Why I'm NOT Brand Loyal | Shorts

Hi, this is Rita Hogan, and welcome to the Dogs Are Individuals podcast. I'm a clinical canine herbalist and I've been practicing for over 20 years. This podcast is all about your dog through an herbal lens. So let's get to it and dive right in.

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to another short. I'm Rita Hogan. I am your host canine herbalist. My life has definitely went to the dogs and it's also went to my current all natural community. I definitely love my community that I'm in in my professional life. I think it is a list one, doing wonderful work for dogs. But I do want to talk about why I am not brand loyal. Okay. Why I am not brand loyal has nothing to do with brands. It has to do with the ingredients in products for the individual dog. And recently I was asked by a colleague not to basically practice the way that I practice. Not going to do that. Nope, not going to do that. And here's why. So I love all different types of brands and, you know, some of my favorite brands at times I can't use with my own personal dogs. Has nothing to do with the brand not being awesome. It has to do with the individual ingredients in a certain formula that don't work out for my dog. It doesn't have anything to do with anything else but that. And we have to have integrity with what we're doing and what we believe in and where we draw the line. And I draw the line at energetics for my dogs and also not kitchen sinking my dogs and not throwing everything at the wall and hoping it will stick and devoting myself to my herbal practice, that's all I can do, you know, and you have to do what rings true for you. But I will never be brand loyal. You know, I'm not gonna use a brand and every product's in the brand just because someone tells me to do so. I'm gonna look at every formula and every product. I. I'm going to see what the ingredients are. I'm going to look to see if they're good for my dog or my client's dog. And I'm going to make a recommendation. Is my recommendation 100%? No, of course not. Nothing's 100%. There's too many variables. There's too much individuality. There's just so many variables. There's lifestyle variables. There's individual systemic, physiological variables. There's variables in the substance that you're giving, whether it be food or medicine, herbs, essential oils, flower essences, homeopathy, homeopathic remedies. There's so many variables that it can make your head spin. You can only do the best that you can do. But I love my brands, and I'm glad that there are so many brands out there, because each one of those brands brings something unique. And I think that we need the variety. You know, I Learned that from Dr. Karen Becker when she was talking to me about variety in general. And, you know, we need that variety. We need a variety of formulas. We need a variety of medicines to choose from, because there is so much variation in all of our dogs. What works for one dog may not work for another. You know, and if I recommend a product from one line, it doesn't mean I don't like the other products from another line that may have a similar. Similar product. Right. So we always have to pay attention to our ingredients. We have to look at our labels, see what fits our own individual dog. You know, herbs come together in synergy. You know, it's also referred to kind of as the entourage effect. I like to use synergy. They come together in synergy and they affect one another when they're put together in a formula. And making good formulas is an art. And it takes a long time and lots of practice and a lot of formulas. And, you know, I'm definitely a seasoned formulator, but I have a long ways to go in my own evolution as a formulator. I think, you know, you're never, in my opinion, you're never an expert. There's too much information out there. You, you know, I will never learn it all in my lifetime. It would take three to five to 10 lifetimes to learn it. All the things that I'd love to learn. I'm a very much a knowledge sponge, and I love learning. But, you know, formulation takes time. And the best thing that I can say to you guys about formulating and looking is looking at formulas. Okay, Looking at them, what is in that formula? Does it have a net cooling effect? Does it have a net warming effect? Is it pretty neutral? Does it have a good balance of warm and cooling herbs? You don't need that in a formula, but if you're looking at a formula, does it. Is your dog sensitive to one of the ingredients in that formula? You know, a lot of times I will take out an ingredient in a. In a, like a formula or a product or a single ingredient in a protocol that I'm doing because I want to take out that variable because I'm just meeting that dog. The dog has these issues. They're on these products. Let's take out that variable. Sometimes I do it slowly, depending on the product, you know, or sometimes I just quit all of them and then start out fresh. And then later on, when we have a more stable ecosystem, we can add back in some of those products if they're beneficial to that individual dog. It's so important because a dog can be sensitive to just one ingredient in a formula. And, and the best way to figure out if a dog is sensitive to anything is to stop it and see how the dog does off of it, you know, and, you know, again, in doing protocols, in doing formulas, you have.

To.

