to read a pet food label is going to be your safest bet when you choose a food.

If you want to build your understanding of pet foods and how to read a pet food label, look back over my previous posts. Your pet will thank you.

Related articles

• Pets in pet food? (timesunion.com)
• 14 reviews of Healthy Pet Net Life's Abundance (rateitall.com)

Want To Start You're Own Pet Related Business?

I've shared information about the idea of you starting a pet related business of you're own in past posts. I like the subject so I wanted to share some additional information.

The reason I like the subject is because my days are spent with pet owners I meet either at pet stores or pet related events and there are a few things that are very clear to me...

1. Pets bring a lot of joy into our lives
2. The pet industry is still growing with no signs of slowing, even in our poor economy and job situation.
3. Being able to turn something you love into a business is an amazing life changing event.

I constantly get questions from people that want to know how they can get into the pet product or pet related business and I'm very lucky because my days are filled with wagging tails and conversations with people about something they love. Their pets.

So, do you have some pet related idea, interest or hobby you may want to turn into a business? Maybe a craft like creating custom collar charms or tags. Maybe you have a special recipe for a dog treat you can build a business around.

I really have no idea, I'm just throwing things out there.

But what I do know is that there are some great resources out there that can help you turn an interest, a craft or a hobby into a business.

I want to help you turn your interests and your passions into a business you can be happy with and have fun with. Way too many people I meet are flat out worried about job security, never mind the idea of a career any longer. Just holding onto their job is something to be grateful for.

So here are a few resources I can pass on to you so you can check them out of your own.

Let me begin with a free E-Book I will offer you as a download right now. It covers 6 vital steps to building a home based business online. Really no matter what the business is, product or service driven, you can use the Internet to build it. So the book is free for you to have and you can download it by CLICKING HERE.

The book is sort of a primer to a complete training system that will help you build any home business into a successful online business. To find out how, you will want to know "The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet".

There is also a great community of other small business marketers you can meet, get support from and learn with as well as a host of seasoned experts to help you along the way. You can find these people at the "Internet Entrepreneur Club".

Maybe you don't want to start a service business. Have you heard of eBay? Silly question right? Yes eBay is still around and a great place to create a home based business if you have a product or products to sell...

Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay is a comprehensive 5-step program, developed by a team of eBay PowerSellers, and reveals the exact steps you need to follow to start a successful eBay business that can earn up to $10,000+ per month, even if you have NO experience, NO technical skills, NO product to sell, and NO money to invest up front!

Here is another idea. You may notice how much I use e-books on my blog. I love e-books and I've used them for years. Both to give away as gifts to visitors and to sell. Well those books come from somewhere.

So here again, do you have a hobby, area of expertise or interest that you can write about? It could be pet related or not, that's up to you. But I know for a fact that a good e-book on a unique subject or idea can do very well on the Internet. Very well indeed. But where do you start and how do you do it? Start by checking out eBook Pro. With eBook Pro, your new ebook can be easy to produce, cost-effective, and can have the potential to generate insane amounts of profit with relatively little effort on you part!

Maybe some day I will share the story about the money I made years ago selling an e-book about chicken coop plans. Your read that right, chicken coop plans! Who would've guessed that could be a money maker. It taught me not to judge other peoples interests, that's for sure.

So why do I share all of that with you? Well I created this blog as a way to share my experiences from the field as a pet product rep. I get to meet a lot a great people at pet stores and pet events. I also get to meet a lot a great pets.

So when I get questions every week from people I meet asking how they can get into the pet business or pet products business, I want to share resources to help people do just that.

I feel pretty lucky some days that I get to do something I love for a living and I hope that these resources might be able to help you do the same thing.

Keep Your Pet Food Container Clean

I always like to share things with my readers that I experience or run across as I'm out talking to consumers in the pet stores when I do my visits as a pet food Rep.

In recent weeks I've had a few conversations with owners that have told me that their dog seems to lose interest in it's kibble towards that end of a bag. I know this can be a source of frustration sometimes and may lead pet owners to think that their dog is losing interest in the food itself or that maybe they should be buying smaller bags so the kibble is fresher.

Well that is an option. Of course there is a "best of used by" date on the foods that I Rep for and most foods should have such information for consumers.

As is most often that case, I ask a lot of questions to try understand and that way I can help pet owners figure out what may be going with their dog or the food they are using.

