Freedom was a happy-go-lucky puppy. That was, until his owner got deployed.
He ended up at a town shelter, where he was not adapting well. Soon, concerned staffers called Joey Hernandez of Wantagh, a certified dog trainer, for help.
Freedom was rapidly losing weight, they said.
They were worried about him.
“We were just going to take him for training and we immediately fell in love with him,” said Joey’s wife, Allison, a special education teacher. “We can’t imagine what would have happened to him if he stayed much longer at the shelter.”
When they got him, Freedom was despondent, suffering from weight loss and persistent skin issues.
The Hernandez’s knew just where to bring him: The K9 Shop, which specializes in raw dog and cat food, raw snacks and supplements.
The company’s location in Massapequa is now Freedom’s favorite place in the world.
“He’s like a kid in a candy store when he comes here,” Joey told Greater Long Island as Freedom barreled toward one of his favorite K9 Shop associates, Danielle Silipo — his huge tail smacking into raw snack inventory.
“Or more like a bull in a china shop,” Joey said with a laugh.
“I’ve been his friend for a while now,” said Silipo, a K9 Shop associate for nearly two years, long enough to witness Freedom’s complete transformation on raw dog food.
“He’s not so itchy, scratchy, flakey or sad any more,” she said, turning toward Freedom with a clutch of his face, his tongue hanging out. “He’s a big, happy mush now.”
That’s what happens when dog owners switch to raw. “It’s all about feeding them what they’re meant to eat,” said K9 Shop co-founder Anya Tucker. “Dogs and cats thrive on raw because their bodies naturally know how to handle it. It’s human-grade food, the only difference is it has bone and organs in it, which is where they get most of their vitamins and minerals.”
Here’s a photo of Freedom before he found his beloved second owners and The K9 Shop, which now has six locations.
And here’s how he looks today:
Match made in heaven
Joey and Allison Hernandez adopt and foster dogs that are typically on death row, either due to severe medical issues, or, in one case, because a breeder found he couldn’t make money off a French bulldog with a cleft lip.
Their life is rewarding, but filled with a mix of worry, hope and, sometimes, despair.
But that rollercoaster of emotions has leveled out since they discovered The K9 Shop. They agreed to share their story with Greater Long Island in part because, like those at The K9 Shop, they want to see all dogs and cats being cared for as best as possible.
“When you bring home a dog or a cat; that’s family,” Allison said. “It’s our obligation to love them and take care of them and do the best by them. And if you want to do right by them, it always starts — even for us as people — with eating healthier.”
And there’s no better way to do that for dogs or cats than eating raw.
The way nature intended.
“If you’re worried about bills,” Allison said while admitting kibble is cheaper than raw dog food, “you’re going to worry about bills much more later on, when you go to the vet and it’s going to be a few thousands dollars just to figure out what the problem is.
“By giving the best quality of food and supplements that are needed proactively, you’re taking care of them and giving them the best you can give them. It’s more likely they’re going to live a healthier, happier life if they eat better.
“It’s the same thing with humans.”
Freedom put on weight rapidly by eating raw pork — a healthy mix of muscle, bone and organs — and raw treats daily from The K9 Shop.
But Allison is quick to point out it would be like a human putting on weight eating avocados, eggs and steak.
“Good weight,” she said. “Not McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s.”
“All of our dogs are better now since The K9 Shop,” Joey said. “Once we started researching, there’s just too many chemicals in kibble, regular dog food. Just like us, if you don’t watch what you eat, you’ll be sick. And you’ll stay sick.”
“And nobody really regulates dog food. They barely regulate our food,” he added. “So we give them what they would naturally eat. And diet has a lot to do with behavior, too. You try raising your kids if they’re only eating fast food.”
Ditching kibble
Feeding dogs kibble has been a trend that’s lasted a century. Because it’s all too easy. Open the bag and pour.
“It was created as a convenience,” said Robert Tucker, who co-founded The K9 Shop with Anya, his wife. “Regardless of bag, label, if you don’t supplement kibble, your pet will become nutrient deficient over time.”
But it’s hard for people to understand anything different, the couple says, because for generations they’ve grown up with their friends and families giving dogs kibble.
“Anything that we [as humans] do to their food, by cooking it, adding coloring, fillers, and preservatives, what we’re doing is killing the food itself, and it ends up having no nutritional value, because of the high processing,” Anya explained. “That’s why these big dog food companies have to then spray on all these flavors, vitamins and coloring to make the kibble more palatable.”
The K9 Shop’s employees consist of biologists, raw feeding pet nutritionists, state certified teachers, and supplement experts, whose top priority is education, not only about the dangers and dark secrets of kibble, but the real benefits of raw and natural food and supplements.
“The key is educating,” Anya noted. “That is why all of the dogs do so well on this food. Some might need extra supplements, some diets need to be tweaked, especially for things like kidney disease, EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) or diabetes. We just educate people so well.”
Above all, The K9 Shop believes that everything is healed from the inside out, and it starts with the food.
What happens when pet owners finally make the switch?
“People can see the results in their pets’ health, coat, behavior,” Anya said. “They see the changes … yeast problems, ear problems, hot spots, gone. Their teeth are cleaner … Our customers learn to trust us.”
That trust is rooted in results. Just ask Joey and Allison Hernandez.