Look at the dog as an ecosystem and recommend the things this is in protocols. Recommend the things that you know or most likely will benefit the dog in that moment for what is going on with the dog. Very small amounts of things that you can, you can look at, you can analyze the data, you can see, you know, kind of like get the feedback from the client and figure out, is this working? Is this not working? Do we see benefit? You want to see benefit? You know, lots of benefit from a product. More vitality, better skin, better, better coat, more vibrancy in the eyes. You know, teeth and gums are looking better. You know, I like say, for instance, it was anxiety. We want to see less anxiety, less triggering calmness, less restlessness over a period of, you know, between four and 12 weeks. We want to see a difference. Otherwise, we need to stop the remedy and try something else. Now, if they're just support remedies, that's different. You know, that's different. But when we are, I don't get a lot of like, just support protocols in my profession because I see dogs that are very imbalanced. So, you know, I talk about support protocols, and that's again, rotating things in and out of the diet for me. Most dogs are not meant to be on herbs long term. There is a space for herbs and you need to work with your dog. And the best way to find out if that remedy is beneficial is to take them off of it when they've been on it long term and see if there is a drop in vitality. Because the body does finish with herbs, it doesn't matter the intention of the formula, right? Someone can put an intention on the formula all at once, but the herbs and the dog are going to mix together and have synergy. And a lot of times an herb gets finished with an ecosystem, it's done its work, and if given over and over again, it could start working at a detriment. Okay, so we want to keep that in Mind. And is that an absolute? No, nothing is an absolute in my opinion. Dogs are individuals. You need to work with them. You need to see what's going on. But if you have a dog on a formula for, let's just say, six months, I would reassess. And that's just my opinion. Remember this. This podcast is a lot of my opinion and my experience over the last 20 some years. Just day in and day out, working, eating, and sleeping dog for the most part. But is it an absolute? No. And this is a conversation I was having with a colleague the other day. There are so many ways to healing. There's energetic ways. You know, there's energetic healing, sound healing. I love sound healing. I get it. I get sound healing at least once or twice a month. I find it very beneficial. There is, you know, energetic medicine, which I mentioned. There's chiropractic, there's massage, there's acupressure, acupuncture. There's flower essences, there's essential oils, there's herbs, there's homeopathy, and there's supplementation. And there's other ways. You know, there's traditional Chinese medicine, there's Ayurveda, there's native people medicine. There's so many different ways to healing. Not everyone is going to resonate with the healing that you work with, believe in, or understand. Okay. We need to do what feels right for us. Okay. We need to do what resonates with us. Okay. I use a mixture of remedies for healing. You know, I use phytoembryonic therapy, which is using plant stem cells. I use flower essences. I use. I sometimes use essential oils. I use lots and lots of herbs. I use homeopathy. I use energetic medicine sometimes. Not to be confused with dogs. Energetics like Reiki and sound healing and vibrational medicine, I definitely use that, too. And I find my resonance in all of that combined. You know, it'd be hard to pick one. And I'm very. I feel very privileged that I have knowledge of all of these different facets. Am I the most knowledgeable? Absolutely not. You know, when you get to the point where you feel that you are the most knowledgeable person in the room or the most knowledgeable person about a subject. I feel that you need to take step back because you're missing out. You need to be open to teaching from others, whether that person has been working a month in the field or 50 years. We all can bring our different perspectives to the table and try to understand each other. And that's why I love different products from different brands and that's why I'm not brand loyal. But I love my brands and one of the brands that I love is Green Juju and they have sponsored this podcast short and I am so grateful for them because I love bringing you different brands in the podcast. And one of the products I love from Green Juju, which is a formula which I find is quite balanced, a little leaning towards warm, but not too much, is their just Greens blend. We have organic zucchini, celery, kale, dandelion greens, coconut flour, coconut oil, parsley, nettles, ginger and turmeric. Okay, it leans warm, but almost any dog could use this. I guess I wouldn't use it for a hot dog, but any dogs can use this just greens blend, working it in and out of the diet. It's freeze dried. You know, they're all organic ingredients and and I just love that about Kelly, the owner of Green Juju, she really focuses on organic and regenerative agriculture and that is definitely where our future needs to go. So thank you, thank you, thank you, Green Juju. Thanks for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review in your podcast app.

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And remember, as a listener, I appreciate you much. Thanks to Resonant Media, my podcast production team. This podcast is produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Mike Fry. Any questions, email the show, go to k9herbalist.com Click podcast contact in the menu and then fill out that form and I'll answer any questions here online. Okay, so thank you so much for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals Podcast and I'm going to talk.

To you in our next episode.

The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for veterinary care. This podcast doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor, veterinarian, veterinarian or healthcare provider first before starting anything new. And that includes herbs. I'm not a doctor and I don't treat disease or prescribe anything. I'm a traditional herbalist providing herbal support education only. Regarding any products I may suggest. The statements made regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented here on the podcast is not meant as a substitute or alternative to information from your vet. Please consult your veterinary professional about potential interactions or other possible complications before using any product.