Something that comes up often is the popularity of putting the kibble into a container of some sort by dumping the whole bag in. I find this a lot with people that come into the store and are unsure of the food they got last time because they don't remember what the bag looked like. So they spend a long time wandering the aisles looking for something that looks familiar.

More importantly is an over looked matter of how clean the container they are using is.

Here is what I mean. Pet food of any reasonable quality contains needed EFT or Essential Fatty Acids like Omega 3 and Omega 6. This can be from a flax oil, fish oils, canola oil and so on.

These oils can remain on the inside of the container you are using and these oils go bad. That's kinda why we put that "Best if Used By" date on the food to begin with.

If you are using a large container to store that 30 or 40 pound bag of kibble, when was the last time you washed it out?

That stuff can get nasty and it's very possible that the kibble is getting a rancid or nasty taste by being stored in a dirty container.

You may not sense or notice a foul smell from the container, but I don't really need to remind you how much better your dog's sense of smell is compared to yours. And smell of kibble is a big factor to the appeal it has to your dog to begin with.

If you're dog loses interest when you are getting to the bottom of the bin of food, it may be for that reason.

So two options are to either wash the container after you finish a bag or just put the bag itself into the container to keep the oils off the container or keep the food from coming into contact with the nasty residue in the container.

Just something to think about and a little feedback from the field.

Using a Limited Ingredient Diet with Your Dog.

I was visiting one of my stores today and the same issue came up that I'm seeing more and more. That's the use of a limit ingredient formula for a dog suffering from food sensitivities or allergies.

Today's conversation was about a 5 year old lab mix who had been vomiting frequently. This included both food and bile at various times. One or the other is an easier thing to narrow down the cause on, but a dog vomiting a combination is a bit harder to figure out

Several weeks ago she had switched to our Lamb & Rice formula. The Lamb & Rice I rep for is considered a "Limited Ingredient Diet" (LID) formula.

How does this compare to other Lamb & Rice formulas? Well simply turning over the bag and looking at labels can tell the whole story.

If your buying a Lamb & Rice formula because you're trying to avoid a certain protein like chicken, for example, many Lamb and rice formulas will also show the inclusion of poultry fat. So if your buying lamb and rice because your trying to avoid chicken, such a formula would not work and the label shows us that it's not a TRUE Lamb & Rice formula.

Choosing an "LID" Lamb & Rice formula ensures that you're getting a true Lamb & Rice formula. This means a single source protein and a single source carbohydrate. Limit Ingredient....get it?

Such was this case. The owner of this 5 year old Lab mix said that her dog continued to vomit while on other Lamb & Rice formulas but had stopped once she tried our LID Lamb & Rice formula.

That was the key and leads me to believe that she may be dealing with either a chicken sensitivity or a poultry sensitivity with her lab.

I would also put money on the idea that this dog had been on a chicken based diet for most of it's 5 years and the dogs system was saying "no more chicken...please no more chicken!!".

The vomiting was simply this dogs system rejecting chicken.

I hear a lot of talk about going grain-free and how grains can be allergens. While I agree with that, grains are not the only allergens out there. Just so you know.

This owner was very relieved to have found a formula that's working and her dog has not vomited for several weeks now.

Great!!! But hold on...

One thing I always mention to owners that find a LID formula working for them is not to claim victory too soon.

Why would I say that?

I cannot tell you how many times I've met a dog owner in a panic because Fido has stopped eating his food. No big emergency folks. More often then not, the dog has simply lost interest in their food. After all, the poor thing has been getting Lamb every day for weeks, months or maybe years on end. I would lose interest too.

That's why I warn people about painting themselves into the LID formula corner. Just because you've found a food that works, like an LID formula, keep working with your dog and slowly introducing things back into it's diet until you see the conditions return or other problems.

When you do this, you may be well on your way to finding the source allergen(s).

I feel bad for pet owners that find themselves wandering the food aisles trying to find a food they think their dog will like. They may find one, but if they've not done any feeding trials on their own to determine the allergen, they are going to....well, end up chasing their tail.

But Once you've gone to an LID formula and begun re-introducing food items until you see the previous conditions return, you will build your knowledge of what ingredients YOUR dog needs to avoid.

It may not be a nice thing to do to Fido and seeing previous conditions return might not sound like much fun, but at least this time you will be doing it in a controlled environment and by knowing things your dog needs to avoid will also allow you to offer your dog a broader, more interesting diet.

