Dog owners love to buy things for their dogs, from products that are necessary to the fun extra stuff.

So much so that pet owners spent an estimate $109.6 billion this year, if you want to see the breakdown, HERE YOU GO.

It’s emotional purchases as well as functional, but safe to say, lots of purchases. And keep in mind, some people are super simple with dog care and it is just about food, while others lavish their dogs with every want and need, and then a whole bunch of folks in the middle someplace.

But there is a new trend that kind of started lightly about a decade ago, and is now going to descend on you like a tidal wave, and that would be the seemingly sustainable, natural, and earth friendly products for your dog.

This is referred to as greenwashing, which is now a common marketing ploy designed to make products seem more sustainable than they are. Companies use greenwashing to appeal to customers who care about the environment without having to make meaningful changes.

From packaging, materials, ingredients, to the use of green words, the dog food/product industry is more than stoked with this new trend, because ironically enough, people who consider themselves environmentally friendly purchase more things for their dog.

And it isn’t going to be cheap, oh contraire.

Do you see the deception here?

Buy more, consume more for your dog, things they probably don’t even need, while you are being told you are saving our planet. And please don’t forget the obvious, every one of these products has materials/foods shipped or flown in, manufactured in a manufacturing facility by people who drive there in cars, and then boxed, shipped or flown out to distribution centers, where they are shipped or flown out again to stores, and then purchased by people driving to those stores, that then goes home for a dog to eat, play with, or destroy. But hey, saving the planet.

Please be educated about marketing and the products or food you purchase for your dog.

In the coming year you are going to be massaged into believing that bugs, garbanzo beans, and lab derived meats are optimal nutrition for your dog, and that chewing on earth friendly rubber is better than a real bone.

Sometimes it is stepping back into ancestral knowledge and practices, and away from current trends that keeps us and our dogs in the healthiest of all places – emotionally, socially, physically, and nutritionally.

In health, Nancy