WHOLEGRAIN VS GRAIN FREE: Q&A WITH A BREEDER

Courtesy Johnny Camilleri, Hypro Premium

Part of our recent decision to create a Wholegrain range for Hypro Premium was because we understand that different dogs have different dietary needs – but the quality of every product should always be exceptional. While some dogs have allergies or intolerances that means they need Grain Free dog food, for others they will get everything they need to thrive with Wholegrain dog food.

We sat down with Dave from The Labrador Farm to chat about why some dogs need different types of food, and why choosing premium quality is always the most important decision.

Hypro Premium: What can you tell us about the work you do with dogs?

Dave: My wife and I have been breeding Labradors for about 12 years. Our business, The Labrador Farm, operates on two acres here in South Australia, and we are part of the wider Labrador community in Adelaide.

We tend to have only one litter of pups per year, but breeding is only part of what we do here. Most of our dogs, if not all of them, are trained to be therapy dogs. Our aim is to get our Labradors matched with families that have a child on the autism spectrum or with special needs, to work as their service dog.

Sometimes the Labradors end up working in schools and community programs for at-risk kids, or those who have learning difficulties or behavioural problems. Some end up as deep-pressure therapy dogs. All kinds of young people work with the dogs and do basic animal care and dog handling. In addition to the training that the Labradors get initially, the young people who they work with actually reinforce those commands and their specific activities.

When did you start using Hypro Premium products?

It was a bit over a month ago I heard about Hypro Premium’s range, so I got some samples and did some research. It was great to have both options of Wholegrain and Grain Free, because Labradors are prone to certain allergies.

Absolutely some of them do better on the Grain Free dog food. In one of our dog’s on the Grain Free, we’ve seen a really good increase in the shine of her coat.

How did your dogs find the transition from their old food?

Well, the thing about Labradors is that they love their food anyway, so they are always eager to eat!

But as far as dog foods go, and we deal with a lot of it on the farm, both the Grain Free and the Wholegrain foods actually smell quite palatable. The Chicken and Duck actually smells good!

How important is it that you only feed your dogs premium-quality food?

It’s very important to us. We go out of our way to ensure the dogs only get highly nutritious food.

I was actually saying to my wife the other day that Hypro Premium clearly makes a great product because we don’t just go with any old dog food. We do a lot of research and we look into the quality of the ingredients – we go beyond the basics.

Have you seen any changes in the energy levels of your Labradors?

They use a lot of energy throughout the day, and actually because of the high quality of the product we can use the kibble as a high-value treat when they are working. So it doubles as both their regular food at mealtimes, as well as an attractive treat for training purposes.

The food gives them plenty of energy to work during the day and enough energy to keep them flying when they get home.

What do you love most about Hypro Premium?

The great thing is that with the Wholegrain varieties that came out recently, it’s good to now have that spread to meet the demands for all the needs of our Labradors. No matter if they’ve got stomach problems or allergies or things like that, we can give them a premium-quality food to take care of them.

Just like Dave and his Labradors, you can give your dog the best-quality food for their individual needs.