An LID formula can be a great tool but its not the end of the game. It's a starting point where you can begin learning more about your very special friend.

I Love the Pet Industry. Do You Have an Idea for a Pet Business?

I feel more than fortunate to work in an industry I love. To be around dogs and the people who love them.

Several times a week I have people I meet in the stores or a shows that I attend "How do I get into the pet industry? It must be so fun to work around dogs and do what you do".

Well...They're right. It is pretty great.

So if you have an idea or desire to be a part of this fun industry, do it! I think that this is the time, right now, to re-invent yourself. Perhaps you've lost your job/career to a bad economy like so many others and your looking for a new path.

One this I've heard over and over from various success coaches and speakers....a key to success is to DO SOMETHING YOUR PASSIONATE ABOUT.

Do you have a passion for dogs? Think about that.

I'm always meeting bright entrepreneurs that have had a simple but great idea and are building a business out of it. I think the cool thing about working in an industry you love is there really isn't many bad days.

So here is a resource to get you started. I found this blog the other day as I was doing some relationship building. I like the blog and it can be a great resource to for ideas and things to think about as you explore the pet industry or a pet related business.

Go to www.workingwithpets.com

It's operated by Danielle. If you speak or email with her, let her know that Dale from www.NaturalK9.info sent you.

Danielle offers a 5 part e-course for visitors that subscribe to her blog. She sends out some great information in her updates. Go check it out.

When a Food Change Does Not Solve the Problem

For a number of years now I've had the great fortune to be a Rep for a high end commercial pet food. It's been know for being one of the first commercial food companies that offered grain free choices for pet owners.

When it comes to grain, not all a allergens. Some provide great "slow-burn" carbohydrates. However, many times the commonly found grains in most commercial pet foods can become an allergen.

When a pet owner is facing issues like poor coat quality, sensitive skin, ear infections or habitual licking and chewing on a dogs paws or near the base of the tail, finding a limited ingredient diet can go a long way in trying to figure out what the cause may be.

This is when going to a "grain-free" or even a limited ingredient diet can be helpful. Making these choices available to pet owners and being able to assist them has been and is great fun and very rewarding when I run into the owners at a later time and hear the positive results.

But, a change in food is not always the solution. Food selection can have a huge impact but some skin and coat issues go beyond what a food choice can address.

Seasonal and environmental sensitivities are such a case.

Up until recently Ive been unable to recommend a possible solution to seasonal discomfort or environmental conditions where a good topical remedy could be used.

While some topical products exist, I've always been uncomfortable with these options simply because I'm not a fan of introducing any more chemicals into our homes or lives. There simply was not a holistic option that I could point out. My only recommendation was to increase the Omega 3 in a dogs diet.

Well I recently found something that I can and will recommend to people that are looking for a good natural topical.

A young company called Pawsies is bringing a holistic product called K-9 KlearUp to better retailers.

In fact, I was so impressed with the product that I've added it to the product lines I Rep for. I'm very happy to be able to introduce this simple yet effective product to my customers and my professional contacts in the pet care industry.

K-9 KlearUp is based on 3 simple but effective ingredients. One being from the Tepezcohuite (pronounced 'Tep-Ez-Co-Heety') and it's a tree found in the former Mayan empire (present day central America). The people there used it for over 1,000 years to treat skin lesions of every kind.

However, it was only "discovered" by modern medical professionals on November 19, 1984 after a horrific series of gas explosions in Mexico City injured over 7,000 people. With little time and few resources, the Mexican Red Cross resorted to this traditional remedy to alleviate and treat the victims' burns.

Since then, Tepezcohuite's natural healing power has been proven by numerous medical institutions in Mexico, Canada, the US and Europe. Most notable among these are the Cruz Azul Hospital in Oaxaca, Mexico and the Biogir Lab in Paris, France.

K9 KlearUp™ is a naturally antibacterial, antiviral, anti fungal, and antiseptic balm that helps with 17 of the most common coat, pad and skin problems that many dogs and their people can experience.

Hot Spots, Flea Bites, Mosquito Bites, Spider Bites, Eczema, Skin Rashes, Chronic Scratching, A Dull Coat, Dry, Itchy, Flaky Skin, Scabbing, Split Pads, Acne or Burns.

I will be posting more about this product. In the meantime, feel free to contact me. This is a new product and chances are that it is not yet available in your local area.

Email me: dale at pawsies.com
or you can call me toll free number (866) 510-2747 ext. 716